LivingDNA for South Asians: Download Your Raw Data and Go Further

LivingDNA is a UK company, and plenty of British South Asian families have tested with it. If you are one of them, you have probably found the South Asian part of your results summed up in one or two broad regions.

This guide explains what LivingDNA reports for South Asian testers, how to download your LivingDNA raw data, and what that same file shows when it is compared with South Asian reference populations.

What LivingDNA shows South Asian testers

LivingDNA groups its ancestry regions into panels. Its regions page lists a World Panel, a European panel, a UK panel and an African panel. South Asian ancestry is read on the World Panel, and at the time of writing that panel lists seven South Asian regions:

• Balochistan
• Burusho
• Indian subcontinent
• Kalash
• Pashtun
• Sindhi
• South Central Asia

LivingDNA says its full set covers more than 170 regions and subregions worldwide. Region lists change when reference data is updated, so if your results use different names, trust your results page over any guide.

How fine or coarse that is

Look at where the detail sits. Balochistan, Burusho, Kalash, Pashtun and Sindhi are populations or areas of the north-west of the subcontinent, mostly in present-day Pakistan, with Pashtun communities on both sides of the Afghan border. South Central Asia is a broad label rather than a community.

The rest of the subcontinent shares one name: Indian subcontinent. There is no separate region for Indian Punjab, Gujarat, Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka or Nepal. A Gujarati family in Leicester, a Bengali family in east London and a Tamil family in Croydon can all receive much the same South Asian headline, even though their ancestry differs in ways genetics can measure.

That is not a fault in the measurement. It is a choice about which reference groups to report, and a company built around British and European genealogy has put its finest detail elsewhere. The north-west labels can be informative for British Pakistani families with Pashtun, Baloch or Sindhi roots. For families from Punjab, on either side of the border, or further south or east, the answer is usually one broad region or a mix of broad labels rather than a place.

Where LivingDNA is strong

LivingDNA does some things well. Its UK panel splits Britain and Ireland into many sub-regions, which is useful for British South Asians with a British or Irish parent or grandparent. It also offers separate mtDNA and Y-DNA results and downloads. If you value those, keep the account: downloading your data changes nothing in it.

How to download your LivingDNA raw data

LivingDNA's help centre says you can download your raw data free of charge, covering autosomal, mtDNA and Y-DNA data, and that you do it yourself from your account. These steps follow its help article as published at the time of writing.

1. Log in to your LivingDNA account at my.livingdna.com.
2. Click your name in the top right corner of the screen. A drop-down menu opens.
3. Select Profiles. If you manage kits for relatives, each person has their own profile.
4. Choose the right profile and click the Download option beside the profile name.
5. Read the information and tick the consent box if you agree. It sets out the terms on which the file is released.
6. Choose the autosomal (family ancestry) file. LivingDNA's help article says this is the file you need to use your data on other DNA websites. The mtDNA and Y-DNA options are separate, and if you choose more than one, each arrives as its own file.
7. Save the file exactly as it downloaded. Do not unzip it, edit it or resave it from a spreadsheet. Renaming it is fine, and worth doing with the person's name if you download for several relatives.

If your screen looks different, LivingDNA has changed its dashboard before, and an older version of its help article placed a Download Raw Data option in the left sidebar menu. Look for either. One more point from the help article: downloads are only available for kits LivingDNA itself processed. If you uploaded a file from another company into LivingDNA, you cannot download it back from there.

What the file should look like

Here we have to be plain. LivingDNA's help article does not state the file type, the column layout, the genome build or the number of markers, and we could not verify those details from LivingDNA's own pages. Independent guides describe the autosomal export as a tab separated text file. Rather than give figures that may not match your download, here is what to check:

• It should be a plain text file, or a .zip containing one, not a PDF or a picture of your results.
• Open it in a text editor, not a spreadsheet. The first lines should be comments beginning with a hash symbol; in most vendors' files these name the company and the genome build the positions refer to.
• Below that, each row should hold a marker identifier, a chromosome, a position and a genotype. That is the same four-column idea 23andMe uses, which our 23andMe format guide explains column by column, so we will not repeat it here.
• It should run to hundreds of thousands of rows, not a few thousand.

If the idea of raw data is new to you, start with what raw DNA data is.

What uploading it to Helixline adds

Your file already contains the measurement; what changes is the reference. Helixline first imputes the markers your chip did not read, using haplotype panels enriched for South Asian populations. Then it compares the result with 7,600+ global reference samples, 140+ South Asian community reference groups and ancient DNA references for Indus Valley, Steppe pastoralist and AASI ancestry.

Community-level context, not one regional label

Community matters in South Asian genetics more than almost anywhere else, because of centuries of marriage within groups. A study of over 2,800 people from more than 260 South Asian groups found 81 groups descended from founder events stronger than those in Finns or Ashkenazi Jews, 14 of them with census sizes above a million (Nakatsuka et al. 2017). Neighbouring communities can carry distinct genetic signatures, which a single regional label cannot show.

The report gives a state-level breakdown and a shortlist of the reference groups you are genetically closest to. It does not, and cannot, tell you your caste or certify your community: a closest match is a statement of genetic similarity.

The deep ancestry layers

Most South Asians descend from a mix of two ancestral populations, Ancestral North Indians and Ancestral South Indians, in proportions that vary from group to group (Reich et al. 2009). Ancient DNA has since traced those to deeper sources: ancient South Asian hunter-gatherers (AASI), ancestry related to ancient Iranian farmers and, later, Steppe pastoralist ancestry (Narasimhan et al. 2019). The report gives your ANI / ASI / AASI composition and your similarity to those ancient references. Our guide to ANI and ASI explains the background.

Haplogroups, if your file carries the markers

The report includes Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups only if your raw data contains Y and mitochondrial markers. LivingDNA delivers those as separate downloads, so your autosomal file may not carry enough of them, in which case that section will be limited.

LivingDNA results vs a South-Asian-focused report

Both columns come from the same measurement. The difference is what each compares you with.

Question	LivingDNA (World Panel)	Helixline upload report
Most of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal	One region: Indian subcontinent	State-level breakdown
North-west of the subcontinent	Named regions: Balochistan, Burusho, Kalash, Pashtun, Sindhi, plus South Central Asia	Compared within the same 140+ South Asian community reference groups
Community-level similarity	Not part of the regions list	Shortlist of closest community reference groups
Ancient ancestry layers	Not part of the regions list	ANI / ASI / AASI composition and ancient DNA similarity
Britain and Ireland	Detailed sub-regions on its UK panel, a real strength	Not the focus; global reference samples give the wider picture
Maternal and paternal lines	mtDNA and Y-DNA results with separate downloads	Haplogroups only if your file includes Y / mtDNA markers
Cost to you now	Already paid	₹1,999 / $25 / £19 one-time, or ₹3,999 / $50 / £39 with health

For many British South Asian families the most useful answer is both: LivingDNA for the British and European side, and a South-Asian-focused report for the rest.

Troubleshooting your LivingDNA file

You downloaded the wrong file

The mtDNA and Y-DNA downloads are not your ancestry file, and neither is a PDF or a screenshot of your results. Go back to the download step and choose the autosomal (family ancestry) option.

The file came as a .zip

Leave it zipped. Helixline reads the .zip directly, and re-zipping is where files most often get damaged. An unedited .txt from inside it is fine too.

The file looks too small

A file of a few hundred kilobytes is almost always a download that stopped early, not a small genome. Download it again on a stable connection and compare the sizes. Our raw DNA file check covers size, header, row count and chromosome coverage in five minutes.

You opened it in a spreadsheet and saved it

Saving from a spreadsheet can quietly change values and drop rows. Discard that copy and download a fresh one.

Your LivingDNA results came from another company's file

If you tested elsewhere and uploaded that file into LivingDNA, LivingDNA cannot give it back to you. Download the original from the company that tested you, for example with our AncestryDNA download guide, and upload that instead.

How to upload your LivingDNA file to Helixline

1. Go to helixline.in/upload and choose a report. Ancestry is ₹1,999 / $25 / £19. Complete, which adds health, is ₹3,999 / $50 / £39.
2. Continue to app.helixline.in, where you create an account or sign in, upload your file and pay.
3. Upload the autosomal file unchanged, as the .txt or the .zip LivingDNA gave you.
4. Wait for your results. They are normally ready within 24 hours of payment and a valid file, and you will get an email when they are.

Your data is stored encrypted in India, and you can delete your uploaded file from your dashboard at any time. For what this kind of report means for families like yours, read our guides for British Indians and South Asians in the UK and for the Pakistani diaspora. If you are weighing other services first, our guide to upload sites for South Asian ancestry and our comparison of upload services set out the options fairly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I download my LivingDNA raw data for free?

Yes. LivingDNA's help centre says customers who tested with a LivingDNA kit can download their raw data free of charge, including autosomal, mtDNA and Y-DNA data. You do it yourself from the Profiles area of your account at my.livingdna.com.

Which LivingDNA file should I upload to Helixline?

The autosomal file, which LivingDNA calls the family ancestry file. That is the file other services read. The mtDNA and Y-DNA downloads arrive as separate files and are not a substitute for it. Upload the autosomal file exactly as it downloaded, as a .txt or a .zip.

Why does LivingDNA show me only as Indian subcontinent?

At the time of writing, LivingDNA's World Panel lists seven South Asian regions. Five of them name populations or areas in the north-west of the subcontinent, and there is no separate region for places such as Gujarat, Bengal, Tamil Nadu or Sri Lanka. Families from those areas tend to land in the single region called Indian subcontinent. That is expected and does not mean your test failed.

Does Helixline accept LivingDNA .txt and .zip files?

Yes. The upload accepts raw data from 23andMe (v3, v4 and v5), AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA and LivingDNA, as an unmodified .txt or .zip file. Results are normally ready within 24 hours of payment and a valid file.

Will Helixline tell me my caste or exact community?

No, and no honest DNA test can. The report compares your DNA with 140+ South Asian community reference groups and shows the groups you are genetically closest to. That is a measure of genetic similarity, not a ruling on identity, and related communities often share very similar profiles.

Conclusion

LivingDNA does what it was built to do, and for British and European ancestry it does it in fine detail. For most South Asian families its answer is one region. The raw data behind that answer is yours, free to download in a few minutes: take the autosomal file, keep it unchanged, check it if it looks small, and it can be read again against references built for South Asia.

Read next: DNA ancestry for British Indians and South Asians in the UK.