For NRIs and families abroad
Kundli for births abroad: time zones, DST and the exact place
If you were born in New Jersey, Leicester, Brampton or Dubai, your Kundli needs two things a chart made for an Indian birth can take for granted: the right time zone and, in many countries, the right daylight-saving rule for your birth date. Get either wrong and the Lagna can move by a whole sign. ProperPandit works both out from your birthplace. This page explains how, with real examples from our engine.
One hour, one sign
Why births abroad go wrong
Your Lagna, the sign rising in the east, moves through all twelve signs in about a day, so roughly one sign every two hours. An hour's error moves it by about fifteen degrees. Your houses, and every reading built on them, move with it.
Indian births rarely meet this problem: India has used one time zone, IST (UTC+5:30), and no daylight saving since 1945. Abroad, the clock on the wall depends on the country, the region and the time of year. Common mistakes are:
- converting the birth time to IST before entering it;
- forgetting that a summer birth in the USA, UK or Canada was on daylight time;
- assuming every region changes its clocks (Saskatchewan and the UAE do not);
- choosing a big city hundreds of kilometres away instead of the real town of birth.
From the place, at the moment
How ProperPandit finds your time zone
When you pick your birthplace from the suggestions, the chart gets its latitude and longitude. From those, ProperPandit looks up the place's time zone (for example America/New_York or Europe/London) and then asks the time-zone database for the offset from UTC on your birth date, at your birth time. That includes daylight saving and historical changes, such as Britain keeping summer time all year from 1968 to 1971.
You enter the time exactly as the local clock showed it. You never convert anything yourself.
Computed by our engine
Real examples: what a wrong offset does
Each row below is a birth computed by ProperPandit's engine twice: once with the offset it finds for that place and moment, and once with a common mistake. The Lagna is sidereal (Lahiri), given as the sign and the degree within it.
| Birth | Time zone found | Lagna | With a common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York City, USA 14 July 1992, 07:40 | America/New_York UTC−4 | Cancer 21.8° | UTC−5, standard time (EST) instead of daylight time: Leo 3.6° (a different sign) |
| Los Angeles, USA 20 September 2001, 21:40 | America/Los_Angeles UTC−7 | Taurus 4.3° | UTC+5:30, Indian time (IST): Libra 4.5° (a different sign) |
| London, UK 2 June 1996, 05:20 | Europe/London UTC+1 | Taurus 25.2° | UTC+0, GMT instead of British Summer Time: Gemini 9.7° (a different sign) |
| London, UK 20 January 1970, 08:15 | Europe/London UTC+1 | Sagittarius 21.6° | UTC+0, GMT, as an ordinary January would be: Capricorn 11.4° (a different sign) |
| Toronto, Canada 3 May 1998, 10:05 | America/Toronto UTC−4 | Gemini 21.4° | UTC−5, standard time (EST) instead of daylight time: Cancer 3.4° (a different sign) |
| Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada 11 July 1998, 06:50 | America/Regina UTC−6 | Cancer 14.3° | UTC−5, an assumed summer clock change: Cancer 3.4° (same sign, different degree) |
| Dubai, UAE 8 November 2004, 09:50 | Asia/Dubai UTC+4 | Sagittarius 4.9° | UTC+5:30, Indian time (IST): Scorpio 14.9° (a different sign) |
| Abu Dhabi, UAE 25 April 2010, 06:00 | Asia/Dubai UTC+4 | Aries 11.9° | UTC+5, an hour off (UTC+5): Pisces 22.6° (a different sign) |
Country guides
Guides for your country
- Kundli for births in the USA: six time zones, daylight time and Arizona.
- Kundli for births in the UK: GMT, British Summer Time and the 1968–71 exception.
- Kundli for births in Canada: Newfoundland's half hour and Saskatchewan's fixed clock.
- Kundli for births in Dubai and the UAE: UTC+4 all year, and why not to enter IST.
Your Kundli is in English, and the free reading and two-page PDF cost nothing. The complete 84-page Janma Granth costs ₹1,000 in India, AED 39 in the UAE and US$10 everywhere else. Ready? make your free Kundli.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Which time should I enter: local time or Indian time?
Enter the time exactly as the clock showed where you were born, usually as written on the birth certificate. Do not convert it to IST. ProperPandit finds the time zone from the birthplace and works out the offset itself.
Does ProperPandit handle daylight saving time?
Yes. The offset is taken for your birthplace on your birth date, at your local birth time, so a summer birth gets summer time and a winter birth gets standard time. Historical changes in the time-zone database are included.
What if I was born in the hour the clocks changed?
On the night the clocks go back, one hour happens twice; the chart takes the first occurrence, which is the usual convention. On the night they go forward, one hour never happens; a time in that gap is read with the new, summer offset. If your time falls in that hour, ask your family which one they meant.
My birth certificate gives a hospital in a different town. Which place do I use?
Use the place where you were actually born, which is usually the hospital's town. Pick the nearest town that appears in the suggestions.
Can I pay for the 84-page Kundli from abroad?
Yes. The price is ₹1,000 in India, AED 39 in the UAE and US$10 everywhere else. You pay by UPI (India), PayPal or USDT.