Every number on CrossRupee comes from a published source we can point to — a regulator, a government portal, an official price board, or a provider’s own live quote — and every figure carries the date it was checked. This page explains how each kind of number on the site is produced, so you can judge it for yourself.
Exchange rates: a reference rate, never a quote
The dirham–rupee figures on this site are a reference exchange rate, published for orientation only. The rate is calculated from the Frankfurter reference-rate service, which republishes central-bank reference rates, and it is refreshed daily. Every rate display shows the date and time it was updated. A reference rate is not the rate a bank or exchange house will offer you — providers add their own margin and fees — so always treat our figure as the yardstick, not the quote.
Because of this rule, we never write a rupee conversion by hand inside an article. Amounts are written in the local currency, and the rupee figure beside them is generated from the current reference rate, so an older article never keeps showing a conversion that has gone stale without a date.
Gold rates: the Dubai Jewellery Group board, checked twice a day
Our headline gold rate is the Dubai Jewellery Group (DJG) suggested retail jewellery rate — the board rate Dubai jewellery shops work from — checked and entered twice daily, in the morning and the evening (Gulf Standard Time). It is labelled with the time it was checked.
Separately, and always labelled “indicative”, we show a rate derived from the international spot gold price. The two numbers are never merged: the DJG board is a retail jewellery rate, the spot-derived figure is a calculation, and the price on an actual jeweller’s bill can differ from both because making charges and VAT treatment vary by product. If you are about to buy, the board rate is your reference and the shop’s written bill is the final word.
Remittance comparisons: one fixed basket, ranked by what arrives
We compare sending providers on a fixed basket: sending AED 1,000 and AED 5,000 from the UAE to a bank account in India. For each provider we record the fee, the exchange rate offered, and — the only number we rank by — how many rupees the recipient actually receives. Quotes are taken from the provider’s own calculator or app at the time of checking, and every comparison table shows the date it was checked. A provider cannot pay to be ranked higher; if a link to a provider earns us a commission, that is disclosed on the page and does not affect the order.
Salaries and living costs: figures with their labels attached
A salary number means little without its context, so every salary figure we publish carries the job role, the emirate, the seniority level, whether allowances are included, the source, and the date it was collected. We show a range and a typical middle figure rather than a single headline salary, and we label advertised salaries (what job postings offer) separately from reported salaries (what workers report being paid).
Cost-of-living figures are built the same way: rents from a date-stamped sample of current listings, labelled as asking rents rather than contracted rents; utility costs from the published tariff slabs; and school fees only from the official fact sheet for the current academic year, with tuition shown separately from transport, books and other charges.
When sources disagree, we say so
Sometimes two published sources give different figures for the same thing. When that happens, we do not quietly pick the one we prefer: we show the figure we use, name its source, and note that another source differs. If we later find a figure was wrong, the fix is recorded publicly on our Corrections & Update Log.
How often things are updated
- Exchange reference rates — refreshed daily.
- Gold rates — checked and entered twice daily.
- Remittance comparisons — re-checked monthly, and sooner if a provider changes its pricing.
- Salaries and living costs — reviewed on a rolling monthly cycle against fresh sources.
- Rule-based explainers (gratuity, banking) — updated when the underlying law or official guidance changes, and reviewed at least every six months.
A note on words
Terms like “NRI”, “resident” and “non-resident” have different legal meanings under Indian foreign-exchange rules, Indian income-tax law and UAE residence rules. We use each term in the sense of the rule being explained on that page, and we never treat them as interchangeable. Explaining a term is not tax or legal advice — see our Finance Disclaimer.