Hi Maithree,

Banks or other currency traders charge overheads,commission / profit margin in currency exchange... They'll have a buy rate & sell rate for the currency...ie the rate at which they buy currency & a rate at which they sell a particular currency... Most of the currency exchange rate that we get from webistes like xe.com etc are mid-market rates...ie the average of the buy & sell rate on that particular day/time... So we'll never get the same rate when we exchange with banks or even on xe.com etc... You can always chk the buy/sell rate & calculate how much U'll get for the exchange... there are no hidden charges & U should get at whatever rate they have displayed at the time of exchange... This applies to all currencies....

To get the best rate, U can chk with diff banks,currency traders & see who gives you the best rate & stick to them... Sometimes you can even negotiate with the currency traders to get better rates... If you don't understand at what rate it is exchanged, ask them to explain it... most of them will show you how they calculated it... Don't feel bad to ask abt such things as it's better to look like a fool once by asking such Qs than being ignorant forever...