Tipping in India: the honest answer is a range
Nobody will tell you a number because the number depends on the room, so here is the range and the reasoning. Treat it as orientation, not a tariff, and ask your own curator before you travel because this moves.
The two that matter most on a long trip are your driver and your guide, and they matter because you are with them all day for days. Tip those at the end rather than daily, in an envelope, in rupees.
Restaurant service: look for a service charge on the bill first, because many good places add one and a second tip on top is generous rather than expected. Hotel porters and housekeeping: small notes, kept handy, which is the actual problem — nobody has small notes.
That is the real advice. Ask reception to break a large note into hundreds on your first morning and keep them in a separate pocket. Ninety per cent of tipping anxiety is not knowing how much; the other ninety is standing there with nothing smaller than a five hundred.
Nobody is offended by a sensible tip given quietly. Nobody is counting.
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