How Much Should You Tip In 2017? India To Use ‘Discretion’ For Gratuity, Government Official Announces

With 2017 officially underway, many people celebrated by going out and ringing in the new year at a restaurant or another type of service establishment. With that service, though, comes the obligation to tip your server a certain percentage of the bill. But that was apparently no longer the case in India, according to a government official.

"Service charge is optional," Ram Vilas Paswan, the union minister of food and public distribution, consumer affairs, for the government Of India, tweeted on Monday. Customers at restaurants have "a discretion to pay or not," he added.

Many people in India rejoiced at the proclamation, but some restaurant owners said the decision was a bit misguided. "The reason why we have service charge in India is because tipping is not part of our culture," Sahil Gupta told NDTV. "In most other countries, if a diner doesn't tip, it is frowned upon, whereas in India, people rarely voluntarily tip. We believe that if a customer is not happy with her/his service, they have every right to pay a lower amount towards service charge. We will even be happy to remove service charge from a bill if a customer requests. However, diners should be cognizant of the fact that staff deserves extra appreciation for the work they put in."

According to travel website TripAdvisor, tipping is expected in all service sectors aside for taxi drivers. "In restaurants, if the service was good, tip anything between approx 5-10% of the bill," TripAdvisor wrote on its website. "On receipts, it will often say 'Service Charge.' This is NOT an automatic tip charge on your bill. It is a government issued tax that has nothing to do with the service your waiter provided you."

The notion of not tipping is rare, but it does happen, even in the U.S. Restaurateur Danny Meyer effectively ended tipping at 12 of his establishments because "the tipping system is antithetical to creating a real profession for people who takes their jobs seriously," he said in October 2015.