Best Exchange Rate API for India in 2026: 8 Compared for INR Rates, RBI Reference Rate, SBI TT and GST

An Indian developer shopping for an exchange rate API finds that almost every provider is built for dollar and euro users. They return a market rate for USD/INR and stop there. Indian accounting and tax work asks for something more specific: the RBI reference rate, the SBI telegraphic transfer buying rate that the income-tax rules name, and the customs rate CBIC notifies. Very few APIs carry those.

This comparison looks at eight exchange rate APIs from the point of view of a team in India. Free-tier limits and prices were read from each provider's own pricing page on 10 November 2026; they change often, so confirm before you commit.

What a team in India needs from an exchange rate API

• Live INR pairs for pricing, remittance quotes and dashboards.
• The RBI reference rate (computed and announced by FBIL since July 2018) for accounting and FEMA-side reporting.
• The SBI TT buying rate, which income-tax Rule 115 names for converting foreign income.
• CBIC-notified customs rates, which CGST Rule 34 names for the value of goods; services follow generally accepted accounting principles.
• History by date for invoices, year-end and audit.

Quick comparison

The Indian rates and what they are for

• RBI reference rate. The daily reference rate for USD, EUR, GBP and JPY against the rupee, computed and announced by Financial Benchmarks India (FBIL) and listed in the RBI's Reference Rate Archive.
• SBI TT buying rate. Rule 115 of the Income-tax Rules converts foreign-currency income at the telegraphic transfer buying rate, defined by reference to the rate adopted by the State Bank of India. SBI publishes it as a daily PDF that is overwritten each day.
• CBIC exchange rates. Rule 34 of the CGST Rules values goods at the rate of exchange notified by the Board under section 14 of the Customs Act, and services at the rate determined under generally accepted accounting principles.

The point for choosing an API: a market mid-rate and an official table are different products. A market rate is right for showing a customer a price. It is not the figure a tax form or an auditor asks for.

The eight providers

1. AllRatesToday

Best for: teams that need both kinds of rate. Mid-market rates for 160+ currencies refresh every 60 seconds on every plan, on any base currency, over HTTPS. The same key serves the official tables of 123 central banks and 6 tax authorities, each with the publisher's own date. For India that means: RBI reference rate, CBIC customs rates, SBI and six more bank TT boards. Output is JSON, CSV, XML or Excel from the same endpoints, with SDKs for JavaScript, Python, PHP, Go and Rust and an MCP server for AI agents. Paid plans start at €4.99 a month; dated tables and history are on paid plans.

2. Frankfurter

Best for: projects that only need official fixings and want them free. Frankfurter is open source, needs no key and has no monthly cap. It now aggregates 111 central banks and official sources. For India its source list covers: FBIL reference rate; no CBIC, no bank TT rates. It serves official fixings, not a live market rate, and it is a free service with no paid tier or support contract.

3. ExchangeRate-API

Best for: dashboards and reports that need volume and can live with one update a day. The free plan gives 1,500 requests a month with daily updates; the Pro plan is $10 a month for 30,000 requests with hourly updates. Rates are a blended market figure, not a named institution's table.

4. Open Exchange Rates

Best for: teams that want a long-established vendor and work from a US dollar base. The free plan gives 1,000 requests a month with hourly updates on a USD base; other base currencies start with the $12 a month plan.

5. CurrencyAPI

Best for: small private projects. The free plan gives 300 requests a month with daily updates and is for private use only; paid plans start at $12.99 a month.

6. Fixer

Best for: teams already on the apilayer marketplace. The free plan gives 100 calls a month with hourly updates for non-commercial use, and base-currency switching is listed only on paid plans, which start at $14.99 a month.

7. currencylayer

Best for: the same apilayer stack with a dollar source. The free plan gives 100 calls a month with daily updates for non-commercial use; paid plans start at $14.99 a month.

8. XE Currency Data

Best for: banks and large companies that need a recognised vendor on an annual contract. There is a trial but no free plan; the entry plan is $599 a year for 10,000 requests a month with daily rates.

Try it for INR

# live mid-market rate
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=USD&target=INR" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

# RBI reference rate, today's table
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/open/central-bank/rbi"

# SBI TT buying and selling rate
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/open/bank-rates/in/sbi?ccy=USD"

The first call needs a free API key. The official table responses carry the table's own date, so you can show which publication a figure came from.

Which one should you pick?

FAQ

What is the best exchange rate API for India in 2026?

For live INR rates together with the RBI reference rate, CBIC customs rates and SBI TT rates, AllRatesToday. For the FBIL reference rate alone, free and without a key, Frankfurter. For a large free quota of daily market rates, ExchangeRate-API.

Is there an RBI exchange rate API?

The RBI and FBIL publish the reference rate on their websites without a public developer API. AllRatesToday serves the RBI table as JSON, CSV, XML and Excel, and Frankfurter lists FBIL among its sources.

Which API gives the SBI TT buying rate?

AllRatesToday serves the State Bank of India telegraphic transfer board, along with six other Indian banks, as JSON. General currency APIs return a market rate, which is not the rate Rule 115 names.

Which exchange rate should a GST invoice use?

Under CGST Rule 34, goods use the rate CBIC notifies under the Customs Act and services use the rate determined under generally accepted accounting principles for the date of supply.