Exchange Rate API for India: RBI Reference, CBIC Customs, Bank TT and Live INR Rates

One exchange rate API for India: RBI/FBIL reference rates, CBIC customs rates, TT buying and selling rates from SBI, Axis, BoB and four more banks, and live INR market rates for 160+ currencies. JSON, CSV, XLSX. Free key, keyless official rates.

By Madhushan, Founder & Lead Developer · Updated 1 Nov 2026

Exchange Rate API for India

Indian finance and engineering teams do not need one exchange rate. They need four, and the law decides which one applies: the RBI reference rate for accounting and most contracts, the CBIC customs rate for imports and exports, a bank's TT rate for income-tax Rule 115 and remittances, and the live market rate for pricing. This API returns all of them against INR, with the date each one belongs to.

Which INR rate applies to what

The three official sources above are read from the publisher's own page or notification and never revised afterwards, so a figure you fetched for a past date is the figure the auditor will find. How the four numbers differ on a given day is worked through in RBI reference rate vs SBI card rate vs market rate.

RBI / FBIL reference rate

The reference rate is computed by FBIL and listed by the RBI for USD, EUR, GBP and JPY, with the RBI archive adding AED and a few other pairs. The endpoint needs no key and returns the latest table with the publication time, so a job scheduled for 2 pm IST always gets today's rate.

# RBI / FBIL reference rates for today — no key
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/open/central-bank/rbi"

{
  "bank": "rbi",
  "rate_date": "2026-10-30",
  "cadence": "daily",
  "available_by_utc": "09:15",
  "publisher_timezone": "Asia/Kolkata",
  "rates": [
    { "base": "USD", "quote": "INR", "type": "reference", "value": 95.2492 },
    { "base": "EUR", "quote": "INR", "type": "reference", "value": 106.5451 },
    { "base": "GBP", "quote": "INR", "type": "reference", "value": 127.6015 },
    { "base": "AED", "quote": "INR", "type": "reference", "value": 25.9332 }
  ]
}

Dated lookups and the full archive back to the first FBIL table are on the Official Rates plan; the Python example below pulls a month as CSV. There are ready-made guides for Google Sheets, Excel and Python and for Zoho Books and TallyPrime.

import requests

# Reference rate for a booking date (Official Rates plan)
r = requests.get(
    "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/central-bank/rbi/history",
    params={"from": "2026-09-01", "to": "2026-09-30", "format": "csv"},
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer art_live_your_key"},
)
open("rbi-september.csv", "wb").write(r.content)

In Google Sheets, one formula puts today's USD/INR reference rate in a cell:

=QUERY(IMPORTDATA("https://allratestoday.com/api/open/central-bank/rbi?format=csv"),
       "select * where Col1 = 'USD'", 1)

CBIC customs exchange rate

Customs valuation does not use the RBI rate. Section 14 of the Customs Act points to the rate the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs notifies, normally twice a month, with separate import and export columns for 22 currencies. The API stores every notification from 2020 with its effective date, so a bill of entry dated in a past fortnight resolves to the right table.

# CBIC customs exchange rates (import and export columns) — no key
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/open/central-bank/cbic"

{
  "bank": "cbic",
  "rate_date": "2026-10-16",
  "cadence": "fortnightly",
  "rates": [
    { "base": "USD", "quote": "INR", "type": "import", "value": 95.45 },
    { "base": "USD", "quote": "INR", "type": "export", "value": 93.70 },
    { "base": "AED", "quote": "INR", "type": "import", "value": 26.65 },
    { "base": "AED", "quote": "INR", "type": "export", "value": 25.15 }
  ]
}

The CBIC customs rate guide covers the notification cycle, and exchange rate for GST invoices explains when CGST Rule 34 sends you to the customs rate and when it sends you to GAAP.

Bank TT card rates: SBI, Axis, BoB and more

Rule 115 of the Income-tax Rules uses the State Bank of India's telegraphic transfer buying rate, and exporters compare bank cards before converting a receipt. The API captures the published card of seven Indian banks several times a day and reports each rate next to the RBI reference so the spread is visible.

# SBI TT buying/selling card, one currency — no key
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/open/bank-rates/in/sbi?ccy=USD"

{
  "bank": "sbi",
  "name": "State Bank of India",
  "basis": "Telegraphic transfer",
  "bank_updated_at": "31-10-2026 Time 10:11 AM",
  "ccy": "USD",
  "buy": 94.36,
  "sell": 95.21,
  "mid": 94.785,
  "official": 95.2492,
  "vs_official_pct": -0.49
}

Live INR market rates

For pricing and conversion the mid-market rate is refreshed every 60 seconds for INR against 160+ currencies, in either direction. A free key covers it; add amount to get the converted figure in the same response.

# Live mid-market USD/INR, refreshed every 60 seconds (free key)
curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/v1/rates?source=USD&target=INR&amount=1000" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer art_live_your_key"

The USD to INR API in Python walkthrough builds a small converter with caching, and the SDKs for JavaScript, Python, PHP, Go and Rust wrap the same call.

Indian rules that name a rate

• Customs Act s.14 and CGST Rule 34(1): CBIC-notified rate for goods. Guide.
• Income-tax Rule 115: SBI TT buying rate on the specified date. Guide.
• FEMA and transfer pricing: the rate the documentation chooses must be defensible and consistent; the RBI reference is the usual anchor. Guide.
• Ind AS 21 and book closing: spot rate on the transaction date, closing rate at period end. Guide.

These guides describe the rules as published; confirm the treatment for your facts with your chartered accountant.

Endpoints used on this page

Every table endpoint accepts &format=json|csv|xml|xlsx. The keyless endpoints are CORS-open and can be called from a browser or a spreadsheet; the keyed ones are for servers. Full reference in the documentation.

Frequently asked questions

Which exchange rate should an Indian business use?

It depends on the rule you are complying with. Customs valuation uses the CBIC-notified rate for the date of the bill of entry or shipping bill. Income-tax conversions under Rule 115 use the SBI telegraphic transfer buying rate. Ind AS 21 and most audit work accept the RBI/FBIL reference rate as the spot rate. Pricing, quotes and cross-border payments use the live market rate. The API serves all four so you can apply the right one.

Is the RBI reference rate the same as the FBIL rate?

Yes. Since 10 July 2018 Financial Benchmarks India Ltd (FBIL) computes and publishes the reference rate, and the RBI lists it in its Reference Rate Archive. Our RBI table is read from that archive, so the numbers match what FBIL announces at around 1:30 pm IST.

Does the API publish the CBIC customs rate?

Yes. Each CBIC notification, usually effective from the first and third Friday of the month, is stored with its import and export columns for all 22 notified currencies. The open endpoint returns the notification in force today and the Official Rates plan returns any past date.

Which Indian banks are covered?

State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Union Bank of India. Each card is captured several times a day with its buy, sell and mid rates and the gap to the RBI reference rate.

Is there a free plan, and can I use it commercially?

A free API key covers live rates and conversion for personal and evaluation use, with no card. The keyless official-rate endpoints (RBI, CBIC and the bank cards) are free for commercial use as well, provided the page or report that shows the rates links back to allratestoday.com. Dated history needs a paid plan, from €4.99 a month.

Can I pay in rupees?

Plans are priced in euros and charged by card through Stripe, which accepts Indian cards. The pricing page shows an approximate INR equivalent at the current rate.

Related