Travel agent commission rates in India: the 2026 card

Ask five travel agents what they actually earn per booking and you'll get five different answers, mostly because nobody has laid out travel agent commission rates in India in one place, across every channel. Airlines pay almost nothing now. Hotels still pay real money. Insurance pays the most and gets sold the least of all of them.

This matters for your business, not your clients. If you're deciding whether commission alone can cover your agency's rent, or whether you need to charge planning fees on top, you need to know exactly where each rupee of income comes from and what tax bites it before it reaches you.

This is the full card, dated July 2026: what each channel pays, how it's paid, and the TDS and invoicing questions that come with it.

How travel agents actually get paid in 2026

Travel agents earn from three sources: commission (a percentage the supplier pays you for the booking), service fees (a flat charge you set yourself, usually on flights), and net-rate markups (buying at a wholesale price from a DMC or hotel and selling at your own price to your client). Most agencies now run on a mix of all three, because commission alone on flights barely covers the payment gateway charge.

The split has shifted hard in the last decade. Flights used to be the commission channel; now they're closest to zero, and agents have replaced that income with visible service fees. Hotels, insurance and packages have held onto real commission, which is why agents who used to be "flight-only" counters are pushing hotels, insurance and land packages harder than ever.

The 2026 travel agent commission rate card

Channel	What you typically earn	Status, as of July 2026
Domestic and international flights	0–2% base commission, recovered through a ₹200–2,000+ service fee per booking (some agents disclose ₹149–599 per passenger)	Sourced, sourced
Hotels (direct contracts)	8–15%	Sourced
Hotel chains (IATA baseline)	10%	Sourced
IRCTC train tickets	₹20 per non-AC PNR, ₹40 per AC PNR	Sourced
Travel insurance	20–37% of the premium	Sourced
Tour packages via a DMC (net-rate markup)	15–25%, an unverified figure agents cite among themselves	Reported range, not a published rate
Visa assistance	Flat facilitation fee is more common; some agents describe a service commission of roughly 5–25% from visa partners	Reported range
Buses and cruises	No published baseline; each contract is negotiated individually with the operator or cruise line	Reported practice, varies by supplier

Treat the bottom three rows as what agents describe to each other, not as anything you can quote to a client or an auditor as an official rate. The top five have a public source behind them.

Airline commission for agents in 2026: almost gone, replaced by fees

Base airline commission for agents has fallen to roughly 0–2%, which on a ₹15,000 domestic fare is ₹0–300, not enough to justify the time spent booking, ticketing and handling a schedule change. Agents have moved that income to a visible service fee instead, most commonly ₹200–2,000 or more per booking, with some disclosing fees as specific as ₹149–599 per passenger, as reported by agents in the trade.

Travel agent commission on international flights follows the same pattern as domestic: near-zero base commission, income made on the service fee, not the airline payout. The fee is usually higher on international sectors because the ticketing, visa-linked date changes and multi-leg itineraries take more of your time.

If your agency is still pricing flights as if commission pays the bills, the tour costing sheet is the place to rebuild the maths so the service fee is doing the real work.

Hotel commission: 8–15%, plus the IATA baseline everyone quotes

Hotel commission for travel agents typically runs 8–15% on direct contracts, confirmed by industry reporting, with the widely quoted IATA baseline for hotel chains sitting at 10%. Where you land in that 8–15% band depends on your volume with the property, whether you're booking direct or through a B2B portal, and whether it's a chain with a standard commission policy or an independent property that negotiates per agent.

Hotels remain the most reliable commission channel precisely because the rate is disclosed upfront on the booking confirmation, unlike flights where the commission is buried and the fee is what you actually control.

IRCTC train tickets: flat fees, not commission

IRCTC-authorised agents earn a flat ₹20 per non-AC PNR and ₹40 per AC PNR, not a percentage of the fare. That structure means train ticketing only makes sense at volume: a single AC ticket earns you ₹40 regardless of whether the fare is ₹800 or ₹4,000, so it's a channel for agents who move a lot of PNRs, not a margin play on any single booking.

Travel insurance: the highest commission you're probably not selling

Travel insurance pays 20–37% of the premium as commission, depending on the provider, which makes it the single highest commission rate on this entire card by a wide margin. A ₹3,000 policy at 30% commission is ₹900, which is often more than the agent earns on the flight the client is insuring.

Most agencies still treat insurance as an afterthought they mention once at the end of a quote. Given the rate, it's worth building into every itinerary as a line item your client sees quoted, not a checkbox they tick after the fact.

Packages, DMC markups, visas, buses and cruises: the reported ranges

Not every channel has a published rate card, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. Here's what agents describe in the trade, framed as practice, not law.

Land packages booked through a DMC typically carry a 15–25% markup over the net rate, an unverified figure agents cite among themselves rather than any published tariff. Your actual number depends on your relationship with the DMC, your volume, and how much of the itinerary you're customising versus reselling as-is. For how that stack actually breaks down on a real destination, the DMC margin structure on a Bali quote is a useful reference point.

Visa assistance is usually billed as a flat facilitation fee rather than a percentage, though some agents describe a service commission in the 5–25% range from certain visa partners. Treat this as reported, and confirm the actual arrangement with whichever visa desk or partner you use before quoting it to a client.

Buses and cruises don't have a public baseline at all. Bus operators and cruise lines negotiate commission per agent and per contract, so what one agency earns on a Kerala houseboat cruise or a group bus charter can differ from what another earns on the same route. If a rate seems unusually generous or unusually vague, treat that as a flag worth checking rather than good luck, and get it in writing before you commit to a contract.

The tax layer: TDS on commission under Section 194H

Commission you receive is subject to tax deducted at source under Section 194H when the payer is an Indian entity deducting above the applicable threshold. Reports suggest the rate was cut from 5% to 2% effective 1 October 2024, but rates and thresholds under 194H do get revised in Finance Bills, so confirm the current rate directly on incometax.gov.in or with your CA before you rely on it for a return.

Practically, this means a hotel or insurer paying you commission may deduct TDS before the payment reaches your account. That deducted amount isn't lost, it shows up in your Form 26AS and gets credited against your tax liability when you file. For the fuller mechanics of 194H alongside 194C, the TDS guide for travel agents covers both sections in one place.

Where commission goes on your GST invoice

Commission income is a separate line from your tour-package invoice, and it needs its own treatment rather than being folded into the package price. Where exactly it sits on your GST invoice and which SAC code applies depends on how you've structured the booking (are you the agent of record, or a sub-agent earning from another agent), so this is worth getting right rather than guessing. The GST invoice format guide walks through the SAC codes agencies actually use, line by line.

One family's Dubai booking: every rupee of your income

Example: A family of four books a 5-night Dubai trip through your agency: flights, a chain hotel, a DMC-arranged transfer and city tour package, and travel insurance.

• Flights: total fare ₹1,84,000 for 4 passengers. Base airline commission is near zero. You charge a ₹499 per-passenger service fee, within the reported ₹200–2,000 range: 4 × ₹499 = ₹1,996.
• Hotel: 5 nights at a chain property, net room cost ₹1,20,000. At the IATA baseline of 10% commission: ₹12,000.
• Transfers and city tour, via DMC: net cost ₹45,000. Marked up at 20% (midpoint of the reported 15–25% range): ₹9,000.
• Travel insurance: family premium ₹4,500, at 25% commission (midpoint of the sourced 20–37% range): ₹1,125.

Total agent income before tax: ₹1,996 + ₹12,000 + ₹9,000 + ₹1,125 = ₹24,121.

If the hotel and insurer pay commission electronically and deduct TDS under 194H at the reported 2% rate, that's ₹240 off the hotel commission (₹12,000 × 2%) and roughly ₹23 off the insurance commission (₹1,125 × 2%), about ₹263 withheld and credited against your tax liability at filing, not lost income. The DMC markup and flight service fee, being your own pricing rather than a third party's commission, aren't subject to that same deduction.

Careful: This example uses midpoints from reported ranges to show the maths. Your actual numbers will move with your contracts, your volume with each supplier, and the specific DMC or insurer you use. Rebuild it with your own rates before you use it to decide anything.

Common questions

What commission do travel agents get on international flights?

Travel agent commission on international flights is close to what domestic flights pay: roughly 0–2% base commission, which most agents no longer rely on. Income instead comes from a service fee charged directly to the client, typically higher on international bookings because of the added complexity of visas, multi-city routing and date changes.

What is the TDS rate on travel agent commission?

Reports suggest the TDS rate under Section 194H was reduced from 5% to 2% effective 1 October 2024, but this is a provision that changes with Finance Bills. Confirm the current rate and applicable threshold on incometax.gov.in or with your CA before applying it to a return, since acting on an outdated rate can leave you under or over-withheld.

What HSN or SAC code should agents use to invoice commission?

The correct code depends on whether you're invoicing as the primary agent, a sub-agent, or a pure agent passing through a supplier's charge, and getting this wrong is a common source of GST notices. The GST invoice format guide for travel agencies breaks down the SAC codes for each scenario with sample invoices.

How much commission do travel agents get on hotels?

Hotel commission for travel agents typically runs 8–15% on direct contracts, with major hotel chains commonly following an IATA baseline of 10%. Where you land in that range depends on your volume with the property and whether you're booking direct or through a portal.

The short version

• Flight commission has fallen to roughly 0–2%; your real flight income is the service fee you charge, usually ₹200–2,000+ per booking.
• Hotels still pay 8–15% commission on direct contracts, with a common IATA baseline of 10% for chains.
• IRCTC pays a flat ₹20 per non-AC PNR and ₹40 per AC PNR, not a percentage, so it only pays off at volume.
• Travel insurance pays the highest rate on this card, 20–37% of the premium, and it's the channel most agents undersell.
• Packages, DMC markups, visas, buses and cruises don't have published rate cards; treat the 15–25% and 5–25% figures agents quote each other as reported practice, not law.
• Commission is subject to TDS under Section 194H; reports put the current rate at 2%, but confirm it before filing, since the rate has changed before.
• Get the SAC code right on your commission invoices separately from your package invoice; the two are not the same line item.