SBI TTBR Rule 115 — Which Exchange Rate to Use for Schedule FA
6 min read · Updated June 2026 · Applies to AY 2025-26 and AY 2026-27
- Three provisions, three purposes — which one actually governs Schedule FA
- What is SBI TTBR and why SBI specifically
- Which dates need a rate in Schedule FA
- What to do when event date is a weekend or holiday
- How to look up historical SBI TTBR rates
- SBI TTBR vs RBI reference rate — the difference
- Auto-fetch with itrfa.in
1. Three Provisions, Three Purposes — Which One Actually Governs Schedule FA
Three real, distinct provisions get reached for when people cite an authority for Schedule FA's exchange rate — only one of them is actually about Schedule FA:
| Provision | Rate to Use | What it Actually Governs |
|---|---|---|
| CBDT's ITR-2/ITR-3 filing instructions | SBI TTBR on the exact date (of investment, peak balance, or Dec 31 closing) | Schedule FA valuation — this is the one that actually applies here |
| Income-tax Rule 115 | SBI TTBR on the last day of the month before the event | Computing foreign-sourced income for tax — salary/perquisite (115(1)(a)), dividends (115(1)(e)), capital gains (115(1)(f)) |
| Black Money Act Rule 3 | RBI reference rate on a fixed date (1 April of the previous year) | Fair market value of an undisclosed asset, for tax assessment under Section 3 of the Black Money Act — not annual disclosure |
| Rule 26 | TT buying rate as on the date tax is required to be deducted | TDS mechanics on salary (Chapter XVII-B) — a withholding-timing rule, not a general "preceding month" rule |
Your employer converts RSU perquisite value in Form 16 using Income-tax Rule 115(1)(a) — the last day of the month before the vest (e.g. vest on July 15 → uses June 30's rate). This is correct for salary purposes.
But for Schedule FA Table A3 initial value, CBDT's own filing instructions require the exact-date rate — the SBI TTBR on July 15 itself, not June 30. These are different rates for different purposes, and will produce different INR values. Both are correct for their respective purposes — Form 16 perquisite valuation and Schedule FA disclosure are governed by separate rules, not one rule with two names.
SBI TTBR on June 30, 2025 (Income-tax Rule 115, for Form 16 perquisite) = ₹83.60/USD → Perquisite value = ₹1,38,274 (in Form 16)
SBI TTBR on July 15, 2025 (CBDT's Schedule FA instructions) = ₹84.20/USD → Initial value = ₹1,39,267 (in Schedule FA)
Difference = ₹993 per 10 shares for one rate difference. Across 15 lots over 3 years: ₹10,000–50,000 difference.
2. What is SBI TTBR and Why SBI Specifically
TTBR = Telegraphic Transfer Buying Rate. It is the rate at which State Bank of India buys foreign currency (USD) from customers via telegraphic transfer. The "buying" rate is from SBI's perspective — they are buying your USD, so this is the rate you receive when converting USD to INR.
The Income Tax Rules specifically prescribe State Bank of India TTBR — not any other bank, not RBI reference rate, not the rate your private bank offers. SBI publishes its TTBR daily on its website.
TTBR is typically ₹0.25–₹0.50 lower than TT selling rate (the rate you pay when converting INR to USD) and ₹0.30–₹0.60 higher than the RBI reference rate.
3. Which Dates Need a Rate in Schedule FA
| Schedule FA Value | Date Needed |
|---|---|
| Table A3 Initial Value (each lot) | Acquisition (vest/purchase) date of that lot |
| Table A3 Closing Value | Dec 31 (Fidelity accounting period end) |
| Table A3 Peak Value | Date of maximum portfolio value during FY |
| Table A2 Closing Balance | Dec 31 |
| Table A2 Peak Balance | Date of maximum balance during FY |
| Table A2 Gross Income (dividends) | Each dividend date (or use Dec 31 rate — acceptable in practice) |
| Table A2 Gross Proceeds (sales) | Each sale date (or use Dec 31 rate — acceptable in practice) |
If you have 12 RSU vest lots across 3 years, you need 12 different SBI TTBR rates plus Dec 31. This is the primary reason Schedule FA filing is time-consuming when done manually.
4. What to Do When Event Date is a Weekend or Holiday
SBI does not publish TTBR on weekends and bank holidays. If your RSU vested on a Saturday, SBI has no rate for that date.
Use the rate from the nearest preceding working day. If the event was Saturday July 12, use Friday July 11's rate. If Friday was also a holiday, use Thursday's rate.
This is the standard practice accepted by tax practitioners — there is no explicit CBDT circular, but the "nearest preceding working day" approach is widely used and defensible.
ITRFA.in walks back up to a week to find the nearest working day with a published rate.
5. How to Look Up Historical SBI TTBR Rates
For dates from 2020 onwards:
- SBI publishes daily TTBR on sbi.co.in → Interest Rates → Forex Rates, but only the current day's rate — there is no official archive.
- For historical TTBR, the community-maintained sbi-fx-ratekeeper archive preserves SBI's daily forex-rates PDF from January 2020 onwards.
For Jul 2018 – Dec 2019:
- No archived SBI TTBR exists. The closest official figure is the FBIL reference rate (Financial Benchmarks India took over reference-rate publication from RBI on Jul 10, 2018), typically ₹0.30–₹0.50 lower than SBI TTBR.
- Some practitioners add ₹0.35 to the reference rate as an approximation. Verify with your CA for older acquisitions.
For dates before Jul 2018:
- Use the RBI reference rate from rbi.org.in → Reference Rate Archive (daily data back to Aug 1998), with appropriate adjustment or as-is — the difference is small relative to computation effort.
6. SBI TTBR vs RBI Reference Rate — The Difference
| Rate | Typical Value (2025) | Prescribed For | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SBI TTBR (buying rate) | ~₹84.00 | Schedule FA (per CBDT's filing instructions, exact date) | SBI website (daily); community archives for history |
| RBI / FBIL Reference Rate | ~₹83.65 | Not prescribed for any specific tax rule, widely used as proxy | RBI archive (to Jul 2018), FBIL (after) |
| SBI TT Selling Rate | ~₹84.50 | Not used for income tax | SBI website |
| Card/forex rate | ~₹87–89 | Not relevant for tax | Banks/forex bureaus |
The ~₹0.35 gap between RBI reference rate and SBI TTBR means if you use RBI rate instead of SBI TTBR, your Schedule FA INR values will be slightly lower. At $50,000 portfolio, that's roughly ₹17,500 difference. For large portfolios, using the correct SBI TTBR matters.
Source: the Income Tax Department's own Step-by-Step Guide to Fill FSI, TR, and FA Schedule in ITR states the exact-date SBI TTBR requirement directly as filing guidance, without citing any specific numbered rule — not Income-tax Rule 115, and not Black Money Act Rule 3 (a separate provision governing undisclosed-asset tax assessment, using the RBI rate on a fixed date).
7. Auto-Fetch with ITRFA.in
The most tedious part of Schedule FA is looking up SBI TTBR for each of 10–20 acquisition dates. ITRFA.in does this automatically:
- Reads all acquisition dates from your Open Lots CSV
- Fetches SBI TTBR (or best available proxy) for each date
- Shows every rate on the review screen with source disclosure
- Lets you override any rate with your own value
- Uses the confirmed rates to compute all INR values
Upload your Fidelity CSVs. Exchange rates are pre-filled on the review screen — verify and override as needed, then generate.
Upload CSV, auto-fetch TTBR rates →