Disclaimer – The cards about to be mentioned in this article “Best Forex Cards For Students In India – Only List You Need” are not technically “Forex Cards” but cards that offer “Zero Forex Markup”
I’m sure everyone who has been on a trip abroad somewhere around 2-3 years ago know about the typical forex cards. You load them with certain currency at a fix rate, then you can reload it when you run out of balance on it. The exchange rate is fixed for your spends at the time of loading itself. This is because you’re holding converted currency in a digital prepaid form. And then there are variants of it for single currency vs multi-currency.
Yeah, they are slowly becoming or have already become a thing of the past. There has been a revolution lately, a range of debit cards and credit cards have started offering zero forex markup. And in this blog, we will be exploring and comparing three debit cards and four credit cards which offer zero forex markup. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of zero forex markup cards, but we have selected the cards out of entire bunch on the basis of its suitability for students going to study abroad.
What is Zero Forex Markup?
Forex Markup is usually a percentage fee that is charged on top of international transactions or transactions in a different currency. And zero forex markup is when no additional percentage fee is charged on top of the currency conversion which is done at the card’s network Interbank forex rate such as VISA, mastercard etc.
You can check what interbank rates are for VISA here – Currency Converter – Exchange Rate Calculator | Visa. Do not forget to adjust the bank fee % to 0 if you are using a zero-forex markup card.
Why Zero Forex Markup Cards?
The reason why people shifted to typical prepaid load to use type of forex cards is because most debit cards and credit cards allowing international transactions or international ATM withdrawals till date charge poor conversion rates on foreign ATMs/POS and exorbitant markup fees on each transaction. The typical forex cards witnessed good adoption over the past decade for people willing to save money that was earlier being lost on poor conversion rates and markup fees.
But now people are shifting back to debit cards and credit cards for international transactions, not to just about any debit or credit card, only the ones which offer zero forex markup and small flat ATM withdrawal charges.
Best Forex Cards For Students In India
Or for a technically more accurate term “Best Zero Forex Markup Cards For Students In India”. We will first do the basic details and then a side-by-side comparison on fees, charges and various other metrics. Here’s my curated list of zero forex markup cards both debit and credit that you can check out before you leave for your educational journey abroad –
Debit Cards With Zero Forex Markup
I personally feel that Debit Cards are more suitable for students who are going abroad for undergrad as they might not have a credit history enabling them to secure a credit card. Also, a bigger reason why debit cards are more suitable is because it makes cash withdrawals affordable and easy with a marginal flat fee whereas cash withdrawals on credit cards are a big no most of the times due to hefty cash advance fee and interest on withdrawn money since the day of withdrawal.
1. Niyo Global Equitas Zero Forex Debit Card
The Niyo Global Equitas Zero Forex Card is a Debit Card from a zero minimum balance digital savings account in partnership with Equitas Small Finance Bank that offers up to 7% interest on your savings and zero forex markup charges on international transactions. It is exclusively offered to Indian passport holders who have a Niyo Global digital savings account. The card is available in both physical and virtual variants, but the virtual card allows only online domestic transactions. This card has a host of benefits such as Zero TCS on spends up to ₹7 lacs, Domestic Lounge Access and Upto 1% cashback* on domestic spends.
2. Niyo Global DCB Zero Forex Debit Card
The Niyo Global DCB Bank Zero Forex Debit Card is a debit card pretty much similar to Niyo Global Equitas Zero Forex Card except for the fact that is comes in partnership with DCB Bank. This savings account is also zero minimum balance. And similar to the equitas variant, it also has zero forex markup charges on international transactions. And similar benefits such as Zero TCS on spends up to ₹7 lacs, Domestic Lounge Access and Upto 1% cashback* on domestic spends.
3. Fi Money Federal Bank Debit Card
The Fi Money Federal Bank Debit Card is a debit card comes with a digital savings account launched by Fi Money in collaboration with Federal Bank. They earlier had no tier system that breaks benefits tier wise. But they recently rolled out four tiers as Standard, Plus, Infinite and Salary. The tier most suitable for students in our opinion is Plus as it requires only an avg. monthly minimum balance of INR 10,000 and offers zero forex markup on spends upto INR 50,000 a month. However, if you have a bigger monthly spend requirement, then you can opt for the Infinite tier that requires an avg. monthly minimum balance of INR 50,000 and offers unlimited zero forex markup.
Credit Cards With Zero Forex Markup
If you are someone who is going abroad for master’s and you have been a working professional, someone with an income source in the past, credit history and probably a credit score. Then you can go for typical credit cards which offer you a credit limit on the basis of your credit score. But if you are a student with none of the above mentioned then you can go for an Fixed Deposit secured credit card where your credit card limit is dependent on the amount of your Fixed Deposit.
One key thing to note here that except for the FD Secured Credit cards in our list, the other cards are not really suitable for cash withdrawals due to high fees and interest.
1. Scapia Federal Bank Credit Card
Scapia is a newly launched credit card in collaboration with Federal Bank. It is a lifetime free card with no joining fee or annual fee, and it offers zero forex markup on POS transactions and online transactions. It also offers 2%-4% cashback on all spends along with unlimited domestic lounge access if you have a monthly spend above INR 5000. The card is travel centric wherein the cashback you earn on spends as scapia coins could be used to book flights and hotels within the app. Annual Interest rate of this card is 41.88%.
2. RBL World Safari Credit Card
RBL World Safari is a credit card is a travel centric credit card which has a joining fee and annual fee of INR 3000. + GST. The card offers zero forex markup on POS transactions and online transactions. There is a welcome benefit of INR 3000 MakeMyTrip voucher. The card does not really offer any significant additional advantage over Scapia and rather it has an annual fee making it for expensive. But just for the sake of another option, you can check it out. Annual Interest rate of this card is 47.88%.
3. Niyo Global SBM Credit Card
Niyo Global SBM credit card is a Fixed Deposit secured credit card which has an annual maintenance fee of INR 500. It offers zero forex markup on POS and online transactions. It also offers cheap cash withdrawals at flat INR 300 + GST. There’s no lounge access on this card. If you feel like a you need a credit card which can also be used for cash withdrawals. Annual Interest rate of this card is 36%.
4. IDFC First Wow Credit Card
IDFC First Wow Credit card is a Fixed Deposit secured credit card with zero Joining/ Membership/ Annual fee. It offers zero forex markup on POS and online transactions. It also offers cheap cash withdrawals at with interest-free for up to 48 days (30 days billing cycle + 18 days payment period). There’s a cash advance fee of INR 199 + GST. There’s no lounge access on this card as well. Annual Interest rate of this card is 42%. IDFC First Wow card is very similar to Niyo Global SBM Credit Card. However, I feel the rewards program, fees and charges are better than Niyo Global SBM.
Comparison of Best Forex Cards For Students In India
| Card Name | Annual Fee | International Cash Withdrawal | Lounge Access |
| Niyo Equitas | ₹199 + GST | ₹110+ GST | 1 Per Quarter Domestic |
| Niyo DCB | ₹500 after 1st year, free if avg quarterly balance ₹5000 | ₹300 + GST | 1 Per Quarter Domestic |
| Fi Federal (Plus) | Free if annual spend > ₹25000 or else ₹199 + GST | ₹100+ GST | None |
| Scapia Federal | Free | 2.5% (min Rs.500) | Unlimited Domestic on ₹5000 monthly spend |
| RBL World Safari | ₹3000+GST | 2.5% (min Rs.500) | 2 Per Quarter Domestic & 2 Per Year International via Priority pass |
| Niyo SBM | ₹500 after 1st year | ₹300 + GST | None |
| IDFC First WOW | Free | ₹199 + GST | None |
Conclusion – Verdict: Best Forex Card For Indian Students
All the cards that we have picked for this curated list are anyway really good. But, if I had to choose one out of these for being the best forex card for Indian Student, I would choose the Niyo Global Equitas Debit Card as it offers zero forex markup, cheap cash withdrawals abroad, low annual maintenance fee and even 1 lounge access per quarter. I mean for that level of charges, the host of benefits, privileges and perks are immense. It seems like a no brainer to just go with it and not give a lot of second thought on deciding which one you should get.
We still have put forwards a good metric-based comparison on the table above for you to choose the one that suits your requirements the most. If you have any doubts, questions or queries. Feel free to comment down below and we will help you.
