There are two different questions hiding inside “how do I change currency in Excel” — changing the symbol on specific cells, and changing Excel’s default currency system-wide. This guide covers both, along with the lakhs/crores formatting Indian users usually need and a few fixes for when the symbol doesn’t show up correctly.
In This Guide
- Adding the rupee symbol to a cell
- Changing the currency format on existing data
- Currency format vs Accounting format — the difference that trips people up
- Changing Excel’s default currency (Windows and Mac)
- Custom formats for lakhs and crores
- Using multiple currencies in one spreadsheet
- The TEXT formula for currency-formatted text
- Fixing common symbol errors
- FAQs
Adding the Rupee Symbol to a Cell
There are two ways to get ₹ into a cell, and they behave differently. One inserts it as plain text; the other applies it as a number format tied to the value. For anything beyond a one-off label, use the second method.
Insert as Text
- Go to Insert > Symbol, find ₹ under Currency Symbols, and click Insert.
- Or hold Alt and type 8377 on the numeric keypad (Windows).
This is fine for a heading, but the symbol becomes part of the cell’s text, not its number format — so it won’t align with other values, and SUM or AVERAGE on that cell will break.
Apply as Currency Format (Recommended)
- Select your cells, go to Home > Number, and choose Currency from the dropdown.
- Click the small arrow at the bottom-right of the Number group (or press Ctrl+1) to open Format Cells.
- Under Symbol, choose ₹ English (India), set decimal places, and click OK.
The number stays a number — formulas, sorting, and totals keep working — while the ₹ symbol displays automatically.
Changing the Currency Format on Existing Data
To switch the currency already applied to a column — from USD to INR, for instance — select the cells, open Format Cells (Ctrl+1), pick Currency under the Number tab, and choose the correct symbol from the dropdown. This changes only the display; the underlying values are untouched. To apply the same change across an entire workbook, hold Ctrl and click each sheet tab first, so the format applies to all of them in one pass instead of repeating it sheet by sheet.
Currency Format vs Accounting Format
This is where a lot of confusion starts. The currency symbol dropdown right on the Home tab’s Number group doesn’t apply Currency format — it applies Accounting format. The two look similar but behave differently:
- Currency format: the symbol sits directly next to the number (₹1,000.00), and the whole value is right-aligned in the cell.
- Accounting format: the symbol is pushed to the left edge of the cell, the number to the right, with the two separated by consistent spacing — so a column of values with different digit counts still lines up cleanly. Zero values also display as a dash (–) instead of ₹0.00.
Accounting format is the standard for financial statements and reports; Currency format is fine for everyday spreadsheets where strict alignment doesn’t matter. Both are set from the same Number Format dropdown or through Format Cells — the difference is which category you select, Currency or Accounting.
Changing Excel’s Default Currency
Per-cell formatting only changes the cells you select. Excel’s default currency symbol — the one that appears automatically when you pick Currency or Accounting without manually choosing a symbol — comes from your operating system’s regional settings, not from Excel itself.
On Windows
- Open Settings > Time & Language > Region.
- Set Region to India (or your target country).
- Restart Excel. New workbooks, and any cell where you apply Currency or Accounting format without picking a symbol manually, will now default to ₹.
On older Windows versions, the same setting is under Control Panel > Clock and Region > Region > Additional Settings > Currency, where you can pick the currency symbol directly.
On Mac
- Open System Settings > General > Language & Region.
- Set Region to India, then restart Excel for the change to take effect.
This setting affects the system default only — it doesn’t change symbols already applied manually to specific cells, and it won’t retroactively fix a workbook someone else created on a different regional setting. For that, use per-cell Format Cells instead.
Custom Formats for Lakhs and Crores
Excel’s built-in Currency and Accounting formats group digits in the international style (10,00,000 shown as 1,000,000), not the lakh/crore style used in India. A custom format code fixes this:
- Select your cells, open Format Cells, and go to the Custom category (last item in the list).
- In the Type field, enter:
[$₹-en-IN] #,##,##0.00 - Click OK. This displays ₹10,00,000.00 instead of ₹1,000,000.00.
If ₹ doesn’t render correctly when typed directly into the Type field, copy it from a cell where it already displays properly and paste it into the format code instead.
Using Multiple Currencies in One Spreadsheet
Currency format is applied per cell, not per workbook — so a single sheet can have one column in ₹, another in $, and another in € without conflict. Select each column separately and apply the relevant Currency or Accounting format with its own symbol. This is the standard way to handle multi-currency budgets or expense sheets without needing separate files for each currency.
The TEXT Formula for Currency-Formatted Text
If you need a currency-formatted number as text — for example, to concatenate it into a sentence like “Total: ₹1,000.00” — use the TEXT function rather than formatting the cell directly:
=TEXT(A2,"₹#,##0.00")
This converts the number in A2 into a text string with the rupee symbol and two decimal places attached, which is useful when building summary sentences or labels but not for cells you still need to calculate with — the output is text, not a number, so SUM and other formulas won’t work on it directly.
Fixing Common Currency Symbol Errors
Symbol Shows as a Box or Question Mark
Almost always a font issue. Arial, Calibri, and Segoe UI support ₹ correctly; some older or non-Unicode fonts don’t. Change the cell’s font to one of these.
Excel Isn’t Picking Up ₹ Automatically
This is a regional-settings issue — see the “Changing Excel’s Default Currency” section above.
Symbol Doesn’t Align With Other Cells
Usually means the symbol was typed as text instead of applied as a number format. Switch to Currency or Accounting format — alignment resolves once the symbol is part of the format rather than the cell’s text content.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change the currency symbol after data is already entered?
Select the cells, open Format Cells (Ctrl+1), and choose the correct currency under the Number tab. Only the display changes — values stay intact.
Can I use multiple currency symbols in the same spreadsheet?
Yes. Currency formatting is applied per cell or column, so different parts of the same sheet can show different currencies.
How do I change Excel’s default currency instead of doing it cell by cell?
Change your operating system’s regional settings to India (Windows Settings or Control Panel; System Settings on Mac), then restart Excel.
Is there a formula for currency formatting?
Yes — =TEXT(A2,"₹#,##0.00") converts a number into currency-formatted text, useful for labels and sentences, though the result can no longer be used in sum-type calculations.
What’s the difference between Currency and Accounting format?
Currency places the symbol directly next to the number. Accounting aligns the symbol to the left and the number to the right, with zero shown as a dash — the standard for financial statements.
How do I format numbers in lakhs and crores?
Use the custom format code [$₹-en-IN] #,##,##0.00 under Format Cells > Custom, since Excel’s default Currency format doesn’t group digits this way.
Need to convert between currencies rather than just format them? See our guide to converting currency in Excel.
