Federal Bank Forex Rates: TT Rate & Charges

Federal Bank does not use one exchange rate. It publishes a forex rate sheet each working day and revises it through the day as the market moves.

When money reaches you from abroad, Federal Bank applies its TT (telegraphic transfer) buying rate, which sits below the live mid-market rate. That gap, the margin, is where most of the cost hides, and it is separate from the fees and the 18% GST on the conversion.

If you are an exporter or freelancer receiving payments, the TT buying rate on your credit advice decides your rupee payout, not the rate Federal Bank advertises.

If you receive export income regularly, you can collect international payments at the live mid-market rate and keep more of each invoice. This guide covers how Federal Bank sets each rate, what receiving money really costs, how to read today's number, and how the maths compares.

A "forex rate" is the price of one currency in another at a given moment. Banks quote it against the interbank rate, the wholesale price at which large institutions trade, then add a margin before passing it to you.

Federal Bank publishes several rates because each transaction type carries a different margin. If you want the plain-English version of how these numbers are built, start with forex rates.

The rates Federal Bank shows are indicative. The rate that actually applies is the one prevailing when your account is debited or credited, so a morning figure can shift by the time your transfer settles.

TT stands for telegraphic transfer, the electronic movement of money between banks across borders. Federal Bank uses two TT rates and a separate card rate.

• TT buying rate: the rate at which Federal Bank buys foreign currency from you and pays out rupees. This applies when you receive an inward remittance from a client abroad.
• TT selling rate: the rate at which Federal Bank sells you foreign currency, used when you send money out.
• Card rate: used for the forex card and cash, and it carries a wider margin than the TT rates.

For anyone receiving export income, the TT buying rate is the number that matters. A telegraphic transfer is the default rail behind most bank-to-bank inward payments. Here is an illustrative snapshot (as of July 2026).

The mid-market rate that day is around ₹89.40, so every Federal Bank rate sits a margin away from it.

Federal Bank is one of the banks that applies a small fee even on inward credits, so read this alongside the rate margin. As of July 2026, the fees an exporter or freelancer is likely to meet are set out below.

Unlike some banks that credit inward funds free, Federal Bank charges ₹250 plus a 0.125% commission (minimum ₹500) to receive. The TT buying rate margin then sits on top of that.

Banks revise these schedules periodically, so verify the current numbers on Federal Bank's own rates-and-charges page before you rely on a figure.

Fee-plus-margin billing like this is not unique to Federal Bank: City Union Bank forex rates follow a similar combined-charge structure on inward transfers.

Many people searching for Federal Bank forex charges are really asking about the Fi-Federal debit card, so it is worth being precise. The card's "zero forex markup" benefit is plan-dependent, not automatic.

On the Plus, Infinite, and Prime plans, the card charges no forex markup on international spends. On the Standard and Regular plans, a 3.5% markup applies, the same as most regular debit cards.

Issuance is free on Prime, Infinite, and salary plans, and ₹299 plus GST on the others. An ATM withdrawal abroad costs around ₹200 plus GST. So the no-forex-markup benefit is real, but only if you are on the right plan.

If you are comparing forex-card benefits across banks, DBS Bank forex rates use a similar plan-dependent markup structure on international card spends.

Every foreign exchange conversion in India attracts 18% GST. It is charged on a "value of supply" the RBI defines in slabs (in force since 1 July 2017), not on your full transfer amount, so it stays modest even on large sums.

The takeaway is simple. GST is a known, capped, and comparatively small cost. The exchange-rate margin is the variable you can actually influence.

Search "USD to INR" and you see the mid-market rate, the midpoint between global buy and sell prices. That is the fair reference rate, and no bank pays it out in full. The difference comes from three layers.

• Spread: Federal Bank applies a margin between the interbank rate and the rate it gives you, generally around 1.5% to 3% below mid-market on inward transfers, though it varies by day, currency, and relationship. This is the foreign exchange markup, rarely shown as a line item.
• Fees on top: because Federal Bank also charges ₹250 plus a 0.125% commission to receive, the total cost on a small inward transfer can feel high relative to the amount.
• Market volatility: the rate moves through the day. Because your transfer settles at the prevailing rate, not the quoted one, timing changes the outcome.

The cleanest way to see the true price is to compare the applied rate against the live mid-market rate on the same day.

Karnataka Bank forex rates sit in a comparable range too, though the exact spread depends on the currency and day. The same reading applies to canara bank forex rates and bank of baroda forex rates, where only the spread and flat charges differ by bank.

Say a client sends you USD 10,000 for a completed project, and the mid-market USD/INR rate that day is ₹89.40 (illustrative, as of July 2026).

• At the mid-market rate: 10,000 × 89.40 = ₹8,94,000
• At Federal Bank's TT buying rate, roughly 1.7% lower at about ₹87.90: 10,000 × 87.90 = ₹8,79,000
• Difference from the rate margin alone: about ₹15,000, before the ₹250 fee, the 0.125% commission, GST, and any FIRC fee.

That ₹15,000 is not a fee you approved. It is the spread, and it repeats on every transfer.

Over a year of monthly foreign inward remittance, the same margin quietly compounds into a meaningful sum. You can cross-check the reference number any day using usd to inr.

There are three reliable ways to find the rate, in order of accuracy.

• Federal Bank's forex rate sheet on its website, revised on working days. It lists TT and card rates per currency.
• Your account credit advice or FIRA, which records the exact rate applied to your specific transfer. This is the only rate that is truly yours.
• The branch or relationship manager, useful if you are negotiating on higher volumes.

A quoted morning rate is only a guide. The rate that lands is the one live at the moment of credit, which is why the FIRA figure and the morning quote rarely match to the paisa. For compliance, the FIRA is the document that proves both the inward remittance and the rate applied.

If you also hold an account elsewhere, our idfc bank forex rates guide walks through the same rate-checking process for that bank.

Xflow is a cross-border payments platform built around receiving accounts for Indian businesses and freelancers collecting money from abroad. The core difference is the reference rate.

Federal Bank marks up a hidden interbank rate and adds fees to receive. Xflow converts at the live mid-market rate and charges a transparent, visible fee, so you can see exactly what conversion costs. Its published pricing, as of July 2026, is below.

Take the same USD 10,000 invoice on the Growth plan. The fee is 0.4%, about USD 40 (roughly ₹3,576 at ₹89.40), and the conversion happens at the mid-market rate rather than a marked-down one.

You keep close to the mid-market payout minus a fee you can see, instead of losing the spread you never agreed to. On costs like these, the savings versus a bank spread can be significant, and the gap widens as volumes rise. Settlement is next business day (T+1), and each payment comes with an auto-issued eFIRA.

A few honest caveats belong here. If you already hold accounts, overdraft lines, and trade facilities with Federal Bank, consolidating can matter more than a few paise on rate.

For one-off or very small transfers, a flat fee can outweigh the rate saving. Run your own numbers on a typical invoice first, and read how to reduce international payment fees to see where the real leakage sits. For regular mid-to-large export receipts, the platform is used for cross-border payments for service exporters.

This is the fear that stops most exporters from switching, and it is worth addressing head-on. Receiving through a regulated platform does not break your regulatory trail.

Xflow holds final RBI Payment Aggregator – Cross Border (PA-CB) authorisation for both exports and imports (as of February 2026), works with AD-1 banks, and auto-issues an eFIRA for each payment.

Your purpose codes, GST refund workflow, and downstream reporting continue as before, and the bank FIRC route remains available. Compliance stays intact; the paperwork simply becomes less manual.

Federal Bank's forex rates are set by a daily rate sheet, and the TT buying rate, not the advertised number, decides what lands in your account. Federal Bank is also one of the banks that charges a fee to receive, so factor in the ₹250 plus 0.125% commission.

The 18% GST is small and capped. The exchange-rate margin of roughly 1.5% to 3% is the real cost on inward transfers, and it repeats every time.

Check the rate on your FIRA, compare it against the mid-market rate the same day, and if you receive export income regularly, run one invoice through a mid-market-rate platform to see the difference for yourself.

If you also bank elsewhere, our explainers on union bank forex rates and rbl bank forex rates apply the same method.