You found out about the wedding six weeks ago and you are not going to make it. Flights are what they are, leave is what it is, and the date is a Tuesday.
So you will send money. And somewhere between your banking app and your cousin's account, the thing you meant to do stops being shagun and turns into a transfer, and everybody involved feels vaguely that something has gone missing without being able to name it.
This page is about what actually goes missing, and what to do about it.
The amount, and what it means at the other end
Convert first, then think in rupees. Not the other way round.
| You send | USD | GBP |
|---|---|---|
| ₹501 | $5.24 | £3.87 |
| ₹1,100 | $11.52 | £8.51 |
| ₹2,100 | $21.98 | £16.25 |
| ₹5,100 | $53.37 | £39.45 |
| ₹11,000 | $115.08 | £85.06 |
| ₹21,000 | $219.70 | £162.39 |
Rates as at 31 August 2026: ₹1 = $0.0105 = £0.0077, checked against two independent providers agreeing to within 0.2 percent. They will have moved by the time you read this.
Fifty-three dollars is not a useful number. Here is what ₹5,100 actually is at the other end: about a fortnight of part-time domestic wages in Delhi, or seven sleeper-class tickets from Delhi to Mumbai, or twenty restaurant thalis.
Which matters in both directions. The diaspora default of $101 per person, which is the figure people abroad name as safe, is close to ₹9,700 and lands at the top of the close-family band. That is not wrong. But if you are giving it to a second cousin you should know you are giving at family level, not at guest level.
There is also a real split people notice: the same person will give $200 at a wedding in New Jersey and ₹2,100 at a wedding in Jaipur. Both are normal. You are giving into the local economy, not converting your own norm.
Ends in a one, and here is where people get it wrong
Under about five hundred, the number carries the one itself. ₹101, ₹251, ₹501.
Above that, it does not. You give ₹1,100, ₹2,100, ₹5,100, ₹11,000. Those are the numbers. What makes the total odd is the one-rupee coin stuck to the front of the lifafa, which turns ₹1,100 into ₹1,101.
Which is a problem when you are eight thousand kilometres away, because there is no envelope and no coin. So the honest options are to send the round figure and let somebody at that end put it in a lifafa, or to send the odd total and have it be slightly unusual but unambiguous. Both happen. Nobody is going to be upset.
And in dollars, keep the habit: $101, $201, $501. It transfers.
How to actually move it
Four routes, and they are not equivalent.
- A remittance service, Wise or Remitly or similar. Best rate, arrives in a day or two, and you will pay a small fee rather than a hidden spread. This is the default and there is rarely a reason not to use it.
- Your bank's international transfer. Slower, worse rate, higher fee, and the money often arrives with the exchange loss baked in so nobody sees it. Use it if you already have the relationship set up and the amount is large.
- Sending it to a relative in India who then hands over cash in an envelope. This is the one that preserves the gesture, and it is what most people actually do.
- UPI, if you have an Indian bank account and an Indian number still working. Instant and free, and increasingly the way it happens.
One thing to know about the receiving end: money from a relative abroad is not taxable in India, at any amount, if you are a relative as the Income Tax Act defines it. That list is narrower than the word usually is. Cousins are not on it, and neither are nephews or nieces. That matters only above ₹50,000 in a financial year from everyone outside the list combined, which most shagun is nowhere near, but it is worth knowing before you send a large one.
The part a transfer cannot do
Here is what is actually missing, and it is not sentiment.
At an Indian wedding somebody is keeping a record. In Tamil Nadu it is explicit, a register at the door where a person writes your name, your town and the amount. In Punjab it is vartan bhanji and there is a written record. In Rajasthan it is neota, and those books get kept across generations.
A bank transfer arrives with your bank's version of your name and nothing else. No town, no relationship, no note. Six weeks later, when a family member sits down to reconcile who gave what, you are a line in a statement that somebody has to work out.
So whatever route you use, send a message separately that says what the money is for, who it is from, and where you are. Same information the register wants. It takes fifteen seconds and it is the difference between being recorded and being deciphered.
The second thing missing is the object. Shagun is an envelope somebody puts into a hand. A notification is not that, which is most of the reason this site exists, so take that as disclosure rather than a pitch.
Timing
Before the event, not after. This is the one that actually gets noticed.
For a wedding, a few days ahead so it can go in the book with everything else. For a festival, before the day rather than on it, because the day itself is busy and a transfer landing at 9pm on Diwali is competing with a lot.
If you are late, send it anyway. Late shagun is a normal thing. Nothing is remembered as badly as nothing.
Questions people ask
›What is the cheapest way to send shagun to India?
A remittance service like Wise or Remitly, which will beat a bank on both rate and fee for small amounts. If you still hold an Indian bank account, UPI is instant and free. A bank wire is the most expensive route and the loss is usually hidden in the rate rather than shown as a fee.
›Will they have to pay tax on it?
Not if you are a relative as the Income Tax Act defines that, which is narrower than the everyday word and excludes cousins, nephews and nieces. Even then it only bites above ₹50,000 in a financial year from everyone outside that list combined, which ordinary shagun does not approach.
›Should I send a round number or one ending in one?
In India you would give ₹1,100 and let the coin on the envelope make it ₹1,101. Sending directly there is no envelope, so either send the round figure and let someone put it in a lifafa, or send the odd total. Both are fine. In dollars, keep the habit: $101, $201, $501.
›How much do I give if I am not attending?
The same as you would if you were. Not attending is not a discount, and if anything people are more generous when they cannot come. What matters more is that it arrives before the event and that it is clear who it is from.
›Is it rude to send money instead of coming?
No. What people mind is silence. An envelope that arrives on time from someone who could not travel is completely normal and always has been, which is the whole reason shagun works by post in the first place.