AU Zenith and Vetta lose their low forex rates: 3.49% markup now, and the fuel waiver falls to ₹100
AU Small Finance Bank's charges sheet dated 30 September 2026 moves the Zenith and Vetta credit cards to a 3.49% forex markup and caps their fuel surcharge waiver at ₹100 a month. Zenith+ is not affected.
In this article
If you carry an AU Zenith or Vetta card for foreign spends, it has quietly become an ordinary card for that job. AU's current schedule of charges (version 1.9, dated 30 September 2026) puts both in the same 3.49% forex group as its entry-level cards. An older AU schedule (version 1.6, dated 3 December 2025) had them far lower.
We read the figures below from those two AU documents. The 1 October effective date comes from CardAdvisor's tracker. AU's card pages block automated reading, so we did not see a dated notice from the bank ourselves.
What changed
- Zenith: forex markup was 1.99% in the December 2025 schedule and is 3.49% in the September 2026 schedule. The monthly fuel waiver cap went from ₹1,000 to ₹100.
- Vetta: forex markup went from 2.99% to 3.49%. The monthly fuel waiver cap went from ₹250 to ₹100.
- Altura Plus: forex markup stays at 3.49%. The monthly fuel waiver cap went from ₹150 to ₹100.
- Zenith+: unchanged in both schedules, at 0% forex markup and a ₹1,000 monthly fuel waiver cap.
The waiver is a refund of the 1% fuel surcharge on transactions between ₹400 and ₹5,000, and AU does not refund the GST on that surcharge.
What it costs you
GST at 18% applies on top of the markup. On ₹1,00,000 of foreign spend, a 1.99% markup cost about ₹2,348 with GST. At 3.49% it costs about ₹4,118, or roughly ₹1,770 more.
On fuel, a ₹100 cap is used up by ₹10,000 of eligible fuel spend in a statement month. Before this, the Zenith's ₹1,000 cap would have needed ten times that, though the ₹5,000 per-transaction limit still applied.
What to do
- Stop using these two cards abroad. Move foreign spends and dollar subscriptions to a zero or low markup card. The forex calculator ranks the options by what you would actually pay.
- Check your own schedule. If you hold a Zenith, confirm the rate on your next foreign-currency statement line, then decide.
- Do not confuse Zenith with Zenith+. The sheet keeps Zenith+ at 0%, and it is a different product.
- Review the fee at renewal. Low forex was a real reason to hold a Zenith. Without it, run your spend through Polo Match to see whether the card still pays for itself.
Sources
Every claim on this page is backed by a primary or reputable source.
Cards affected
Card figures on CardPolo come from our catalog, each with an issuer source and a verified date where we have checked it. Spot something out of date? Tell us at hello@cardpolo.com.
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