India Culture and Etiquette Guide

The short version.

India is not a single culture and no page can hand you a rulebook for it. What it can hand you is a short set of habits that hold almost everywhere, and the discipline of asking when they do not. Visitors who ask are treated generously. Visitors who assume are usually forgiven and occasionally are not.

Places of worship, which is where most of this lives.

Shoes come off. That is the one rule with the fewest exceptions, and it applies at temples, at mosques, at gurdwaras and at many homes. Footwear that comes off without sitting down makes this a non-event several times a day, which is why the packing list in this cluster puts it near the top.

Cover shoulders and knees. Carry something that covers the head, because it is required at a gurdwara and at many mosques and is welcome in plenty of other places. A light scarf does all of this and takes no room.

Other habits worth having: walk clockwise around a shrine, do not point the soles of your feet at people or at an image, step over rather than on a threshold, and do not touch a carving or an image unless you have seen local people do it. Some sanctuaries are open only to adherents, and the answer to whether you may enter is a question rather than an inference.

Photography.

Ask before photographing people, always, and accept no as an answer without negotiating. Ask before photographing inside a place of worship, where the answer is often no and is sometimes different for the courtyard and the sanctuary. And note that photography is restricted around military installations, airports and some government buildings in India, which is a legal matter rather than a courtesy one.

Hands, feet and greetings.

The left hand is not used for eating or for passing food and is avoided for giving and receiving. Eating with the right hand is normal and welcome and nobody expects a visitor to be graceful at it. A greeting with the palms together and a slight bow is understood everywhere and is never wrong; a handshake is common in business and is worth letting the other person initiate, particularly across genders.

Where etiquette becomes law.

Two areas in the cited advice cross the line from custom into legislation, and both are set out in the travel safety guide in this cluster. Alcohol is a state matter in India: consumption, production or transportation is illegal in Bihar, Gujarat, Mizoram, Nagaland and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, and drinking in public places such as parks is illegal generally. And vapes and related products are banned, so the polite question of where one may vape does not arise.

Public displays of affection attract attention in much of India and are best kept modest, which is a social observation rather than a legal one but is worth knowing.

Bargaining, and where it does not apply.

Haggling is normal in markets and with unmetered transport and is not normal in shops with marked prices, in restaurants or in anything run by a government body. Doing it cheerfully and stopping at a fair number is the whole skill. Grinding someone down over an amount that matters to them and not to you reads exactly as it is.

Giving.

You will be asked, and the question of what to do about it is genuinely difficult. The answer most people settle on is to give through an organization doing the work rather than in the street, and to be comfortable and polite about declining. Giving to children in particular is widely discouraged by the people who work with them, because of what it incentivizes.

How to settle it.

Take the scarf and the slip-on shoes. Ask before the camera comes out. Treat the alcohol rule as a state by state question rather than a national one. And when you are unsure, ask: the question itself is read as respect and the answer is usually delivered with some warmth.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: gives the police helpline in India as 100 and the national emergency number as 112, with a women helpline on 1091, records that vapes and related products are banned, that possession of illegal drugs carries a minimum sentence of 6 months for small amounts and that you could be detained for several years while your case is processed, that it is illegal to possess and operate satellite phones and GPS devices in India without a license even if you are only transiting through India, that British women have been victims of sexual assault and that travelers should avoid isolated areas including beaches when alone at any time of day, that alcohol is illegal in Bihar, Gujarat, Mizoram, Nagaland and Lakshadweep with a prison sentence of 5 to 10 years and that some states sell 30-day alcohol permits, that a 1949 version of the international driving permit is needed, and that there are no commercial mountain rescue services operating above 3,000m. Accessed 22 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: advises against all travel to parts of India, including within 10km of the India to Pakistan border and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir except travel by air to and within the city of Jammu, advises against all but essential travel to the state of Manipur, and states that no travel can be guaranteed safe. Accessed 22 September 2026.