SBI credit card forex markup

SBI credit card forex markup is 3.5% on most cards, including Cashback and SimplyCLICK, plus 18% GST on the fee — 4.13% in all. ELITE, AURUM, Tata Neu Infinity and MILES ELITE charge 1.99% (2.35% with GST).

Quick reference

SBI Card calls the markup its “foreign currency transaction fee”. Its Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC) set four tiers:

Two cards sit outside these tiers. SBI’s newer Key Fact Statement (dated 26 August 2026) removes IndiGo SBI Card ELITE from the 3.5% group but does not publish a rate for it, and says the fee is not applicable to the Krishak Unnati SBI Card.

SBI cards and their forex markup

Each row links to the SBI page the rate comes from, with the date we last checked it. The effective column adds 18% GST on the fee.

AURUM is also at 1.99% under the MITC, but it is not in the table because we have not confirmed which network it is issued on. Several cards come in more than one network variant (Tata Neu Infinity and BPCL OCTANE also on RuPay, SimplySAVE on RuPay and Mastercard); the MITC lists the fee by card name and does not vary it by network.

How much does SBI charge for a forex transaction?

The fee is a percentage of the rupee amount, not of the foreign price. SBI’s terms say the fee “will be applied on the INR converted amount shared by the network”: Visa or Mastercard first converts the bill into rupees, SBI takes its percentage of that figure, and GST at 18% is charged on the fee.

Take a USD 100 purchase converted at 96.42 rupees to the dollar.

On the standard card the fee and its GST come to ₹398.21 per hundred dollars; on a 1.99% card they come to ₹226.42, a saving of ₹171.79. Whether that saving outweighs a premium card’s annual fee depends on how much you spend abroad; treat the annual fee as the cost and the markup saved as the return in the ROI calculator.

The network’s rate is not the one a search engine shows. SBI’s MITC says the conversion rate is set by the network on the date the transaction settles with SBI Card, which can be later than the day you paid, so the rupee figure on your statement may not match a rate you looked up at the till.

Does SBI charge a fee if I pay in rupees abroad?

Yes, usually. A shop, hotel or ATM abroad may offer to bill you in rupees instead of the local currency; that is dynamic currency conversion (DCC). On many cards, choosing rupees moves the conversion cost into the merchant’s exchange rate instead of a card fee. SBI cards charge a fee either way.

SBI’s MITC lists a separate “Dynamic Currency Conversion Fee” at the same four rates: 3.5% on most cards, 3% on MILES, 2.5% on MILES PRIME and 1.99% on AURUM, ELITE, Prime NRI secured, Tata Neu Infinity and MILES ELITE. It is “charged on transactions greater than or equal to Rs.1,000 carried out in Indian Currency at an international location or at merchants located in India but registered overseas.”

So the common advice to “pay in rupees and skip the markup” does not work on an SBI card. Below ₹1,000 there is no DCC fee, but at ₹1,000 or more you pay SBI’s percentage and GST on the rupee bill, on top of whatever margin the merchant built into its own conversion rate. The second part of the rule covers merchants located in India but registered overseas: paying one of them in rupees counts too, even though you never left India.

The practical answer is to pay in the local currency abroad. You then pay SBI’s foreign currency transaction fee once, on the network’s rate, rather than SBI’s fee on top of a merchant-set rate.

Variations by card

• MILES, MILES PRIME and MILES ELITE are the only SBI cards with three different rates in one family: 3%, 2.5% and 1.99%. Upgrading within the family lowers the markup at each step.
• PRIME versus Prime NRI secured. Only the NRI secured version gets 1.99%; the regular PRIME card pays the standard 3.5%.
• IndiGo SBI Card ELITE. Excluded from the 3.5% group in the August 2026 Key Fact Statement, with no rate stated. Check your card’s own terms before you travel.
• Krishak Unnati SBI Card. The Key Fact Statement says the foreign currency transaction fee is not applicable to it.

Common mistakes

• Reading 3.5% as the full cost. GST is charged on the fee, so the cost is 4.13% of the converted amount, or 2.35% on a 1.99% card.
• Expecting the fee back after a refund. SBI does not reverse the foreign currency transaction fee or the currency conversion fee when the merchant refunds you, so a cancelled booking still costs you the fee and its GST.
• Assuming a rupee price means no fee. At ₹1,000 or more, a rupee transaction abroad or with an overseas-registered merchant carries the DCC fee at your card’s rate.
• Assuming every ELITE-branded card gets 1.99%. SBI Card ELITE does; IndiGo SBI Card ELITE is treated separately and has no published rate.

To compare an SBI card with cards from other Indian banks, or to see how much a specific bill costs on your card, use the forex markup calculator; its list of zero-markup cards shows the issuers that charge nothing. If you are saving up for the trip, the SIP calculator projects a monthly saving plan, and the inflation calculator shows what today’s travel budget will cost in a few years.