BBC News
By Soutik Biswas
image captionOver 90% of couples live with the husband's family after marriage in India
Dowry payments in India's villages have been largely stable over the past few decades, a World Bank study has found.
Researchers looked at 40,000 marriages that took place in rural India between 1960 and 2008.
They found that dowry was paid in 95% of the marriages even though it's been illegal in India since 1961.
The practice, often described as a social evil, continues to thrive and leaves women vulnerable to domestic violence and even death.
Paying and accepting dowry is a centuries-old tradition in South Asia where the bride's parents gift cash, clothes and jewellery to the groom's family.