Axis and Kotak Mahindra raise DCC fees for international purchases
Heading abroad and planning to swipe your Indian card?
Heads up, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are raising their dynamic currency conversion (DCC) fees for international purchases, with Axis increasing fees on credit cards and Kotak on debit cards.
DCC lets you pay in rupees when you shop overseas, but now it's going to cost a bit more for those card types.
Axis credit, Kotak Mahindra debit hikes
Axis Bank will bump up DCC charges on MyZone, Select, Privilege, and Neo credit cards from 1.5% to 3.5% starting August 28, 2026.
Magnus card fees go up to 2%, and Olympus to 1.8%.
For Kotak Mahindra debit cards, the DCC fee jumps from 1% plus GST to 3.5% plus GST beginning August 1, 2026, matching what most banks charge for foreign currency transactions these days.
ICICI Bank matched hikes, experts caution
ICICI Bank already made a similar move last month, hiking DCC fees on its debit cards to the same rate.
Experts say these hikes help banks cover extra costs tied to global transactions while keeping things fair between different types of payments.
Just remember: with DCC, merchants set the exchange rate, and banks add their own fee on top, so it pays to check before you tap or swipe abroad.