Currency Converter

Live exchange rates

This free online currency converter lets you convert between world currencies using exchange rates. It automatically fetches live rates when possible and falls back to offline rates if the live feed is unavailable, so you always get a result.

How to Use the Currency Converter

  1. Select the currency you're converting from in "From Currency".
  2. Select the currency you're converting to in "To Currency".
  3. Enter the amount you want to convert in the "Amount" field.
  4. Click "Convert" to see the converted amount displayed above.

How the Conversion Works

Every rate in the list is stored as "units of that currency per 1 US dollar". To convert between two currencies that are not the dollar, the tool goes through USD as a bridge, which is called a cross rate:

Converted amount = Amount ÷ (From-currency rate) × (To-currency rate)

When the page opens it requests the latest rate table from the open.er-api.com service. If that request fails, for example because you are offline or the service is down, it keeps using a rate table built into the site, and the status under the heading changes to show that offline rates are in use. The offline table is not updated daily, so treat results from it as rough.

Worked Example

Assume, for illustration only, that the table shows 1 USD = 88 INR and 1 USD = 0.85 EUR. To convert €500 to rupees: 500 ÷ 0.85 = 588.235 USD (kept unrounded internally), and 588.235 × 88 = ₹51,764.71. Going the other way, ₹1,00,000 ÷ 88 × 0.85 = €965.91. The rates you see on the page will be different because they follow the market.

Why Your Bank Gives a Different Rate

The figure here is a mid-market reference rate: roughly halfway between the price at which banks buy and sell a currency. When you actually exchange money you get a buying or selling rate, which is worse than the mid rate by the provider's margin.

How you pay or exchangeWhat usually adds to the cost
Indian debit or credit card used abroad or on a foreign websiteA foreign currency markup fee set by the card issuer, charged as a percentage of the transaction, plus GST on that fee
Prepaid forex cardThe issuer's selling rate when you load it, plus any load or reload fee
Cash from a money changer or airport counterWider buy-sell spread for notes; airport counters are often the most expensive
Outward bank remittance, for example fees for study abroadBank's TT selling rate, transfer charges, and tax collected at source above the threshold set under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme

A simple way to compare offers is to add the markup yourself. In the example above, a 2% markup turns ₹51,764.71 into ₹52,800.00, so ask each provider for its all-in rupee cost rather than just the headline rate.

Tips for Using the Result

  • Check the status line under the heading. "Live exchange rates" means the table was fetched successfully; any warning there means the older built-in rates are being used.
  • Use the result for budgeting, comparing prices across countries or checking an invoice, not for settling a deal. For official purposes such as customs valuation or accounting, use the rate your bank, the customs notification or your auditor specifies.
  • For rupee reference rates against major currencies, Financial Benchmarks India Ltd (FBIL) publishes daily figures on its website.
  • Remittance limits and tax collected at source change from time to time. Confirm the current rules with your bank or on the RBI and Income Tax Department websites before sending large amounts abroad.

Frequently Asked Questions

The converter fetches live exchange rates from an open exchange rate API. If the request succeeds, you'll see "Live exchange rates" under the title; otherwise it uses a built-in offline rate table.

A warning message is shown and the calculator automatically falls back to a stored set of offline USD-based exchange rates so conversions still work.

The amount is divided by the "From Currency" rate to get an equivalent USD value, then multiplied by the "To Currency" rate to produce the converted total, rounded to two decimal places.

Exchange rates move throughout the trading day and each data provider takes its snapshot at a different time. A bank app also usually shows its own buying or selling rate, which includes its margin. Small differences in the second or third decimal place are normal.

Yes. Pick any pair, such as UAE dirham to Indian rupee. Behind the scenes the tool still divides by the dirham's dollar rate and multiplies by the rupee's dollar rate, which gives the same cross rate you would get from a direct quote, apart from tiny rounding differences.
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