The effect of inelastic excitation of exotic light projectiles (proton-as well as neutron-rich)¹⁷F and¹¹Be on fusion with heavy target has been studied at near-barrier energies. The calculations have been performed in the coupled channels approach where, in addition to the normal coupling of the ground state of the projectile to the continuum, inelastic excitation of the projectile to the bound excited state and its coupling to the continuum have also been taken into consideration. The inclusion of these additional couplings has been found to have significant effect on the fusion excitation function of neutron-rich¹¹Be on²⁰⁸Pb whereas the effect has been observed to be nominal for the case of proton-rich¹⁷F on the same target. The pronounced effect of the channel coupling on the fusion process in the case of¹¹Be is attributed to its well-developed halo structure.