SWIFT charges are the layered fees deducted when money moves through the SWIFT network, and they are the reason an Indian exporter almost always receives less than the invoice amount.
They are sometimes called telegraphic transfer (TT) charges, the older name Indian banks still use for the same outward and inward wire.
In practice a single wire carries four distinct costs: the sender's bank fee, one or more correspondent (intermediary) "lifting" charges deducted mid-route, the receiving bank's inward charge in India, and a hidden foreign-exchange markup baked into the conversion rate.
The first three are visible if you know where to look. The fourth, the FX markup, is where most of the money quietly goes.
Together these charges commonly cost 1% to 3.5% of the transfer once the exchange-rate margin is counted, far more than the flat fee your bank advertises.
They sit alongside the wider set of bank charges for foreign remittance that an exporter meets on every receipt.
This guide breaks down each layer, sets out what the major Indian banks charge, explains the OUR, BEN and SHA charge codes, and walks through a worked example on a $4,000 payment so you can see exactly what lands.
It is written for ITeS and SMB exporters in India receiving payments from overseas clients. It is educational, not financial advice.
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What are SWIFT charges made of?
SWIFT itself is a messaging network. It does not move money; it moves payment instructions between banks.
Understanding how SWIFT payments work helps here: your client's bank sends an MT103 instruction, and the funds settle bank to bank along a chain of institutions that hold accounts with each other.
Every institution that touches the payment can take a cut, which is why the charges are plural.
There are four layers to know.
Sender's bank fee
A flat outbound charge your overseas client's bank levies to originate the wire. Your client usually pays this, so it rarely reduces what you receive, but it shapes which charge code they pick.
Correspondent or intermediary "lifting" charges
When the sending bank has no direct relationship with the Indian receiving bank, the payment hops through one or more correspondent banks.
Each hop can deduct a lifting fee, typically $15 to $50 per bank, taken straight out of the principal. Two hops means two deductions, and you are rarely told in advance how many there will be.
Receiving bank charge
Your Indian bank may levy a handling fee on the foreign inward remittance, plus documentation charges such as a Foreign Inward Remittance Advice. These are usually modest, often a few hundred rupees, but they attract GST.
FX markup (the hidden layer)
The bank converts the incoming foreign currency to rupees at its own rate, not the mid-market rate.
That spread, commonly 1% to 3% above the interbank rate, is the single largest cost on most transfers and never appears as a line item.
The flat fees are visible. The markup is not, which is why the amount received rarely matches the maths you did on the invoice.
SWIFT fee anatomy: the four layers and typical ranges
The table below sets out the typical charge for each layer on a mid-sized inward payment to India. Ranges are indicative and vary by bank, currency and route.
| Fee layer | Who charges it | Typical range | Visible to you? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sender's bank fee | Client's originating bank | ₹500 to ₹15,000 equivalent, or a flat $25 to $50 | Yes, on sender's advice |
| Correspondent / lifting fee | Each intermediary bank in the chain | $15 to $50 per hop, often 1 to 3 hops | Rarely, deducted in transit |
| Receiving bank charge | Your Indian bank | ₹0 to ₹500 plus documentation | Partly |
| FX markup | Your Indian bank (converting to INR) | 1% to 3% above mid-market rate | No, embedded in the rate |
On top of the FX conversion, Indian banks apply 18% GST on foreign exchange on the taxable value of the currency-exchange service, calculated on a prescribed slab under Rule 32 of the CGST Rules.
It is small on a single transfer but adds up over a year of monthly settlements.
The uncomfortable truth is that the two costs you can see most clearly, the sender fee and the receiving charge, are usually the smallest.
The correspondent deductions and the FX markup, the two you can see least, are usually the largest.
SWIFT charges by Indian bank: SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis and more
Most searches for bank-specific SWIFT charges want one thing: what will my own bank take on an inward wire.
The picture mirrors the outbound side, where the wire transfer charges from USA to India stack up in the same layered way.
The honest answer is that Indian banks publish an inward remittance handling fee and a documentation fee, but the largest cost, the FX conversion spread, sits inside the exchange rate and is not in any published schedule.
The table below shows the structure each major bank charges on an inward SWIFT or TT payment. Treat the figures as indicative; verify the current schedule on your bank's website, as these revise periodically. All are subject to 18% GST.
| Bank | Inward remittance / handling fee (indicative) | Documentation (FIRC/FIRA) | FX conversion spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| State Bank of India (SBI) | Handling charge per credit, plus commission where the sender pays no charges | FIRC on request, chargeable | Set inside the TT buying rate, not published |
| HDFC Bank | Inward remittance charge per transaction | FIRA/FIRC issued, fee per certificate | TT buying rate spread |
| ICICI Bank | Inward wire handling fee per credit | FIRA on request, per-certificate fee | TT buying rate spread |
| Axis Bank | Inward remittance processing fee | FIRC/FIRA chargeable | TT buying rate spread |
| Union Bank of India | Inward remittance commission per credit | FIRC on request | TT buying rate spread |
Two points matter more than the exact rupee figures. First, the published fees are the small part; the conversion spread you are not shown is the big part. Second, the fee named on your advice is only your bank's slice.
The correspondent lifting fees deducted before the money reached India never appear on your Indian bank's schedule at all, because a different bank took them in transit through its nostro and vostro accounts.
Who pays SWIFT charges? OUR, BEN and SHA explained
When your client sets up a wire, their bank asks how the charges should be split. This is the "details of charges" field, and it takes one of three codes.
Which one your client picks decides who absorbs the correspondent lifting fees, and therefore how much reaches you.
| Charge code | Who pays the fees | What you receive | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| OUR | Sender pays all charges, including correspondent fees | Full amount, minus only the FX markup | Exporters who need the exact invoice value |
| SHA | Sender pays their bank; you absorb correspondent and receiving fees | Amount minus lifting fees and your bank's charge | The common default |
| BEN | Recipient pays all charges, deducted from the transfer | Least, all fees come from your money | Rarely favourable to exporters |
OUR
means the sender covers everything, so the correspondent lifting fees are billed back to their account rather than skimmed from the principal. You still lose the FX markup on conversion, but the flat fees do not touch your money.
SHA
(shared) is the default on most platforms. The sender pays their own bank's outbound fee, and every downstream charge comes out of the amount in transit. This is why a SHA payment nearly always lands short.
BEN
loads all charges onto you, the beneficiary. Avoid asking clients for BEN unless there is a specific reason.
If receiving the exact invoiced amount matters, ask your clients to send OUR and state it on the invoice. It is a one-line request that can save you the lifting fees on every payment.
Worked example: what actually lands from a $4,000 wire
Assume a US client sends $4,000 on a SHA basis, the most common setup. Suppose the mid-market rate that day is ₹87.50 per dollar. At the true rate, $4,000 is worth ₹3,50,000.
Here is what typically happens on the way to your account.
Step 1, correspondent lifting fee
The payment routes through one intermediary bank, which deducts $20. Now $3,980 arrives at your Indian bank.
Step 2, FX conversion at the bank's rate
Your bank converts at its TT buying rate, roughly 2% below mid-market, so about ₹85.75 per dollar. $3,980 × ₹85.75 = ₹3,41,285.
Step 3, GST on the conversion
On this slab, the taxable value is around ₹2,240, and 18% GST is roughly ₹403.
Step 4, receiving and documentation charge
Your bank levies about ₹200 plus GST, roughly ₹236 in total.
Net credited to your account: about ₹3,40,646. Against the ₹3,50,000 the money was truly worth, you have lost around ₹9,354, or about 2.7% of the transfer. The $20 lifting fee is a small part of that.
The 2% FX markup is the bulk. Multiply it across a year of monthly client settlements and the markup alone runs into lakhs.
Had the same client sent OUR instead, the lifting fee would be billed back to them, so the full $4,000 reaches your bank for conversion and you keep roughly ₹1,713 more.
The FX markup still applies either way, so OUR protects your principal from the flat fees but not from the rate spread.
See what a wire to India actually costs before it lands
Why is the amount received less than the amount sent?
Three things stack up between what your client sends and what you see credited.
Correspondent deductions
On SHA and BEN payments, each intermediary bank lifts its fee from the principal in transit. Because you cannot control how many hops a payment takes, the total is unpredictable, which is the most common complaint exporters raise.
If the same $4,000 routes through two correspondent banks rather than one, a first hop lifts $20 and a second lifts $18, so only $3,962 reaches India, and you learn the final count only after the money lands.
FX markup
Your bank buys your dollars below the mid-market rate and keeps the difference. This is legal and invisible on the statement, and it is usually the largest single cost.
Local charges and GST
The receiving fee, documentation charge and 18% GST are individually small but real. Note that inward export receipts do not attract TCS on foreign remittance, which applies to money you send out, not money you receive.
There is a fourth factor worth naming: reconciliation. Because the deductions are unpredictable, the figure your client says they sent and the figure you record almost never match.
For a business filing GST returns and matching receipts to invoices, every shortfall has to be explained against the invoice, and the intermediary deductions are the hardest to evidence because they arrive undocumented.
If you want the timing side of this, our guide to SWIFT transfer time covers why multi-hop routing also slows the money down.
FIRC, FIRA and other documentation charges
Beyond the transfer fees, two documentation costs catch exporters out.
Your bank issues a foreign inward remittance certificate or advice as proof of the receipt, and most banks charge per certificate, which you will need for GST refunds and export records.
If a payment is sent to the wrong details, an amendment or cancellation request carries its own fee, often larger than the original wire charge, and it delays the credit.
Getting your bank details and SWIFT code right at the invoice stage avoids both. Platforms that generate an eFIRA automatically remove the per-certificate cost and the follow-up request entirely.
How can Indian exporters reduce SWIFT costs?
You cannot remove SWIFT charges entirely on a traditional wire, but you can shrink them.
Ask clients to send OUR, not SHA
This shifts the correspondent lifting fees to the sender and protects your principal. State it on every invoice.
Reduce the number of hops
Payments that route through fewer correspondent banks lose less. Sharing your correct bank details and SWIFT code up front helps your client's bank pick a cleaner route.
Compare the rate, not just the fee
A provider advertising "no fees" but quoting a 3% spread is dearer than one charging a small visible fee at the mid-market rate. Always work out the effective rate.
Consolidate small payments
Fixed lifting and documentation charges hurt proportionally more on small transfers.
A single $20 lifting fee is 4% of a $500 receipt but only 0.4% of a $5,000 one, the same flat charge costing ten times as much in percentage terms on the smaller sum.
Where your contract allows, fewer larger settlements cost less per dollar. For more levers, see our guide to reduce international payment fees.
Consider a modern cross-border rail for inward payments
For recurring export receipts, purpose-built cross-border payments for service exporters often settle closer to the mid-market rate with the fees shown openly.
SWIFT versus modern alternatives for India inward payments
SWIFT is the global standard for cross-border bank transfers, and for many situations it is entirely appropriate, particularly one-off payments, unusual currencies or corridors where local rails do not reach.
It is reliable and universally accepted, though weighing SWIFT vs local transfer options often changes the maths for regular receipts.
The trade-off is cost visibility: the multi-hop model and embedded FX markup make the true price hard to see before the money arrives.
If you want a fuller comparison of the network options, see our explainer on ACH vs Fedwire vs SWIFT and the roundup of SWIFT payment alternatives.
Xflow, for instance, settles inward payments to India at the live mid-market rate with fees shown openly, typically on a T+1 basis, so the conversion spread that drives most of a traditional wire's cost does not apply, though the exact difference depends on your bank and route.
TeachEdison, a software exporter, reported saving 60% on payment costs versus SWIFT and roughly 4x versus PayPal and Payoneer after switching.
Xflow holds final RBI PA-CB authorisation for exports and imports, is ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified, and generates eFIRA automatically for each receipt.
The point is not that SWIFT is bad. It is that for predictable, recurring export receipts, a rail built for that job usually costs less and shows you the price before, not after.
If you receive regularly, you can collect international payments at a transparent rate instead.
Receive your export payments at the live mid-market rate
RBI PA-CB authorised
T+1 settlement
Auto eFIRA & FIRC
Frequently asked questions
SWIFT charges are the layered fees deducted when money moves through the SWIFT network: the sender's bank fee, correspondent lifting fees at each intermediary bank, the receiving bank's charge, and a hidden FX markup on the currency conversion.
On an inward wire, expect a small receiving fee of a few hundred rupees, correspondent lifting fees of $15 to $50 per hop, and an FX conversion spread of 1% to 3%. The spread is usually the largest cost and is not shown as a fee.
Banks like SBI, HDFC, ICICI and Axis publish an inward remittance handling fee and a FIRC fee, but set the FX conversion spread inside the exchange rate. Check your bank's current schedule, as figures revise periodically.
It depends on the charge code. OUR means the sender pays all fees, SHA (the common default) splits them so you absorb the downstream fees, and BEN means you pay everything. OUR protects your principal best.
Yes. Telegraphic transfer is the older name Indian banks use for the same international wire sent over SWIFT, so a TT charge and a SWIFT charge refer to the same fees.
On SHA or BEN payments, correspondent banks deduct lifting fees from the principal in transit, and your bank converts below the mid-market rate. Those deductions plus the FX markup and local GST explain the shortfall.
Yes. Banks apply 18% GST on the taxable value of the foreign-exchange conversion service, calculated on a prescribed slab. It is small per transfer but recurring across regular settlements.
