The inter-caste marriages in India have been gradually gaining acceptance due to increasing education, employment, middle-class economic background, and urbanisation ^{[citation needed]}. As of the 2011 census, 5.8% of the marriages in India were inter-caste marriages.^[1][2]

In India, inter-caste marriages were publicly encouraged and supported by the incumbent government under Narendra Modi by the offering of financial encouragement to those who marry people from lower castes,^[3] C. N. Annadurai, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,^[4] and social activists such as Periyar E. V. Ramasamy,^{[5][need quotation to verify]} Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu^{[citation needed]} and Manthena Venkata Raju.^{[citation needed]} In the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the Government offers a cash award for inter-caste couples.^[6] The Supreme Court of India has also declared that inter-caste marriages are in the national interest and a unifying factor for the nation^[7] and there has never been a bar on inter-caste or inter-religion marriages in independent India.^[8]

In 2017, the Prime minister Narendra Modi started a scheme in which 2.5 lakh, that is 250,000 rupees will be given to inter-caste couples if one of them is a Dalit.^[3]

According to the 2017 Study conducted by the Indian Statistical Institute, inter-caste marriages are more frequent in Rural areas (5.2%) than Urban areas (4.9%). The Survey also found that the inter-caste marriages are more common among poor people (5.9%) than rich people (4.0%).^[1]

According to the Studies conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research in 2016, about 5% of the marriages in India are inter-caste marriages. Mizoram had the highest number of inter-caste marriages, where about 55% of the marriages were inter-caste marriages and Madhya Pradesh had the lowest number of inter-caste marriages, where only 1% of the marriages were inter-caste marriage.^[9]

According to a survey, the education of the husband's mother has a significant effect on inter-caste marriages. The probability of inter-caste marriages was found to increase by 36% with a 10-year increase in education of the husband's mother.^{[10][dubious – discuss]}

In a 2010 report, the National Commission for Women (NCW) documented 326 cases of honour crime in the past year, the majority of which were due to inter-caste marriages.^[11]

• Caste system in India
• Endogamy
• Hypergamy
• Inter-caste marriage in Nepal
• Jāti

• Inter-caste marriages the way forward to reduce communal tensions: Supreme Court