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Axis Bank to raise DCC markup and revise credit-card fees, rewards from 28 August 2026
Our read
Axis Bank’s changes are more likely to lift fee yield and reduce reward costs than materially damage its card portfolio, but they create an opening for rival premium and travel cards to capture high-spend customers.
For operators
Axis Bank’s fee and rewards reset should lift card economics but requires careful customer communication to limit dissatisfaction among high-spend and travel-oriented cardholders.
Watch
Axis Bank credit-card spend growth, active-card growth, and transaction-per-card trends after September 2026.
The report,
Axis Bank will raise its dynamic currency conversion markup, increase late fees for balances above ₹50,000, alter partial-payment allocation and exclude tolls, road fees, bridge charges and gift cards from credit-card rewards and milestone calculations.
Reported figures
From the report. Source details below
| DCC markup rises from 1.5% to | 3.5% |
|---|---|
| Late fee for balances above ₹50,000 rises to | ₹1,300 |
| Late fee slabs: | ₹501-₹5,000: ₹500; ₹5,001-₹10,000: ₹750; ₹10,001-₹50,000: ₹1,200 |
Why it matters to operators
The changes strengthen Axis Bank’s monetization profile while potentially opening partnership opportunities for differentiated travel, toll, and merchant-reward propositions.
What to watch next
- Changes in card fee income, late-fee income, revolving balances, delinquencies, and charge-off indicators.
- Customer complaints, social-media sentiment, and reported retention/fee-waiver activity following implementation.
- Rival card launches or promotional campaigns emphasizing FX markup, DCC treatment, and milestone-reward inclusions.
- RBI or consumer-protection scrutiny of DCC disclosures, late-fee practices, or payment-allocation methodology.
Likely next moves
Our read of what comes next — analysis, not reported by the source.
- Promote issuer-conversion or local-currency payment guidance to reduce customer use of high-markup DCC transactions.
- Target retention offers at high international-spend and milestone-oriented cardholders before the effective date.
- Rebalance rewards toward categories with stronger interchange economics, merchant funding, or lower abuse risk.
- Increase communication on payment allocation, excluded reward categories, and fee-waiver policies to limit complaints and attrition.
- Competitors may market zero/low-FX markup cards, broader milestone eligibility, or toll and gift-card rewards to acquire affected Axis customers.
The counter-case
The case against this reading — not reported by the source.
The changes may lift fee income per affected customer, but they risk alienating higher-spend cardholders just as competing issuers use rewards and lower FX costs to acquire them. Doubling the DCC markup is especially vulnerable to customer backlash because DCC is often avoidable and already perceived as poor value; it may reduce transaction conversion rather than materially expand revenue. Excluding tolls, road/bridge charges and gift cards from rewards could weaken everyday-card usage and milestone attainment, while higher late fees may increase delinquency roll rates or regulatory and reputational scrutiny rather than collections.