20+ Best Credit Cards in India for 2021 (with reviews & ratings)

By | August 15, 2021

Looking for the best credit cards in India for 2021 to suit your needs during the pandemic? You’re at the right place. Whether you want cashback, lounge access, free food, free hotel stays or free business class tickets, you can find everything here.

Best Credit Cards in India for 2021
List of Best Credit Cards in India for 2021

There is no single best credit card that fits all because where we spend, how much we spend and how much joining fee we’re willing to pay varies from person to person.

So I’ve analysed 100+ credit cards across various banks and compiled a list of 20+ best credit cards in India based on various user segments.

With about 10+ active credit cards in my wallet, the below list covers most of the cards that I personally use and even more. Let’s begin!

Best Entry-Level Credit Cards

Entry-Level credit cards that are also called as credit cards for beginners are those cards that are targeted at first-time credit card users. Below are some of such cards with very good reward rate.

  • Suggested income: 4 Lakhs+
  • Suggested spend: 1 Lakhs+

1. SBI SimplyClick

SBI SimplyClick Credit Card
SBICard SimplyClick Credit Card

If you are new to credit cards with spends around 1 Lakh a year, SBI SimplyClick is worth taking. You get 1.25% return on all online spends and 2.5% with select merchants like Amazon.

You would love the 10% off on Amazon/Flipkart from time to time. It also comes with sweet milestone benefit (Cleartrip vouchers) that makes this low annual fee card really Click!

2. Amex MRCC

Amex MRCC
Amex Membership Rewards Credit Card
  • Reward Rate: 1%-10%
  • Joining Fee: Rs.1500+GST FREE (Limited Period Offer)
  • Full Review: American Express MRCC Review
  • Note: New Amex applications are temporarily not being taken as per RBI directive.

American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card (MRCC) is the best way to get into the world of Amex. If you use this card just to get the 1000 MR bonus points monthly, you can easily get a return of more than 10%.

Apart from that, you will also get access to the amazing Amex Offers (merchant offers & spend based offers) which are very lucrative most of the time.

3. IDFC First Credit Cards

IDFC Millennia Credit Cards
IDFC First Bank Credit Cards
  • Reward Rate: Upto 2.5%
  • Joining Fee: Lifetime Free
  • Details here

IDFC First Bank recently started issuing credit cards and all of them are Lifetime Free. It’s pretty useful if your spends are online or when your monthly spends are beyond 20K INR.

The variant for your profile is decided based on various metrics but not to worry, all of them carries the same return on spend – only the additional/travel benefits changes a bit.

Best eCommerce Credit Cards

India recently saw a huge spike in co-brand credit cards with eCommerce players. While they actually fall under entry level segment I’ve listed them separately for better understanding.

These cards may come with few drawbacks like: low initial credit limit, relatively less bank-run offers, etc. which varies from issuer to issuer and are usually issued in closed loop, meaning you can apply only through respective brands.

Major USP of these cards are that the rewards are usually in terms of direct cashback or equivalent to it with no complicated redemption system.

4. Axis Ace

Axis Ace Credit Card
Axis Bank Ace Credit Card
  • Reward Rate: 2% – 5% (as cashback to card)
  • Joining/Renewal Fee: Rs.500+GST
  • More Details

Axis Bank ACE credit card with Google Pay as brand partner is one of the highly rewarding credit card with flat 2% cashback to statement on almost all type of spends, this stands out to be one of the best credit card for beginners.

Further, it also comes with domestic lounge access benefit, which is nice. That’s definitely a lot for a card of this range. This is the HOT pick for 2021, don’t miss it.

5. ICICI Amazon Pay

amazon pay credit card - icici bank
ICICI Bank Amazon Pay Credit Card
  • Reward Rate: 1% – 5% (as Amazon Pay Balance)
  • Joining/Renewal Fee: Nil
  • More Details

If you want to step into the credit card rewards game with no annual fee, this is the card for you. ICICI Amazon Pay credit card has super quick approval process and amazingly fast delivery too, as long as you’re already banking with them.

That aside, it rewards amazingly well for Amazon Prime users. Its truly valuable as its anyway a no-fee card.

Caution: High value/Business spends on this card may get your card cancelled.

6. RBL Zomato Classic

RBL Zomato Credit Card
RBL Bank Zomato Credit Card
  • Reward Rate: 1.5% – 10% (as Zomato Credits)
  • Joining/Renewal Fee: Rs.500+GST
  • More Details

If FREE food is something on your mind, RBL Zomato Classic Credit card is all that you need. It’s one of the easiest to get approved, even without RBL bank a/c.

They follow the Aadhaar authentication process which is buttery smooth and works like a magic. The entire process hardly takes ~3 minutes and it is one step ahead of Amazon Pay credit card when it comes to onboarding experience.

However, note that this card is currently on Invite-only basis and should be available for all in a matter of few weeks.

Note: Edition Cash accrual/redemption issues were fixed by Feb 1st week.

Other cards to consider:

Axis Flipkart card may also be good for some, Ola Money Cards are bit devalued lately, SBI Paytm cards maybe good only for Paytm spends. HDFC Millennia may help with merchant offers.

Best Premium Credit Cards

Premium credit cards comes into picture when your lifestyle has pinch of luxury factor to it. It comes with more travel benefits like domestic and international lounge access, better reward rate, etc. 

  • Suggested income range: 12 Lakhs+
  • Suggested spend range: 6 Lakhs+

7. BOB Eterna

BOB Eterna Credit Card
Bank of Baroda Eterna Credit Card

It’s undoubtedly a wonderful premium credit card product for those who do majority of spends online, as 3.75% return on spend is highest ever one can get on a premium credit card.

You get unlimited domestic lounge access and premium customer support on top of that. Also recently coming up with very good merchant offers.

8. HDFC Regalia

HDFC Regalia Credit Card
HDFC Bank Regalia Credit Card
  • Reward Rate: 1.3%-13%
  • Joining Fee: 2500+GST (Usually First Year Free)
  • Full Review: HDFC Regalia Credit Card Review
  • Note: New HDFC applications are temporarily not being taken. But you can still upgrade, if you’ve other HDFC cards.

It’s HDFC’s flagship credit card and has its name and fame for many years in the industry. It is an upgraded version of Regalia First.

HDFC Merchant offers, Low foreign currency markup fees on international transactions and the milestone benefits are some of the advantages.

Most importantly, its the stepping stone for HDFC super premium cards and also gives access to HDFC merchant offers.

Note: While HDFC doesn’t take fresh applications, upgrades are still happening for existing customers.

9. IndusInd Pinnacle

If most of your spends are online, consider getting Indusind Pinnacle Credit card, as you get amazing return on online spends which is cash equivalent.

It recently gained attention in 2020 due to better availability with low joining fee & welcome benefits. Moreover as pandemic has puts a stress on travel rewards, stmt. credit look lot better for some.

10. Amex Gold Charge

American Express Gold Charge Card (India)
American Express Gold Charge Card (India)
  • Reward Rate: 1%-10%
  • Joining Fee: Rs.1000+GST
  • Note: New Amex applications are temporarily not being taken as per RBI directive.

While Amex MRCC serves the purpose for most, Amex Gold Charge Card makes sense if you need more buying power in hand.

You may also have both MRCC+Gold charge to speed up the 18K or 24K redemption.

Check out 5 Reasons Why You Should Have an American Express Credit Card. Remember, its a “Charge Card” and not a “Credit card”, hence no EMI options.

11. Axis Select

Axis Select Credit Card
Axis Bank Select Credit Card

Axis select comes with a beautiful design & decent rewards along with airport lounge & golf benefits. It’s a very good lifestyle credit card for Axis bank customers.

You may use it to avail 40% off on Swiggy orders which alone would help you save over Rs.4000 a year.

12. IndusInd Iconia (Amex)

IndusInd Iconia Amex Credit Card
IndusInd Bank Iconia (Amex) Credit Card

IndusInd Iconia Amex is known for the 2% reward rate on weekend spends, Amex Offers & other spend based offers from Indusind.

If you can time the spends on weekends, this is a very good credit card to hold. But remember that Indusind credit card systems are not so great at the moment to be used as a primary card.

Other premium cards to consider:

You may also go for HDFC Diners Privilege if you love 10X rewards, SBI Elite if you love movies amid Covid-19 and finally SBI Prime if you could still make use of the accelerated rewards.

Best Travel Credit Cards

When your life has good amount of travel, that’s when you need to have these exclusive Travel credit cards. Travel credit cards are designed in such a way that you get travel vouchers/points instead of cashback.

Also remember that, most Premium & Super Premium Credit Cards serve as a travel card in many ways.

13. Amex Plat Travel

Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card
American Express Platinum Travel Credit Card
  • Reward Rate: 6% to 8% (depending on redemption)
  • Joining/Renewal Fee: Rs.3,500+GST FREE (Limited Period Offer)
  • Note: New Amex applications are temporarily not being taken as per RBI directive.

American Express Platinum Travel card is the best travel credit card in the country, hands down! It still stands good even after the recent changes in redemption options.

I personally enjoy using this card as it helps me to stay at one unique Taj property every year by using the complimentary Taj Vouchers.

14. Axis Magnus

Axis Magnus Credit Card
Axis Bank Magnus Credit Card
  • Reward Rate: 1.2%-2.4%
  • Joining/Renewal Fee: Rs.10,000+GST
  • More Details

Axis Bank’s newest offering in premium travel segment gives you new airport experiences, like breezing through airport queues with their complimentary airpot meet & greet services, which is highly useful for our safety at times like this.

15. SBI IRCTC

SBI IRCTC Card
SBI IRCTC Card

With SBI IRCTC credit card, you have a chance to save upto 10% on your train tickets and redeem them back for train journeys. If you travel by Indian railways very often (40+ trips annually), consider going for this card.

SBI also has the expensive SBI IRCTC Premier card but you need high IRCTC spends like >50K a year for “self” to maximize the value. So for most, the Platinum variant is sufficient.

Best Airline Credit Cards

If you’re a frequent traveller, you might also need to get one or more of the best Airline Credit cards. Airmiles/Airlines credit cards makes sense if you fly frequently with a specific airline.

I’ve kept the list short, assuming that you would fly less due to Covid. I’ve also excluded cards for international travel, for obvious reasons.

16. Axis Vistara Infinite

Axis Vistara Infinite
Axis Vistara Infinite

Axis Vistara Infinite is one of the highly rewarding Airline credit card. Apart from the welcome voucher, this card gives upto 4 Business Class vouchers based on your spends with unbelievable reward rate.

Apart from that, you also get Club Vistara Gold membership, which is not available elsewhere.

17. SBI Vistara Prime

SBI Vistara Prime
SBI Vistara Prime

If you feel Axis Vistara Infinite is beyond your reach due to high joining fee, you’ve an option to go for the Club Vistara Prime that gives you complimentary Premium Economy tickets on Vistara.

While Axis Bank too have Vistara signature for this same purpose, SBI variant gives slightly better reward rate.

Best Super Premium Credit Cards

Super premium credit cards are those that comes with higher reward rate, higher credit limits, unlimited lounge access, better card linked benefits & much more perks that you would need to run a premium lifestyle.

  • Suggested income range: 25 Lakhs+
  • Suggested spend range: 10 Lakhs+

18. HDFC Infinia

HDFC Infinia Credit Card
HDFC Infinia Credit Card
  • Reward Rate: 3.3% – 33%
  • Joining Fee: Rs.10,000+GST (First Year Free usually)
  • Full Review: HDFC Infinia Review
  • Note: New HDFC applications are temporarily not being taken as per RBI directive. But you can still upgrade, if you’ve other HDFC cards.

India’s most popular Infinia Credit Card comes with amazing reward rate and premium customer support. The 10X rewards program with select merchants makes it one of the highest rewarding credit cards in the country.

That aside, HDFC also sends spend based offers from time to time, so you may get accelerated return on your spends.

19. Amex Platinum

Amex Platinum Charge Card
American Express Platinum Charge Card
  • Reward Rate: ~1.25%
  • Annual fee: Rs 60,000+GST
  • Full Review: Amex Platinum Charge Card Review
  • Note: New Amex applications are temporarily not being taken as per RBI directive.

This card is entirely different from any other card that you see here. That is because, this card gives you returns via benefits over rewards, like: hotel privileges, discounts on travel, first class upgrades, concierge, etc.

That said, in Jan 2021 & all through 2020 we’ve seen mind-blowing non-travel offers due to Covid situation. So, for rest of 2021 too you may expect such wonderful 100% cashback offers.

Overall it’s an amazing card for someone who loves luxury travel, concierge & premium support.

20. HDFC Diners Black

HDFC Diners Black Credit Card
HDFC bank Diners Black Credit Card
  • Reward Rate: 3.3% – 33%
  • Joining Fee: Rs.10,000+GST (First Year Free usually)
  • Full Review: HDFC Diners Black Review
  • Note: New HDFC applications are temporarily not being taken as per RBI directive.

With its lucrative 10X reward points program (Diners + Smartbuy) & monthly rewards, its undoubtedly one of the best Credit card in India, especially for travellers & frequent online shoppers.

Only downside though is lower acceptance of Diners cards in India compared to Visa/MasterCard, which means, you have to keep a backup card handy.

21. Standard Chartered Ultimate

Standard Chartered Ultimate Credit Card
Standard Chartered Ultimate Credit Card

Just like HDFC Infinia/Diners Black, Stan. C Ultimate card too comes with 3.3% reward rate. The USP of this card is that you get reward points on almost any spend.

While it still comes with decent redemption options, cash-equivalent redemptions like Amazon vouchers are not available at the moment.

Other Super Premium cards to consider:

Citi Prestige may still be good for some due to its merchant offers, ICICI Emeralde Amex may be relevant for select set of travellers and Yes First Exclusive may be good just for the lounge access.

Best Fuel Credit Cards

Paytm Wallet load

There are about 7 decent fuel credit cards in the market issued by various banks, but my friend, let me tell you the fact: None of them are worth it, including the recently launched SBICard Octane.

There are many reasons for this and it needs an article of its own. But the important point is, most of us wont have significant fuel spends and hence its not worth your time to spend on maximising rewards on such low spends.

So the easiest way is to load wallets using one or more of the above listed cards (depending on your spends) and pay for fuel from that.

For ex, You can use Amex MRCC+Amex Gold Charge+BOB Select to load Paytm Wallet and pay for the fuel & enjoy the cashback too.

If Paytm charges you a convenience fee, try loading via Zomato/Uber which works for some. Or, you may also try other wallets which your nearest fuel station supports.

This way you can easily enjoy over ~4% return on fuel spend and you still get good rewards everywhere, whereas your best fuel card wont reward you for non-fuel spends.

You will also end up saving time by not learning/wasting time on exploring the complicated redemption process that comes free with fuel cards. 😀

FAQ’s

Which is the best credit card in India for 2021?

There is no single best credit card per se, as it highly depends on your needs & spends. Though, above list gives a fair idea for every credit card seeker.

How many Credit Cards can I have?

As much as you need. Start with 2 cards if you’re new to the system and increase the counts gradually based on your spends.

Which Credit Card has best customer service?

Amex & Citi are some of the best credit card issuers known for their premium support. You may also enjoy a similar treatment with any bank, as long as you take their super-premium cards.

Which Bank Credit card is best in India?

HDFC Bank is the market leader and has very good merchant offers as well. So start with HDFC and add others as per your requirement. Consider having one Amex card for a mix.

Bottomline

I’ve prepared the above list considering the pandemic situation and hence removed few cards which may otherwise be listed here. Yet, I’ve still mentioned few of those under respective segment, for your reference.

Anyway, the thumb rule is to get maximum returns via: welcome vouchers, merchant offers, spend based offers, card linked benefits & regular spends. You may decide your card keeping above in mind.

And not to forget, credit card industry in India is rapidly changing as we’ve seen so many new card launches within a month (Jan 2021) and so you need to be aware of the changes happening in the space to make the most out of your credit cards. 

Hence, consider updating your strategy at-least every ~4 months to stay in the trend and it’s also wise to have an eye on the upcoming credit card launches.

You may also sign up for email newsletters (pop-up) to get weekly updates (starting soon) on latest happenings in the industry.


P.S. I hope the list not only gives you a wealth of information about various credit cards but also a visual treat to your eyes.

It took me a lot of time and effort to create this list. This would help you to save at-least few thousands if not in lakhs. If you wish to say thanks, you may do so here: buy me a coffee.

That would help me to put further effort on upcoming content. Thank you!

Author: Siddharth

Helping Indians to choose right credit cards, pick right offers and enjoy luxury vacations for less. Day & night exploring the spiritual reality of our human existence.

275 thoughts on “20+ Best Credit Cards in India for 2021 (with reviews & ratings)

  1. Ashutosh

    Any reason why you prefer HDFC Regalia to diners privilege? (As regalia made the list and privilege is mentioned under the segment)

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Acceptance. Many non-techies would go through the list, just want to keep things simple & easy for them.

      Reply
      1. Parth Patel

        Hi, I’ve been reading your blog since a while been influenced and started implementing usage of my credit card often which i never did before and earned great points but i have one -point i have a hdfc money back card i wanted to upgrade to regalia or regalia first and my limit currently is 96k but instead they’re offering me indigo card what shall i do any suggestions?

        Reply
      2. Poonam alag

        My daughter is a player and we travel a lot within india and outside india.will u suggest me whch is the best credit card for travelling purpose hotel bookings and worldwide lounge access..pls suggest me the best card

        Reply
      1. Mohit Singla

        Thanks a lot for Paytm loophole. ICICI Coral Amex provides 1% on wallet loads, will make best use of it.

        Reply
      2. Shail

        No success so far. Looks like loading via Uber/Zomato has been patched.
        Any creative ideas to give our MRCC a life

        Reply
        1. Chandrasekhar Adusumalli

          you can try with zomato only for Rs 10k/month.

          Reply
        2. Siddarth T

          You actually can link a UPI ID to Dukaan ecommerce account and load money to savings bank that way. Creating an account only took me 1 minute (100% longer than what they claimed, 30 seconds). They however charge ₹10 convenience fee PER ORDER, irrespective of the value. So Ideally, you’d be able to create an infinite money loop. Even if you have a shitty card with 1% rewards, loading ₹1000 will nullify the charges, anything more you load is profit.

          You’d want to create a store, they only ask for your mobile number, you then should list a product, (you can choose existing products as well) and set an MRP, aka the amount you want to load +10. And then you click on share product button, click Whatsapp, and then select a random number and copy the product link and open it only through the browser and then login in the browser using your mobile number, can be the same as your seller account. Then just select add to bag and checkout. They say you will only be able to use debit cards, but my ICICI Coral (ya, they garbage piece of **it I only use to improve my relationship with ICICI bank and BOB Select credit card worked fine). Then open seller app and “Accept” the order and mark it as delivered. You’d get the money settled to your account instantly, after you deliver the product to the “Customer”.

          Reply
    1. Shailini

      Sid posted this article yesterday night and today afternoon, I can’t use this method to load my paytm wallet anymore. paytm already closed the loophole. thanks a lot Sid 🙁

      Reply
  2. Aditya

    Kind of a weird question, I had applied for a Magnus card few weeks back, but before I could give Axis bank my documents I asked for a cancellation.

    But Axis bank did a hard inquiry on my account which took a few chunks off my score (Learned it the hard way)

    Now is this hard inquiry reversible as I have not completed the formalities? Or do I have to wait the usual timeline for a hard inquiry to ‘wash off’

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      You’ll have to wait. But it will recover very soon if you’re having other active cc/loan products.

      Reply
    2. Pramtesh

      Similar thing happened to me for Amex.
      I asked for cancellation of the application. And had not submitted the income documents.
      It was approved in principle.
      But I have received reply from AMEX that the application is rejected due to internal policies.etc.
      Even my score was reduced due to hard enquiry.

      Reply
      1. Aditya

        Ouch. That is a bummer. Lesson learned for sure. Technically while applying for the same we did give them consent to access our score. So there’s technically no wrongdoing by them.

        If only credit bureaus considered hard check + successful creation of a new account / issuance of a loan to hit the points. That would be helpful for a handful of people. Considering it’s quite easy to apply online for cards these days, and I’m sure we aren’t the only ones in this scenario.

        Reply
        1. Sandeep Kumar

          @Aditya, Credit bureaus wont do that. Any credits which are turned down due to any reason wont make it to the list, not giving lenders any information of a credit hungry person.
          We should wisely apply for a new credit.

          Reply
          1. Kinjal

            Same here, I applied for Citibank card as they were offering video kyc. After the application they said there is some issue with video kyc and we would need to do physical kyc. Given I was not in the city that wasn’t possible and my application was rejected. This isn’t my fault but still my score went down. There needs to be a better way to assess this

      2. Joseph Gnanadurai M

        If you apply for a new credit card or new loan and soon after when it is approved your score will come a little low due to the new credit card or new loan.

        Reply
  3. Sahil

    Just a suggestion for a new type of article. Basis the typical spends of an Indian Household , you can write an article on the top 5 combos of credit cards, where each combo has 2-3 credit cards and covers most of the spend spectrum.

    Because this is the realistic challenge people face who want to have at max 3 credit cards – of how to optimize this basis their eligibility.

    For eg: Infinia + MRCC is a pretty good combo which will cover most of your spend spectrum.

    Reply
  4. Rajesh

    How you manage the spend limit criteria for all these cards ? Kindly advice or write an article on how to meet all this limit when managing more than 5 cards.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      I don’t meet for all. For ex, I swapped Axis Magnus for ACE as I was not eligible for the waiver.

      Consider using CC for all spends like Rent Pay, etc. Apart from that, I wouldn’t suggest exploring manufactured spends, as it may damage the profile.

      Reply
  5. Devesh Mittle

    So sad to see Citibank not in the list now, the doyen of Credit Cards in India now has lost it all with poor products and hardly any rewards and schemes. It was a prestige to hold the Citibank card at once upon a time, being one of the first few customers (Diners Club) in those days I am still loyal with Premier Miles but of no use

    Reply
    1. Ayush Agrawal

      I was going to cancel my premier miles card this year for the same reason, but they offered a 3000 rupee cashback to retain. So they’ve got me for another year, since I’ll get the 3000 points for renewal, and I’ll only need to pay 540 rs. GST.

      Reply
    2. Joseph Gnanadurai M

      Citibank Indian Oil card is the best card I will say why because here 1 point = 1 rupee when you use to pay for fuel by reward points. Also, you will get 4 reward points for Rs.150 spent on fuel at Indian oil outlets. Also, you will get points in Intermiles by providing your mobile number linked with Intermiles.

      Reply
  6. Sudheep

    Nice Compilation SID.. Welcome new entrants in the list , BOB & IDFC cards.

    Flipkart Axis deserves more than a mention , Flipkart grocery section is the cheapest I could find, combined with 5% uncapped cashback and 4% as supercoins (plus members) is a steal. For a well planned shopping with batches of 2500Rs each, this card can fetch a whopping 9% assured return on flipkart spends. Additionally occasional AXIS card offers of 10% (like the one running now) .

    Reply
    1. Ankit Saraf

      Combine with grocery pass and 100 off 1000 for 20 coins and you can save further. I usually use Insta vouchers from smartbuy to do grocery shopping so have to forego card discounts, but the 33% points cover more than that.

      Reply
      1. Nagarajan

        Hi Ankit, can you explain me how do you avail the benefits. Am a new infinia user and trying to find ways how to spend and use the rewards as much as possible. Your insights will help

        Reply
  7. Utsav

    Hello Siddharth,

    Great article 🤩🤩

    My yearly spend is around 25-30lacs and 90% is on Amazon, which card would be best fit for me, I live in a tier 3 city in Bihar 😭😭

    My card portfolios are
    HDFC Regalia
    HDFC MoneyBack
    IDFC One Card
    SBI SimplyClick (best card for me yet)
    SBI BPCL Octane
    ICICI Coral
    PNB Rupay Platinum

    Reply
    1. Avinash Mukunde

      You don’t need any credit card based on your yearly spend.

      I am very eager to know how do you spend 1,87,500 (90%) every month on Amazon? Please let me know.

      Reply
    2. Dhulla

      Wow , 90% of 25-30lacs on amazon , you might be on radar of many banks already

      Reply
    3. WallStreetBets

      Hi Utsav,
      While we wait for Sid, let me take a stab at the answer.

      It depends on your requirement.

      Firstly, for cashback and savings:
      The Amazon Pay Credit Card would benefit you to a great extent as a Prime member (5% cashback as Amazon Pay), which you can use towards future purchases.

      For Rewards(Gifts):
      Additionally, get the Amex MRCC and benefit greatly from it as you can aim for the fantastic Rewards Collection by hitting a minimum of 4 spends of 1000 or more each month on the card. Fee Reversal Criteria is 1.5L each year, which you’ll also hit easily. Also, applying via Sid’s referral link will make the annual fee just 1,500/- in case that’s cool with you.

      For Lounge and Travel facilities:
      Finally, since you meet the yearly spend Criteria for HDFC Infinia LTF (8L+), you can get your Regalia upgraded to it. Keep spending lavishly on the Regalia for a bit before requesting HDFC for an upgrade.

      Cheers!

      Reply
    4. Saurabh Patel

      ICICI Amazon Pay would be more rewarding compared to SimplyClick for Amazon.

      Try to get HDFC DCB or Infina for the sweet 5X rewards on Amazon.

      Reply
      1. dev

        icici amazon card would be blocked by icici bank if such amount per month was used on amazon…My Own experience.they wont give you the rewards as well

        Reply
        1. Krishan Kumar

          Yes a cashback over 5000-6000 (not a certain limit) gives bank signal that you are commercially using card they either block it or will not process cashback.

          Reply
    5. Ayush Agrawal

      Either the Diners Black or Infinia, to take advantage of their 5x scheme on Amazon.

      Reply
    6. Joseph Gnanadurai M

      ICICI Amazon Pay Credit Card would benefit you to a great extent as a Prime member (5% cashback as Amazon Pay), which you can use towards future purchases.

      Plus HSBC Cashback credit card
      Key features
      For some products in Amazon you will get 5% instant discount with this card.
      Unlimited cashback on all your transactions
      Get 1.5% cashback on all online spends (excluding transfer of funds to online wallet) and 1% on all other spends
      Zero joining fees
      Annual membership fees INR750 will be reversed if your total annual spend exceeds INR100,000

      Reply
    7. Joseph Gnanadurai M

      Generally HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card is coming up with more cash backs in a year. The current offer which is going now is

      Level-1 INR1,500 gift voucher*
      when you spend INR55,000 or more in a month

      Level-2 Additionally get, INR2,000 cashback
      on every INR100,000 spent in a month

      Quarterly bumper prize Also, top 5 spenders
      will get a Tanishq gift voucher
      worth INR1,00,000
      This offer is going on from Jan to March 2021. If you spend 1,00,000 every month totally you will get Rs.10,500 plus you will get Rs.250 amazon voucher every month or Rs.500 Book my show voucher for transacting above Rs.50,000 every month.

      Reply
  8. Abhi

    Useful article.
    Agree that fuel is a minor spend for most people. I use my Intermiles balance to refuel at IOCL pumps. But if anyone has to use a card, and paytm and other wallets are becoming less acceptable, try StanC Titanium Super Value card. Often given LTF and gives 4% cashback to card account plus fuel surcharge waiver regardless of the fuel outlet. 5% cashback on utility spends which is decent considering many cards don’t even give RP for that at all.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Could you share your experience with Intermiles redemptions for fuel? I haven’t tried assuming no one at the outlet would know how to redeem.

      Reply
      1. Mahendra G

        Hi Sid,

        I have silver membership with inter miles. I redeemed miles for fuel.
        Only silver, gold and platinum members are eligible to redeem against fuel.
        Each mile is equavalent to 0.25/-.
        You need to mention your mobile number and will get OTP. Inform to petrol bunk guy,that’s it. Transaction completed.
        We csn redeem only at specific bunks. List is mentioned nin website.

        Reply
        1. Abhi

          Have silver now, but was comfortably redeeming points for fuel even while I was on red tier, family members still redeem with their red tier, so its not restricted to just silver, gold or plat.

          Reply
      2. Abhi

        The list of accepting IOC outlets is available through intermiles app. Have personally used in 3 different cities. Usually the person in the cabin/office is familiar, didn’t come across a listed outlet where they don’t know of it, although sometimes they still know it as jetprivilege. One you mention about redemption, they ll ask for your 9 digit intermiles/JP number and will enter in their card swipe machine, then amount, then you ll get an OTP which they enter, and its done. First finish the redemption and then fuel your car, as sometimes it can take few attempts due to poor signal in their card machine or relevant personnel on leave, etc. Best part is no redemption fee, no min spend and it’s the best conversion rate of intermiles at 4:1 . There’s option to redeem or earn intermiles at these outlets.

        Reply
      3. Nishith

        I have redeemed fuel thru Intermiles, back when it was Jrt Privilege. Its a comparatively time consuming process, atleast from the merchant viewpoint. Once you give your JP no, it would take at least a minute for the points to be converted to fuel and a chargeslip to be generated. Also, as you’ll probably be the only one redeeming points for fuel, you might have to wait for a bit.

        Reply
      4. Joseph Gnanadurai M

        You have to tell that I want to redeem Intermiles then they will ask your phone number or Intermiles number and they will process it in the swipe machine.

        You can redeem Intermiles as gift vouchers also in their app. I am a Red tier member, used 2900 points to redeem Rs.500 gift voucher, (like Flipkart, Amazon etc.) You can earn points in this app by linking your google fit app. For every 1000 steps you will get 1 point also you will get points daily by “spin for miles” you have spin that you will get from 5 to 250 points at one time. Once I got 250, then I have got 125, 100, etc., mostly 10.

        Reply
    2. Shivi

      StanC Titanium Super Value card was downgraded recently. Now it offers cashback of only up to Rs. 200 per month with few other limiting clauses like max CB of 100 per transaction and that too on spending less than 2k per transaction. In contrast, the Octane card gives you monthly 625 CB on transactions up to 4k per transaction plus the 1% fuel surcharge waiver.

      Reply
    3. AbhiKohli

      Also, how do you earn so many RPs for fuel ? I’d say better to do other way around, get IOCL card & get Intermiles for fuel purchases.

      Reply
      1. Abhi

        Its easy to earn miles on the intermiles app. You can earn enough in a year to buy fuel for your car for a month or two.

        Reply
    4. Pramtesh

      Hi Abhi.
      I already have StanC Platinum LTF. Few days ago I received SMS for Upgradtion to Super Value Titanium.
      But it was chargeable. I wrote to the bank for converting it to LTF. They refused and said SCB has stopped issuing LTF card since 1st Nov 2019

      Reply
      1. Abhi

        These days they offer LTF only once in a while. I acquired this 14yrs ago, mainly to pay phone bills as that has 5% cashback too, back then hardly any card gave that kind of cashback on fuel/phone/utility.

        Reply
  9. Shivi

    Great write-up as usual, Sid. Could you please add a note for all AmEx cards that they are only available in a few places and not throughout India. I haven’t been able to get my hands on any AmEx since the past 4 years because i don’t live in their card sourcing locations.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Shivi, You would need a place in the sourcing location to begin with. It’s getting complicated lately as RBI needs address proof from 2020. Will cover it in detail soon.

      Reply
      1. Shivi

        I know that Sid. I meant that Amex card is not easily available in every town & that needs to be put up as a footnote in this write up. As per your discretion of course.

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          Thanks for the dinner, Shivi 🙂

          Have shared additional details to your email on this right away. Hope it helps.

          Reply
      2. AbhiKohli

        Yeah, i moved to a new flat and since rental agreement is not something they consider as POA, I am unable to even update the address. HDFC said they can do IPV on account and CC address will be updated.

        Reply
        1. Santosh Kumar

          Update aadhar address using rental agreement. Then use aadhar to update address.

          Reply
      3. Gouri Shankar

        I too live in non-sourcing location, So couldn’t get my hands on AmEx. Looking forward for your article.

        Reply
        1. Joseph Gnanadurai M

          Getting AMEX is very easy now during this lockdown. I earlier applied for AMEX card I believe in 2019 with my Form-16. That time it was rejected. Now they said they do not need any proof like form-16 or payslip. They told me to send one mail from my official mail id to them. Now I got American Express smart earn credit card delivered within a week. If your credit score is good you will get the card approved and they asked me to mail them Aadhar card, pan card & 1 photo.

          Reply
  10. Sujeeth

    How many Amex cards do you hold? I could see 4 in this article, do you still hold all four?
    Would be nice if you could write an article about the list of credit cards that you hold & how you use them against certain spends. It would be very informative for others too.

    Reply
    1. Ayush Agrawal

      The international lounge access for Diners is really great. Fee waiver threshold is 5 lakhs for Diners vs 8 lakhs for Infinia.

      Reply
  11. Varun Ravichandran

    Very happy with my Axis Select card so far. A huge thumbs down to HDFC for side-tracking me with an “upgrade” to the Millennia. I’ve stopped using their cards, and hope that Axis (or anybody else) can take advantage of this and build a good portfolio to rival HDFC – especially now that they are under the RBI ban.

    Reply
    1. Saket

      Same here. No upgrades and no good targeted offers from HDFC. Have completely stopped using them unless Flipkart/Amazon gives a 10% on using HDFC

      Reply
  12. Mahesh S. Panicker

    Thanks Siddharth, have been looking forward to this for some time.
    Interestingly, not many launches since the last list making it this time. There is the Axis Ace, and the IDFC and RBL-Zomato cards, but none of them are apply and avail, all invite only and very limited availability. A bit surprised to see SBI Simplyclick topping the list, thought Ace/Flipkart from Axis and ICICI Amazon Pay would be better all-round options. The Axis cards give an overall higher rewards on both offline and online spends and have even lounge option. Even the ICICI Amazonpay card has 1 percent rewards on offline spends too, and gives reward points for wallet loads unlike SBI or Axis. All the cards have made the list, so think its fine… By the way SBI has taken off some partners from the 10x rewards recently.

    Reply
  13. Fahad Haroon Memon

    Very good article. I have mrcc, rcl zomato, ibfc, axis ace, icici amazon pay, amex plat and diners club clubmiles from these. Absolutely rewarding. I think in terms of cashback axis ace is the best. Support wise amex is best and hdfc have the worst and most pathetic support. But diners club clubmiles has the best conversion ratio with decent reward points. Rbl zomato gives free zomato pro till the time you have the card and all reward points get converted to zomato cash. Ibfc card is the only free metal card. Awesome feeling. All have positives and negatives.

    Reply
    1. Raghu

      Yes pls.. within the fuel cards space, I think this is the best one out there

      Reply
    2. Sudhindra Kamath

      Hello. Ive been using the SBI BCPL normal card since 2 years. I would say its the best card for fuel. This card gives you fuel points irrespective of any banks swipe machine. ICICI HPCL and Citi IOC cards needs to be swipped in there own machines which is a big pain in the ass. Also its really convenient to redeem points for fuel at select petrol pump. If you have BPCL station nearby just go for the Octane card without looking back. Also octane card gives 2.5% returns on restaurants, grocery and movies. This is a all purpose card overall.

      Reply
  14. Piyush Agarwal

    Great article – was waiting for this since the start of the year. But i really think Citis Premier miles should be in the list. 1.8% return on spend is quite good and citi offers more than decent offers. Also, may not be useful now, but 300 of free movie tickets every month is a big plus too. Would be great if you can mention reasons of leavibg it out as i am thinking of upgrading to it from my citi rewards.

    Reply
    1. Amit

      Axis ACE gives 2% cashback for all spends and 5% cashback for utility through GPay for 500+ taxes and AXIS too has many offers. Combine this with any other BMS card and you get more bang for the buck than Citi Premier miles which has 3000+ taxes as fees. I think CITI has lost the plot in a movie where it was a protagonist long time back.

      Reply
      1. Fahad Memon

        Now axis bank has kept a limit of 10,000 per day for utility payments.

        So if your electric bill is of 10,500 you cannot pay using axis ace. This ia completely ridiculous as they have launched the card just 5 months back and were giving 5% cashback on gpay. That was their usp. And now they have screwed it up.

        Reply
    2. Ayush Agrawal

      Read the fine print of redeeming those 1.8% returns and you’ll realise that it’s not that great. The only reason I retained the card this year is that they practically waived off the annual fee for me.

      Reply
  15. Mahesh S. Panicker

    As for the fuel section, as Paytm has become useless as they are also shutting down the loopholesas well, one has to look at a card like the SC Titanium Super Value. Have been using the card for a few months. Guaranteed savings of 1900 a year besides the surcharge waver if you have fuel needs above 4000 a month. Can use in any outlet, no need to look for a particular company outlet. Even if you don’t make to the 90000 waver limit for the 750 yearly charges, it is not a bad deal. And to add to that, the card usually gives up to 53 days of credit window, one of the best in that regard.

    Reply
    1. Saurabh Vijay

      Too many t&c… Such as each fuel bill needs to be less than 2000… You will get zero cashback if bill is 2001 rs… Too much of effort…

      Reply
      1. Mahesh S. Panicker

        I usually tell them to fill for 1999… But yes, a rather unnecessary hassle. I usually have more than 4000 fuel requirement, using RBL Monthly Treats or Amex MRCC I got recently for the remaining amount, can meet the monthly spend target or the bonus point transaction for MRCC. Wish there is another cashback card for fuel with all outlet acceptability. Didn’t go for SBI as it is only BPCL, the city IOCL redemption process seemed too difficult, and I would rather prefer a card that can be beneficial in all outlets, that’s where SCB scores and the returns are in the form of cashback to the card, so no issues there either. So while there are hassles, there are advantages as well.

        Reply
      2. Mayank

        In addition if u pay fuel bill of 2001 no reward points also. This card has too much terms and conditions.

        Reply
  16. Vijay Vignesh

    I was thinking of switching to OlaMoney SBI card from SimplyCLICK due to the flat 1% reward rate it offers in comparison with the latter. Is this a wise choice, what are the limitations of OlaMoney SBI Card over SimplyCLICK?

    Reply
    1. Amit

      Choose Axis ACE. It has 2% flat cashback and 5% on utilities though GPay.

      Reply
      1. Vijay Vignesh

        But having an SBI card comes in handy to those 10% instant discount offers during festive season.

        Reply
        1. Raghu

          True that.. I have now downgraded from SBI Prime (become useless) to SBI BPCL Octane.
          Reasons:
          1. Having one SBI card is important just to keep it handy for those 10% offers
          2. I use BPCL for my 2/4-wheeler, so this was an easy choice for me (along with this, I get 10x on a few categories which are same as Prime card)

          Reply
  17. anish varma

    Can someone get an upgrade from HDFC Diners Millennia to HDFC Diners Black without having any bank account /fixed deposits with HDFC bank. If yes, what are different eligibility criteria to get such an upgrade

    Reply
  18. Ashish Kumar

    Axis privilege card with their 10x/5x reward points on gyftr is good value. Although having gotten infinia now my use of axis card will come down.

    Reply
  19. Arun C B

    Good work !.

    I always thought my Axis select is a waste. Surprised to see SBI cards are removed in most of the segments 🙂 .

    About fuel cards, All the petrol pumps in our area accepts card or UPI only. They don’t prefer wallets. Most people will go for UPI due to convinence. But I still use SBI BPCL so that I can use RP redemption for refuel. I feel itisi like statement credit of RP. I use SBI to get online offers ( Got 4K cashback on OnePlus purchase using Yono-Amazon) and BPCL pump at our area is COCO.

    Reply
    1. Arun

      Considering the fuel prices I think it’s high time to think for fuel cards. 🙂

      Reply
  20. AG

    What would be the best credit card for instore purchases?
    Accumulated 2L points on Infinia, and dont want to add to that pile. Looking for some quick rewards like statement credit or Amazon/Flipkart gift vouchers. Infiania gives 1.66% return when redeeming as gift vouchers.
    Which other card would you recommend on the Visa or Mastercard platform.?

    Reply
    1. Amit

      Axis ACE, gives 2% flat cashback.
      BoB Eterna for online and dining spends.
      or all new e-commerce branded cards.

      Reply
      1. Mayank Goel

        You can add AMEX MRCC to the list. Its a good card with lot of benefits.

        Reply
  21. Gopal Gidwani

    Is there a way to get the annual fee of Rs. 4500 + taxes waived off on American Express Gold Card through an annual spend of certain amount (like Rs. 1.5 lakhs for MRCC) or any other way?

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Yu can’t compare AmEx Gold with BoB Eterna. These are 2 different leagues altogether

      Reply
  22. Tushar Pai Angle

    Hi Sid,

    Great job on the write up as always. Maybe one thing to mention about the Axis ACE card is that it currently only makes sense for Android users, and Google Pay on iOS doesn’t yet support payment via cards. Found out the hard way…

    Reply
  23. Darshdeep Singh Grewal

    IndusInd Pinnacle has changed to Rs.25000+GST. Which does not include Amazon or Flipkart vouchers.

    Reply
  24. Sunil

    Hi Sid

    Thanks for the detailed explanation.
    In some other post you had mentioned Yes Bank Credit Cards not recommended. Just wanted to check whether one can still go for Yes Bank CC, as they are doing some promotional LTF on Preferred Card variant these days. Is there any risk?
    Thanks in advance.

    Reply
    1. Suresh

      There is no as such risk. But altogether its useless. I have around 80K rewards from 2Yrs and its value 25Ps. That time there was no option to credit to outstanding balance and the vouchers also limited and they never give amazon, flipkart like which people use more. Last year reward value reduced to 15Ps, but still I am waiting under the impression that bank will be back and recently they have introduced credit to outstanding but now the reward value further reduced to 10Ps with 100+GST on redemption. I got card upgrades 2 times and feeling like any card from Yes Bank is useless. I sent an email to CC and of no use.

      Reply
      1. Abhi

        RP value is still 25ps when redeemed on flights and hotels. On vouchers and cash its devalued. Being LTF, no harm in keeping yes bank card, sometimes the 10X through yescart is better than many other cards, plus golf, lounge benefits etc. Plus you also get online discounts, RP on wallet loads, periodical cashbacks on fuelling, targeted spend-based offers etc, so I m holding on to it.

        Reply
  25. Karan Bhandari

    Prateek I accept with you. Ill be closing reserve before due with them.

    Reply
  26. Tejas

    Hi Sid,
    Is there a criteria for credit card comapnies to give out Life time free cards. I see many people claiming they have LTF free cards from American Express etc, but when i ask the executive they don’t give such. Can you throw some light on how co’s give out LTF cards

    Reply
    1. Ayush Agrawal

      Most people with Amex LTF got lucky during a small window of time a few years ago. They don’t offer it anymore.
      Regular banks offer LTF cards to their account holders.

      Reply
      1. Sandeep Kumar

        I got my LTF Amex MRRC back in Nov’18 when there was a LTF offer on MRRC with annual income of 15 lacs+. I was lucky that offer got my notice on their Facebook page.

        Reply
      2. Ankit Saraf

        I started with gold charge card and for few waiver for 2 years (needed to do some SI on card). Took companion MRCC card free in 3rd year. The spend was always below 1 lac. For 3rd year, they dint give renewal waiver, so I discontinued the charge card. I was told that MRCC would become chargeable, but somehow, its still free. I was not charged annual fees even though my spend was below the threshold. customer care confimed that its LTF card for me.

        Reply
  27. ManzB

    Got 4 of the cards listed
    1. DCB – good for the 10x offers and also HDFC offers are aplenty. Unlimited lounge access.
    2. SCB Ultimate- good 3.5% return on everything. Annual fees subsidised with reward points worth 5k. Unlimited lounge access for both primary+ add on
    3. Amex travel – good for spend up to 4 lacs
    4. Axis Vistara infinite- good value if you can use it for free tickets/ upgrades.

    These days all my normal expenses goes to Axis. DCB for 10x. SCB for others including wallet load.

    Reply
  28. Pranab

    Shivi & Gouri Shankar,
    Me too isn’t from any AMEX (and Citi) sourcing cities. But I got both the cards.
    Applied AMEX MR on 27th Jan mentioning relative’s address in Kolkata>Got a call on 28th>Informed him that I don’t have any POA in Kolkata>He mentioned, no worries>Submitted all my documents over the mail>Received message of card approval on 30th>Card was delivered to my relative’s address on 2nd Feb.
    The delivery guy (Blue dart) was trying to create an issue during delivery, finally delivered after I sent my ID to my relative over WhatsApp.
    Citi card processing was more or less same.

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Thank you, Pranab. Maybe they are getting bit relaxed about issuing cards.

      Could you please also tell me what all documents were asked by them?

      Reply
  29. Aditya Sharma

    Hi Sid, I recently came across your blog – I must say this is some awesome work! I can see a few folks asking for an article on how to combine multiple credit cards to maximize value (include me in the list as well).

    I can share a trick for business travelers with Hilton (H) Hotels using a combination of Amex Plat (which offer H Gold status right away, which’ll give 5th night complimentary) + Citi Prestige (which offers you 4th night complimentary). The trick is to book using your Citi Prestige for 3 nights and you get 2 complimentary (which is 40% value right there). I think Citi applied a 2/yr. limit to this – which is sad, but still good enough. Also, if you travel for business you can book a H hotel at 2x reward rate (with paying additional 200-300 or so). Now few more numbers to add more taste; with H Gold you get 18 points for every $ spent which translates to ~25 points /100 rs and with 2x rate it’s 50/100 rs. A rough standard room across hotels could be very well booked at 15-25k points/night – which leads to a value of ~0.33/point – translating to additional ~16.5% overall value just with points.

    PS. The H 5th night free works smooth with use of points as well however it’s just on standard rooms ☹. Lastly, need not mention that there are usual hotels perks with being H Golds like room upgrades (better than M) + breakfast etc… (also, with H Plat you could add 1%-2% more to the numbers).

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Far less Hilton hotels in India compared to Marriott. Its almost 85 to 15, M to H.

      Reply
    2. Shivakiran

      Wow..thanks for this tip. Sounds tempting and will put to use right away.

      Reply
    3. Neo

      How does booking 3 nights on Prestige snag 2 free nights ?
      Could you please help me understand as I dont think i got it.
      Thanks

      Reply
    1. Ayush Agrawal

      In general, ICICI credit cards are pretty useless. At any annual fee level, you’ll find a better credit card from another bank.

      Reply
    2. Shivi

      It’s a worthless card now with most of the initial benefits withdrawn

      Reply
      1. Arnab Chaudhuri

        I just got cancelled flight ticket refunded exc gst and convenience charges. Also got trident 7500 15 days back.

        Reply
    3. Basant Motlani

      Do icici gives sapphiro credit card free to wealth account customers?

      Reply
  30. Nitis

    Great, website article Sid. General & imp query to all. Need to meet spend criteria to get lifetime free. Need to make 70 k purchase in coming 1 week. I don’t have anything to buy or pay bill.

    Where can I use it. Paytm Zomato has 10k limitation( thanks for this)
    Any other bank wallet transfer option or other trick.

    Will appreciate quick response. Cheers!

    Reply
      1. Nitis

        Thanks Aditya, I have already done it. Let me know if any other alternate. Ok to pay max 2% charge for bank transfer

        Reply
    1. prathmesh ghag

      maybe pay your “rent” via cred though it comes with 1.5% charge.
      Still it could be lesser than paying card fees, while also giving you reward points.

      Reply
    2. Prashant bhushan

      Buy a gold coin. Can also sell it immediately for around 6% loss, or just keep it as an investment.

      Reply
  31. Pranab

    I applied for MRCC and surprisingly got the card delivered within a week.
    But the credit limit is a paltry 50K though my Infinia limit is 15L, ICICI 8.15L, SBI 5.09 & 3.25. Any ways to enhance the limit?
    Also if I get the Add-on card, does 1000 MR points on 4*₹1000 spends PM applicable to it separately?
    Can I apply for Gold Charge card right now or need to wait for 6 months.
    Thanks

    Reply
    1. Abhi

      Call Amex after 6 months and they will promptly raise your limit in that call itself.
      Add-on card wont help you get separate 1000 bonus points, it’s counted towards primary card only.

      Reply
    2. ManzB

      I also got a similar limit despite havong another Amex (plat travel) card with around 5 lacs limit. This card is mostly useless except for amex offers and 1000X4 txns for the 18k/24K rewards.

      Add on card is not treated separately.

      Amex has few rules with regard to Charge card and Credit card (how many you can hold).

      Reply
  32. Nitin Gupta

    Thanks, Aditya. Have done that as well. Any others option. Paytm is charging 2.07 % . I would like to avoid that.

    Reply
    1. Arnab Chaudhuri

      Use lazypay upi with credit. Then pay off the bill using credit card.

      Reply
  33. MILAN GADAKARI

    Hello everyone,

    I currently hold Hdfc regalia and Amex MRCC. Is that a good combination of cards?

    Any other suggestions on card pairing?

    Reply
  34. Anirban Roychowdhury

    I wonder how Regalia can still give reward rate of 13%.
    5x/10x points are long gone and replaced by 5% cashback. Its shocking how HDFC devalued this card over the years.
    Or am i missing something with this reward rate of 13% as mentioned by Sid in this article?

    Reply
  35. Amex Guy

    Personally I just never look beyond Plat for fuel. No surcharge on HP (which thankfully has the only high octane option that’s not priced atrociously), and you still get 1MR/100. MRCC + Paytm is also a good option, but I’m not sure if adds the 2% Paytm on it and MRCC 1000 transactions are too easy to get done if you use Milkbasket.

    Reply
    1. Ajai Singh

      Only Plat has rewards for fuel which neither my Reserve or new MRCC has but the bonus points from MRCC more than make up for it.

      Out of curiosity which card do you hold as companion to your Plat as I was told by CC that Charge cards cant be held as companion so I could not get the Gold Charge as companion to my Reserve and had to settle for MRCC. Do enlighten us all about the whole companion process/limitations, etc.

      Reply
  36. Abhi

    Amex PT and MRCC are great in terms of RPs, and until recently it was convenient to load e-wallets using them, often even to meet milestones and campaign targets. But now that paytm is charging high fees for wallet loads, mobikwik restricts free loading to 5K pm, and Amex not usable on payzapp, yespay and many other wallets, it’s becoming challenging to reach even regular milestones. MRCC is still ok, but PT is getting tough, more so with low physical acceptance.

    Reply
  37. santosh p mathew

    I have a diners black from June 19 onwards. In December 20 when I tried to redeem the point for domestic travel, it was only allowing 70 percentage points and rest cash.

    Also since two days I am getting 15x rewards on online merchants on my Citibank rewards card.

    Reply
  38. Rajesh

    Which SBI card should one hold? I currently have the cards below
    1. HDFC Regalia LFT ( Use it as my main card, hoping will be upgraded to Infinia soon as my limit was bumped up to 9.5 a couple of months back)
    2. ICICI Sapphiro LFT (upgrades my ICICI account to Wealth Account, so use it occasionally to keep it active & also my main go to card for domestic lounge access.)
    3. ICICI Amazon Pay for all Amazon shopping
    4. Amex MRCC for the monthly 4K expense for 1000 points and occasional Amex offers
    5. SBI Elite: Have been using it for a few years now and was mainly using it for the BookMyShow monthly offer and Yatra vouchers… both are kinda useless now…in fact don’t see any travel benefits anymore.
    I want to exchange the SBI Elite to something more useful in the SBI network. Was thinking of changing it to the SBI SimplySave so that I can use it whenever there is an SBI 10x offer. Any other suggestions will be really helpful?

    Reply
    1. Saurabh

      Go for SBI SimplyClick. You will get at least 3% returns on online spends(if you spend 1 Lakh at least – better than most cards mentioned above). Not suitable for offline spends though, but can still make use of periodic good SBI offers.

      Reply
  39. Puneet Singal

    I plan to apply for Citi Prestige card. Can someone clarify one point for me. I am a Citigold member and remember some limited time promotion whereby Citi was providing bonus points basis Citi relationships viz. Citi Priority, Citigold and Citigold Private. Can you please confirm whether this promotion is continuing in 2021 and whether points are awarded for Citi Prestige + Citigold combo.

    Reply
    1. Ajai Singh

      Its still there but the card is now quite worthless the biggest minus for me was when they took away free Airport transfer and I without the knowledge was left with the card in hand. Have canned it after that no point for me to hold it anymore.

      Reply
    2. Shivi

      Please ask CiTi customer care. They changed a lot of things in 2020-21. Earlier too this was turning out to be more rewarding only with CiTiGold Private

      Reply
      1. Puneet Singal

        Yeah, spoke to them already. The limited time promotion for 30% bonus points with Citigold relationship was valid till Dec 2020 only. So the current points structure in place is the base rate of 1 point for Rs. 100 spent for domestic transactions. The executive mentioned that there might be promotions in future but nothing currently.

        Reply
  40. Krsna

    Hi Sid/All,
    Whats the criteria for Credit card companies to give out Life time free cards( How and when do they offer). I’ve made a request to AMEX and HDFC but they say dont issue LTF, but i ‘ve seen people carrying LTF cards with them. Please throw some light on this.

    Reply
    1. BlueBull

      For HDFC, I think they prefer good relationships with them, and/or use of certain services to make card LTF. When i joined, they said my card (at that time it was Moneyback, but this was applicable for Regalia as well) will be made LTF if I use their SmartPay application for paying at least one monthly bill. After ~2 years of decent relationship across multiple accounts (salary, savings, FD, etc with healthy balance), they upgraded the card to Infinia LTF.

      For Amex, I think there was a small sliver of time where they were giving out a certain card for LTF (one of the comments on this blog had mentioned it), but don’t know any more. Some credit card blogs also seem to have offered it using affiliate links. But I’m not sure if anyone would have a Platinum card LTF; that defeats the entire purpose of that card.

      If a bank believes you can be a reliable revenue stream from both the accumulation side (savings, FDs, demat wrt annual fees and large deposit amounts) as well as spending side (credit and debit cards; interchange fees or loan interest), you have a good chance of getting an LTF card. Else wait for good offers to come by (reading this blog helps). Case in point the very recent LTF infinia upgrade for a bunch of people.

      Reply
    2. GTMAX

      There is no criteria. Visit here regularly & you will get to know when they offer it the next time.

      Reply
  41. Dev

    ICICI is not offering the 10% discount on Amazon pay icici card in Amazon or Flipkart. How best to approach them for another variant of Card, preferably LTF – I also intend to keep the Amazon pay card?

    Reply
    1. Raghu

      ICICI Platinum Visa card is available as LTF and very easy to be approved for ICICI AP Card holders

      Reply
  42. Siddharth

    Just curious to know, how many cards do you have? Doesn’t it impact your credit score having many credit cards? How much of credit limit are you able to utilise across all the cards combined? Percentage wise.

    Reply
  43. Ravi

    Siddharth – Your articles are very helpful and specially this article on top 20 cards.

    Need some help. I have 4 LTF Cards – HDFC Diners Black , Yes Exclusive, ICICI Amazon Pay and Amex membership rewards.
    HDFC used for most spends and 10X instant vouchers. I don’t travel much so it’s not used for travel and lounge benefits. So I redeem the points as instant vouchers.
    Amex only for monthly 4×1000 spends on wallets (will change to 1500*4 from April) which is redeemed again as vouchers.
    ICICI Amazon pay mostly for wallet loads which is just 1% value. Not using it much for paying bills which is covered mostly through amazon pay balance.
    Yes is almost dead but kept for lounge for self and add-on card whenever needed or for some deals.
    Don’t want to have more than 4 cards but I am getting IDFC First Wealth card LTF which I am not sure would replace any card as offline transaction benefit is too low (0.75% value) but wallet load would be better (1.5% value). Don’t think would be able to spend 20K or more on this card for 10X points.
    Another option I am thinking is to get Axis Ace which would be paid card but offline transaction value (2%) would be beneficial and most online transaction value (2%) would be more than most diner’s black (1.65%) and also there would not be any acceptance issue for me and my partner. Only downside is no points on wallet loads.

    Your advise is highly appreciated regarding IDFC Wealth card, Axis ACE card or any card based on my needs. Also, if any current card can be closed for better management. Looking to have not more than 3-4 cards max.

    Reply
    1. Ravi

      Thanks for this wonderful forum SID. based on reviews, applied and got approved for Axis ACE card so should be getting it soon.

      Any advice from experts here if IDFC Wealth card (LTF) would be beneficial to have. As per customer care there are no points for wallet load. If wallet load is 1.5% then it is beneficial post utilising the Amex MRCC limit of 6000 per month for bonus points.
      Movies, Domestic/International lounge, spa benefits doesn’t make sense for near future but in long term should help as don’t know if yes exclusive card (and it’s benefits including lounge for add on card) will survive.

      Road assistance might be useful but I don’t see any offers yet for IDFC credit card (only debit card)

      Reply
  44. Ravi

    Hello Siddharth
    How frequently do you approve the comments. I had posted on 3rd Mar but those still not have been posted.
    Thanks in advance.

    Reply
  45. NT

    Sid, great work.

    This site is my goto for all card related research.

    Just one question, having so many cards, how do you really manage them?
    Like the payments and the offers and benefits of each of them. It is quite a task. Also, managing the pins/passwords and the managing their usage (contactless, pos, online & international)
    Please let me know how do you really do all of this?

    Many thanks

    Reply
    1. NT

      Not to forget their amf and the rewards plus achieving the spends.

      Reply
    2. Manoj Singh

      For reminder of last date and other info for credit card use app sms organizer by Microsoft. It’s very nice app. Better then stock android messaging app.

      Also you can use cred app and add them over whatsapp. You will get all updates for rewards and due dates.
      I am managing around 16 cards and all are LTF and never missed date for any card. Most frequently use amex and DCB and others depend on offers.
      I am using both and never miss any due date.

      Reply
  46. Wannabe Frequent Flyer

    In some of the posts here about HDFC cards, the cardholder is expected to contact the relationship manager. I have had an HDFC card for around 10 years, where do I find details about my relationship manager?

    My history with them is that I had a Titanium card, I requested a change to Snapdeal credit card (I worked at Snapdeal, but HDFC still denied it!), after expiry, they sent me a moneyback creditc card. These two were lifetimee free.

    They then sent me an SMS saying that I was eligible for upgrade, and I got upgraded to a Regalia First card. It wasn’t supposed to be FYF, but I think they waived off the fees due to the pandemic, so it effectively became that. I spend enough to get fee waivers for subsequent years.

    After reading the posts here, the Infinia card looks very enticing. My historical spending with HDFC cards has been low, but if I can get at least a Regalia card, I’d increase my spending on it. My biggest share of spends is currently paying to parents – I pay rent of something like 60K per month to save taxes, 1.5LPA on NPS (3 ppl x 3), and electricity bills. (But I use other cards for it – SBI Air India, which I am planning to either junk, or replace with SBI ClubVistara Prime)

    So do I just call the call centre and ask for an upgrade to Regalia? How does the current RBI freeze affect it?

    Reply
    1. Praveen Katiyar

      U can send the upgrade form to Chennai..
      RBI freeze does not apply on upgrade, which is what you will be technically asking.
      Hope it helps.

      Reply
    2. Saurabh

      The RBI freeze doesn’t affect card upgrades. You should call customer care and ask for an upgrade. As per my knowledge relationship manager is assigned to customers having a saving account with high net worth or salary savings account(I could be wrong here)

      Reply
  47. AG

    How to get invited to Zomato Classic card?
    By ordering on Zomato? Any pattern or suggestions that might trigger the invite?
    Cheers.

    Reply
  48. sudheep

    Instead of asking someone to “SLOW DOWN ” commenting, u better make yourself fast by clearing the messages in time.

    Nowadays its a mess here , messages are filtered and posted once in a week. Appreciate your efforts in creating this blog, but that doesn’t mean that only posts in sync with your opinion to be posted in this forum.

    You made yourself valued here.. “It took me a lot of time and effort to create this list. If it helps you to save at-least few thousands and if you wish to say thanks, you may get me a Fruit Juice (I’ve reduced coffee lately) or a Sumptuous Dinner if you’re generous.” .. PITY . Why did you b*g SID?? .. Many including me used your referral to get cards, those ‘invisible treats’ are more than sufficient for the “effort” being put here.

    Don’t ask your genuine readers ‘not to comment’, u can always filter it if you don’t want to be put in this form. Be more gentle.

    Reply
    1. Rahil Shah

      I believe the choice of words were completely unnecessary in this case!

      And I also think that there must always be some pun and humour to not make the blog monotonous.

      Good work, Sid.

      Reply
      1. Rahil Shah

        I meant the choice of words in the comment, not the blog, of course!

        Reply
    2. Kiran

      Mr. Sudheep,

      I guess Mr. Siddharth is not working under you to give him instructions to clear the messages fast and nor you pay him to do so. I believe this is an community where like minded people come along to share the benefits amongst us and Siddharth plays the anchor role of connecting everyone. I believe he has given lot of insights about the card industry and many have benefited and also believe he himself would have taken inputs from fellow readers gained knowledge and have benefited likewise. I have been following this blog since 2016 and I have never had experience of him leaving any messages unposted (may be he would taken time to moderate them) also he has given credit for many people in his new blogs when the information was given early to him this includes even my name fewer times.

      If you feel things are messy here your always free to leave the forum no one invited you nor anyone is going to force you to stay back.

      When your asking someone to be gentle you have to learn that before expecting it from others.

      Also, please remember that its the giver who decides his worth and not the taker. At least give him an apology for using such strong language unnecessarily. Also, please understand this is not about supporting anyone it is about analysis the facts and being empathic.

      Cheers,
      Kiran

      Reply
    3. Praveen Katiyar

      I think the hard work that goes into this blog is more than what anybody out there can even feel, let alone payback, in any form.
      At the end of the day, nothing is obligatory and it’s @Sid’s blog.
      Once again ‘Be more gentle’.

      Reply
    4. Shivi

      Totally uncalled for reaction @ Sudheep & in bad taste too. Everybody got his/her own life & matters to attend to. Siddharth is running this blog out of passion & not a necessity of income. If you really feel the need to be heard on priority basis, why not pay for his one-to-one call session?!

      When you point a finger at others, there are three fingers pointing back at you. Be more humble.

      Reply
  49. Prashant

    I agree as well. Choice of words were unnecessary. You should be thankful that he published your comment.

    Reply
  50. RAJESH GUPTA

    Hi Siddharth
    I am holding Amex travel platinum card. I want to know which travel card would you suggest if I have to keep only one card.
    I am considering axis miles and more select, citi premier miles, air india sbi signature.
    The idea is to maximize air miles for free tickets. I pay insurance fuel through credit card but amex does not reward these spends. I have 1 or 2 international travels a year apart from domestic travel. I spend regularly on flipkart, amazon and myntra. SBI signature does look lucrative but I dont want to be stuck with air india only.
    Please advise.

    Reply
    1. Ankur S

      Amex platinum travel is good for domestic and international as you will have multiple transfer partners. For 4lac spend, you get 50k points that transfer with 2:1 to many airlines. This is much better than Citi miles. Miles and more carriers have surcharges so don’t tie yourself to Lufthansa group. If you fly east side then add hdfc diners black or infinia to wallet to get access to 10x points that transfer to for krisflyer at 1:1 ratio.

      Reply
    2. Prashant bhushan

      Use Axis vistara infinite. Has great returns for a travel card.

      Reply
  51. Ashwin

    I don’t think you should have published his comment, Sid. Such comments should be filtered by WordPress itself and not reach you for moderation.

    Reply
    1. The Conscience

      Sid bro,
      Ur doing a very great work. The credit card portfolio that I hold is better than i deserve but I got it just because of you. Ur guidance and community experience made it .
      Ignore S**t .
      keep it up. GBU

      Reply
      1. Virtual Version

        Pls share your card portfolio for everybody’s benefit.

        Reply
  52. Prarthan

    Hi Siddharth, you haven’t covered the premium range of Indusind Crest, Indulgr, Celesta, Heritage or Legacy credit card. You’ve covered only Pinnacle.
    Is there and particular reason to this?

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Imo ~ none of the cards you have mentioned are worth the trouble. There are no card specific perks, only platform based. New Heritage has ITC Club Culinaire Membership for 1 year but joining card fees of 90K (was 180K before ~ covered in first year with vouchers) & their complimentary third night on booking two consecutive paid nights in Oberoi hotels is a big let down- Dates are never available. Renewal fee of 25K without any perk is another point. They are only flying high coz of MC W Elite platform. Add to it one of the most terrible CC customer team of all (bested only by RBL)

      Reply
      1. MrNightStar

        Haha, I can vouch for RBL, they s*ck the most. Dudes take 18min to solve simple query and just don’t know anything. Acc to you which are best 5 CC issuers in terms of customer service.

        Reply
  53. AK

    Hi All,
    Don’t you think with the current un-planned HDFC internet banking outages( back to back on 29 & 30) are indicating some -ve trend of HDFC bank!

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Ofcourse. Means, they’re not going to get the approval to issue new cards anytime soon.

      Reply
      1. MrNightStar

        Wanting to get DCB, any educated guess when RBI may allow them again? July? Oct? Dec?

        Reply
  54. Krishna

    Hi Sid/All,
    Kudos to the community and ignore any bad comments.
    Need inputs to improve my portfolio
    Annual spends of 4 lakhs + and current set of cards include
    1) HDFC money back card
    2) Amazon pay icici card
    3) Axis Ace credit card
    What should i add/remove to my portfolio to improve value and cover maximum ground. Feel I miss out on a good travel card and looking to add in an Amex card (MRCC or plat travel?),
    Appreciate your comments on this

    Reply
  55. K

    I spend about 10-15k in Uber monthly on office commute.
    What’s the best credit card for this?

    Reply
    1. Ankur S

      Axis flipkart card gives 4% cashback on uber spends, check that or if you have any card from hdfc then u can buy vouchers from smartbuy that gives cashback or rewards based on card type.

      Reply
    2. SS

      If you can use ola, try ola sbi card for 15% to 7% cashback.
      But 15k spend on travel by cab per month,owning a car will be cheaper.

      Reply
  56. Rishabh

    Hi Sid and fellow members,

    I have big spends (12L+) in the next 30 – 45 days on the hotel and retail category, can you all suggest a CC where I can maximize my rewards from these spends? I already have Dinners Black and Amex Platinium Travel (Exhausted 4 L for maximum rewards). Should I opt for SC Ultimate or Amex Platinum charge to earn better rewards or should I spend the entire amount on Dinners Black to earn 3.3% rewards. Please suggest.

    Thanks, in advance 🙂

    Reply
    1. Ankur S

      Diners is a good choice but if can get approved and receive Axis Vistara Infinite by then, you can have 4 business class ticket vouchers and 10000 bonus CV + spend CV points at the end of these huge expenses. 🙂

      Important Note : Axis Vistara cards don’t give points on jewellery, watches etc. based merchant categories (check t&c of cv points on axis site) like wallets reload so if upcoming retail expenses include any of those categories, then forget what I just said about Axis Vistara Infinite and you should be ok with Diners itself.

      Reply
    2. Sree

      DCB might have acceptability issues. I prefer SCB ultimate for all spends along with DCB. DCB gives best value for travel redemptions. In addition to that i use SCB ultimate to get brand shopping vouchers using points which i can use at outlets.

      Reply
    3. santosh

      Have all three cards.

      See SCB redemption list see if anything you need is there. As you say bookings are there, maybe pay retail using SCB and buy MakeMyTrip voucher with the received points. Remaining hotels with DCB for 10x

      Also, the retail purchases, they allow vouchers? If yes how much can be covered. If you are buying at least 50k of vouchers, maybe upgrade to Infinia to get 15K points per month. Will help with hotel booking as well. Also check how much more you need to spend to reach 8L spends in DCB for annual benifits

      I don’t see more value from amex plat unless you want to do high spending for platinum invite.

      Reply
  57. krish

    Hi Sid and community,

    Below are the set of cards i currently.
    1) Icici amazon pay
    2) axis ace
    3) hdfc money back
    Annual spends are in tune of 5 lakhs+. I feel i miss out on a travel card and an amex card .
    Can you suggest one or two cards that i should add to my portfolio.

    Reply
  58. Ankur S

    You should add Amex MRCC (Amex platinum travel if you are able to spend 4lac on amex ) and later try to upgrade hdfc moneyback card when hdfc upgrade offer shows in netbanking.

    Reply
  59. MrNightStar

    Normal gyftr allows just 5k worth of giftcards or am i missing something? Any limits for HDFC smartbuy?

    Reply
  60. Abhi

    With the new changes, Amex Platinum Travel should be giving 48K RPs on 4L annual spends? Plus 10K Taj ofcourse.
    Assuming 48K and if that can be converted to Bonvoy points during 40-50% bonus offers, it would perhaps give still better value than it gave in the past, right?

    Reply
  61. ARSC

    Applied for the amex Plat and got it approved I also have Amex reserve since 2010,Diners black/Axis Magnus and others The only reason to go for amex is the service and how they handle their customers.

    I am a Imperia customer and the service is quite crap.

    Amex Plat has a premium feel and to get the black card have to first get this.
    Maybe in few Years they will other the black as my spends are quite high.

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Spend a crore with the Plat travel desk & you should get the Cent/Black invite; else ask them for it.

      Reply
  62. Amrish

    I didn’t realize there was an updated 2021 list and I put a message on the older 2020. Copy pasting here for better response
    The message was to take your suggestion on which card to get for myself.
    I currently use DCB as the primary card and have AI-SBI signature as the backup. Have ICICI Sapphiro also as LTF but that’s useless. My usage till now has been about 12-13 lacs in a year which means I manage to get the 8 lac milestone benefits on DCB and the 5 lacs milestone on AI-SBI. Now with rent pay coming in, my usage can go upto 20-21 lacs, so thought there’s place for another card in the wallet. I’m thinking of replacing the AI-SBI also since they never waive the fees and I’m not sure about AI’s future as an airline. My spends are mostly online with some amount of travel. The redemptions around travel or Amazon would be most preferred
    I was thinking of keeping the DCB and getting an amex plat travel and an SBI prime vistara. Do you think that’s a good combo or is there something better available. I definitely needs at least 1 visa/ master because acceptance of both diners and amex is questionable, specially overseas.

    PS: Not considering Axis Vistara because I don’t travel business domestically. Not considering infinia because I don’t have much of a relationship with HDFC

    Reply
  63. Arun C B

    Why AXIS SELECT is mentioned here? It’s a low rewarding card right.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      In a way – yes. But the Swiggy offer alone is sufficient to get attractive savings on the card.

      Reply
      1. Arun C B

        Hmm.. . Yes you are correct on the swiggy offer. I keep it mainly because of the BMS offer , Groceries 2X and PP usage. As Inam salaried I use food coupons to reduce taxation. In that case am not able to take this swiggy offer as already I have allocated money for that. 🙁 .

        I was not convinced about taking ACE card initially, After your posts I go ahead and took it. That was a good thing for sure. Thanks! Now I an either upgrade th Select to Magnus or close it . Since ACE comes with Signature variant, BMS offer might be there. Huh!

        Nowadays Axis(grab deals) and SBI (yono app)also gives 5% cashback in Amazon which is giving tight competition to Amazon ICICI (Eg : AXIS ACE – Grab deals + Gpay+2% cashback)or Regalia (5% or 5x) for that matter! Need to check if any caps are there. What you say.

        Reply
  64. Mugunthan

    Could not find a page for Axis Neo card. New benefits eff. 14th, May, 2021.

    1. Zomoto: 40% Off on Zomato on Food Delivery*(Discount upto Rs.120, on min. transaction of Rs.200 Applicable 2 times per month per card

    2. Grofers: 10% Off on Grofers on Groceries(Discount upto Rs.250, on min. transaction of Rs.750 Applicable once per month per card

    3. Paytm: 5% Off on Paytm on Utility Bill Payments(Discount upto Rs.150, includes Mobile Recharges/DTH/Electricity Bill Payments, applicable once per month per card)

    4. Myntra: 10% Off every time you shop at Myntra (Min. transaction of Rs.500, offer valid on select styles

    5. BookMyShow: 10% Off on every purchase of a movie ticket on BookMyShow (Maximum monthly benefits upto Rs.100)

    Axis neo has a annual fee of Rs.250+tax or mostly it is issued as free card.

    Reply
    1. Amit

      With AXIS Flipkart, AXIS ACE, AXIS Neo, AXIS MyZone, AXIS Bank has taken entry level card market by storm.

      Reply
    2. Mugunthan

      Yes, excluding Myntra, one can save Rs.740 per month with Neo card. Looks, Myntra have no maximum cap for discount but only restriction on items.

      Could not find any other bank card with annual fee of up to Rs.500+tax is giving such offers.

      In my experience Axis offers were never comparable with other banks (lower fee cards). So far used MyZone and MyWings in the past, both I got with flight/travel vouchers. Today closed Privilege card and replaced it with MyZone card*. Have Flipkart and Neo cards too.

      *reason posted in Privilege card page.

      Reply
  65. Ramesh Nadar

    Hello all
    Any idea about idfc first select credit card.. How is it.

    Reply
  66. Darshit

    Hey folks ..everyone in community doing amazing work ..I need help I got my first CC in 2019 HDFC millennia..was first time into CC and didn’t knew much and it’s credit limit ja just 60k as I got it as student but now I have job in EY and my gross income is around 6 lac P.a my spend on HDFC card is around 2 Lac P.a though it’s LTF now and I’m looking to have another 3 cards .1 for travel. 1 for purchase (Amazon,Flipkart,Zomato) and 1 for utility(bills , recharge )and everything..need reference for LTF cards and won’t mind paying upto 2.5k/3k a year annual fee I request community to suggest some best rewarding cards ..thanks in advance everyone 😊👍🏻

    Reply
    1. DIPAK KUMAR

      Millennia is enough for you. For amazon , flipkart, zomato and bill payment its enough. I think you are not able to utilise hdfc millennia. I have hdfc millenia from 11 months now , axis privilege ( no use at all) , axis Flipkart (not useful), axis ace ( you have to use 2 lac to get fee waived, good for bill payment on google pay android only), indusind legend card(useful to get 2% for all txn even for wallet loads) , one metal card( no use) . you can use millennia in all the cases.
      Just use Payzapp for bill payment and get 5% cashback + 5% millennia card reward point ( demerit is minimum txn should be 2000) for this issue you can do one more thing, just purchase 5000 amazon Voucher from hdfc smartbuy portal with 5% cashback =250( credits in unbilled section on last day of month) + 5% reward points for millennia card feature=250 point( credits next month in Rewards point section.)Total benefits =250+250= 500 that is 10% and you can pay bills on Amazon using this 5000 voucher.
      You can keep one extra card for payment below 2000 or offline payments . Like axis ace card.
      My recommendation no need to get so much cards . Use millennia card and use full limit for 1-2 months you will get limit enhancement offer . I used full limit on my card for just 1 month and hdfc given limit enhancement offer and increased limit from 75k to 3 lac. I use 99% millennia card only. I get 1600 points every month. Yesterday that is 22 may 2021 i redeemed 5000 points as 5000 statement cash credit. When i woke up in morning and checked hdfc app , 5000 was credited in unbilled section and 5000 RP was deducted. I ki have more 3286 points and i accrued this month 2250 RP this month which will be credited next month and i will again redeem 5K points for 5K cash credit. 1 thing i found yesterday that hdfc has limited the reward point redemption. Maximum points that can be redeemed at once is 5000 points only.
      Currently i can load unlimited paytm wallet , don’t know how , might be glitch from paytm . I use zomato to load money and get 1% reward points.

      I use indusind legend card for all payments below 2000 and also if my all reward point is collected. Also sometimes only i use axis Flipkart and ace card. I will close both Flipkart and ace card before annual fee is charged and also i will downgrade my axis privilege card to LTF myzone card before renewals.

      Recommendation, get only 2-3 cards only. In excitement don’t take much cards if you don’t have use.i can recommend 1 card from all useful banks for you.
      From axis – go for axis ace/ Flipkart card ( if you have iPhone then bill payment benefits are not applicable for iPhone)
      From sbi – sbi simply click
      From icici- amazon icici
      From hdfc – millennia card
      From amex- MRCC card

      For detailed HDFC millenia query you can contact me if still confused with millennia card benefits because most of the people don’t understand HDFC millennia benefit as they are not able to club the benefits even hdfc customer care is illiterate.🤣🤣🤣

      Reply
      1. Tejas

        Can you help me understand how to maximize HDFC millennia? I’ve 8L+ limit on it but don’t think its much rewarding.
        I use it to pay some bills(5k per month) and for most of my online shopping but never understood the calculations whereas your comment make it look as really good card.
        Do help out _/\_
        If you can provide some breakdown, would be really helpful! Thanks in advance

        Reply
  67. Tejas

    Need help in determining good Credit Cards for me. (will close others accordingly)
    Income >80k/mnth, and have good credit limit on current cards
    Cards Holding:
    HDFC Millennia – upgraded from Diners Club Miles (bad call, I know)
    ICICI Amazon Pay
    Citi Rewards
    Axis Flipkart (Decided to close this, not worth the trouble)

    Reply
    1. Kamal

      Try to upgrade Hdfc Millennia to HDFC Regalia LTF (check Netbanking -> Offers tab) .
      ICICI Amz good to have
      Close Citi Rewards(no offers,buyout)
      Upgrade Axis FP to Axis Ace . You can hold two cards from Axis. So if you are holding FP card , you can easily get Ace card over phone call and then close out FP
      Get Amex Mrcc using Sid’s link after RBI lifts ban. I know its unappetising with fee & restructuring but Amex has The best Dispute resolution and customer service team and can protect you on a rainy day

      Reply
      1. Santosh Kumar

        I will just add to kamals comment, Amex dispute resolution is the best. holding MRCC for 3 years. Manage 1.5L spend per year. For any transaction, for which I think for which I might be facing any issues in the future I use Amex. Ex: ordering electronics internationally, non-indian travel portal bookings, paying for orders from not-so-famous websites. Once got 40K back from a travel website when they were refusing a refund.

        Reply
  68. Ashutosh Pandey

    I think an update is needed to this list due to entry of some new players in credit card business. Update will also be helpful to reflect T&C changes on cards and recent bans on banks/payment service partners.

    Reply
  69. Krsna

    Hi Sid/Community,
    Could be off topic for this blog, but looking for suggestions on bank/s to go to for savings/family banking needs. Looking for good relationship mgmt, product offerings and debit cards/net banking offers.
    Axis(Burgundy/priority),IndusInd (Exclusive ) are couple of options i could dig, but want to know if there are any other good options.
    Already holding my salary with ICICI and another account with HDFC, but they are no so rewarding.

    Regards.

    Reply
  70. Arun

    Hi Siddharth I already own two credit cards so how much time I should wait before applying for another one in this financial year.And can I have two credit cards from same bank??

    Reply
    1. SS

      3 to 6 months wait for another card application is good practice. You can have multiple credit card from same bank. But the catch is the bank need to have policy where they provide multiples card to a single person.

      Reply
    2. Kamal

      You can hold 2 cards from same bank not more than that. One can apply new CC in 6 month interval . Try not to close out oldest credit line as it will affect CIBIL.

      Reply
  71. Mugunthan

    I once had 4 cards from SCB > Manhatten, Yatra, Platinum rewards and Landmark rewards. Now reduced to 2 cards > Digismart and Platinum rewards (Landmark rewards card active till Aug/2021 – card is withdrawn by SCB).

    Once had 3 cards from ICICI > Platinum, Amazon and Jetairways card. Now using Platinum and Amazon.

    Currently having 3 cards from Axis > MyZone (degraded from Privilege card recently), Flipkart and Neo. The thing is Privilege card is still active for 30 more days.

    Reply
  72. Mugunthan

    Thought of paying a small annual fee to ICICI. So asked for HPCL Visa card (Rs. 199+tax). In a week time will be holding 3 cards from ICICI (Other 2 cards are Amazon and Platinum).

    Other banks with multiple cards:
    Axis-3, SCB-3.

    Reply
  73. Utkarsha

    I started my CC journey with HDFC Money back card and then slowly added SBI FBB, CITI Rewards, Stan Char Landmark which got upgraded to DigiSmart and AMEX Smart Earn.

    These CC helped me to build credit history and currently my Experian score is 888/900.

    I don’t use DigiSmart and tried to close it but is still active. Any suggestions for new cards? I just applied for ICICI Amazon Pay card…

    Reply
    1. Praveen Katiyar

      U can have many cards, believe me.. I have gone upto 16 till last year.
      But u have to define what u really want.
      I took a lot of time for me to realise this.
      Adding ‘n’ number of LTF cards won’t help.

      Reply
  74. Baiju Bahuleyan

    You can earn 2x more points through Amex MRCC. All you have to do is visit the Amex website, and click on benefits > rewards multiplier and choose Amazon/flipkart/Ajio. This will take you to the website and continue shopping. Before that, make sure your cart is empty since Amex will not reward you with points for buying items that were already in the cart.

    Reply
  75. manoj singh

    All depend on your salary. Read the blog you will understand.

    Few best cards are
    Diners black and infinia from HDFC
    Any card from IDFC (LTF)
    SC ultimate

    Reply
  76. srik

    My cards are below..
    HDFC infinia
    SC Ultimate
    Amex platinum
    Amex MMT payback
    Amex Gold charge
    ICICI coral
    ICICI amazon apy
    ICICI Platinum
    RBL movies and more
    HSBC platinum
    Axis Flipkart
    SBI Prime
    SBI IRCTC
    SBI Simply click
    IndusInd Legend
    I like infinia, SC ulti, mostly
    I love Amex travel plat bcos of ( Taj Krishna, Vivanta By Taj, HYD)
    Travelled to South east countries , Europe, Japan, New zealand ,Turkey using credit card points…
    Great thanks and congratulations to this website..

    Reply
  77. Anchit Singla

    Please review RBL Bank Platinum Travel Easy SuperCard. It gives 10% cashback on fuel, Ola and Uber, upto Rs. 400 per month. It can be the best fuel credit card for many people.

    Reply
  78. Chaitanya Mella

    How good are the edge rewards from Axis bank. How high can the reward rate go and what are the options?

    Reply
  79. chanduatla

    Spend-based offer received by mail.
    “Get additional 1,000 reward points on Ultimate credit card spends | 14 – 17 Aug 2021”

    Reply
  80. Ravi

    Hi Siddharth,

    According to the recent devaluation of BOB Select Credit Card, I think the list can be update not include this card anymore, just to avoid confusion.

    Also thanks for prompt update on the devaluation as it helped not going through the hassle of branch application for an almost useless credit card.

    Reply
  81. Fahd

    Hi Sid, any suggestions for a credit card which has spend based joining fee reversals..want to maximise earnings from the card..my spend next 3 months is expected to be in range of 1.5-2 lakhs basis a few purchases which I had planned. Was eyeing Axis Magnus but can’t take that due to MasterCard ban. Don’t want to take Axis Vistara Infinite as I already have DCB and a lot of reward points already accumulated for using towards tickets. Any suggestions would be helpful

    Reply
    1. MT

      Axis ace bro , 10,000 in 90days for joining fee reversal and 2 lakhs cor annual fee reversal + 2% cashback flat on all spends (except fuel and wallet) , what else can you ask for , in case travelling, 2 lounge access per qtr

      Reply
      1. Fahd

        Axis Ace is a great card and I am thinking of giving up my Flipkart Axis Bank card to take that.. however, I am not looking for lounge access as of now as I have multiple cards with lounge access.. Also have DCB which gives a better reward rate than Axis Ace. I was thinking more in line with the recent post from Sid where he talked about joining fee waivers from Axis and was thinking of taking Axis Magnus before it got banner by RBI..Intent is to take a card where joining reward is substantial but fees gets waived off basis spend in first 3 months or so

        Reply
        1. MT

          The best part i liked about axis ace is directly statement credit , no accruing points and then spending somewhere else to get the value .. you can ofcourse go for some other card as per your wish , the thing i like about magnus if the 8 meet and greet at airports , for mumbai, a relative used it once , i got to ride in his private buggy down to arrivals , the service is available at 2500 a person on csmia website, pegging magnus usage at 20k per year + other value if all 8 meet and greet are used ( you can book 4-5 at a time if you have family , only primary card holder has to be part of group)

          Reply
          1. Fahd

            It was actually just to get the 10k joining voucher on payment of fees and then getting the fees back on hitting the spend requirment..hence thought of Magnus to get higher benefits…had no plans on what to do after Year 1, when renewal comes due….I do not really value meet and greet.. happy to experience it as long as I haven’t paid for it (which is what effectively one can get on fee reversal in first year)

  82. Adeeb

    Here is my credit card portfolio

    1. Amex Membership Rewards Credit Card:
    * Get 1000 points on spending Rs 1500 x 4 times.
    * Get addditional 1000 points on spending Rs 20000 in a month.

    2. Standard Chartered Supervalue Titanium Credit Card:
    * Get 150* cashback on spending Rs 4000 in any fuel station (Rs 150
    Cashback + Rs 50 Fuel surcharge waiver)
    * Spend limit per transaction should be in between Rs 700 and Rs 2000

    3. ICICI Amazon Pay Credit Card:
    * Get 5% cashback on spending in Amazon for prime member
    * Get 1% cashback on all other spends.

    3. HDFC Regalia Credit Card:
    * 12 Complimentary Airport Lounge Access within India and 6 outside India.
    * Flights and hotel bookings via Smartbuy at a value of 1 RP = Rs 0.5
    * Earn 4 Reward Points on every Rs. 150 spent on all retail spends
    including Insurance, Utilities, Education and Rent Pay.

    Reply
  83. manoj singh

    I mostly use DCB (3.3% reward and 16.5-33% from smartbuy) for most of my transaction along with IDFC wealth(2.5% flat reward)
    Also use Amex membership reward card for ₹20000 to get 2000 reward points and Reward multiplier.

    Axis Flipkart and ICICI Amazon pay based on requirement which is mostly not required.
    Other 10+ cards are just in my wallet for any card based offer.
    My all cards are LTF except Axis Flipkart and sbi for which they game me 1000 vouchers initially.

    I think 2-3 cards are enough for most of need. Rest are used based on offer.

    Reply
  84. SSR

    Hi Sid,

    I have
    1. ICICI Amazon Pay and Platinum LTF cards
    2. PayTM Citibank card whose rewards and fee terms are recently updated.

    Now, I see LTF offer in Flipkart app for Axis card (Visa variant) and HDFC website also lists LTF based on certain terms and conditions for new card applications. My card spends typically do not cross 5L per annum. Do you suggest applying for these cards and keeping them handy.

    Reply
  85. EK

    Pls add if provider has a toll free or local number for customer care. This is important as many companies in India use the shady 1860 numbers for customer care. These are premium numbers that incur high call charges for the customer and aren’t included in any of the unlimited packs offered by Telcos – As of now only Jio offers free calling to these numbers. For example Axis bank has ONLY 1860 numbers for any credit card related issues meaning not only only do you suffer due to actual issue, you also need to pay extra to talk to them about it! Only when there is lot of visibility and fight back by consumers will these greedy companies change their behaviors.

    Reply
  86. Dhruv Gheewala

    Hi Siddharth,

    I visit your page just a day before and I must say it’s a great article that you have put for credit card comparison. I noticed that you have mentioned that for HDFC Regalia reward ratio is near to 10%, i am holding regalia but mostly I feel that the reward is quite below that, would you mind giving me some details or tricks to reach up to that level of reward using HDFC regalia.

    2. My current usage is 6/7 LPA, I am holding HDFC Regalia (For Travel), ICICI Amazon Pay (Amazon Purchase) and Axis bank Ace (Bill payment using Gpay) Credit card, what is the next card that i should look for ?

    Reply
  87. Rushabh

    Hi Siddharth, can you please share your views on uni cards? It looks good with pay later and “scan and pay”.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Just covered. I think Scan & pay, Pay a friend and many other features are yet to go live. This is quite interesting one compared to Slice.

      Reply
  88. Fahd

    Any tips to add money to Phonepe Wallet through credit cards without charges. They were not charging anything for adding to PhonePe wallet till recently but the same is now chargeable.

    While Phonepe is not as useful as Paytm from a wallet perspective, still being able to add money from CC would help in achieving milestone spends for cards such as Amex

    Reply
    1. Saurabh

      It appears they rolled back that change. I am able to add money to PhonePe wallet using credit card without any charges after y recent app update.

      Reply
  89. Fahd

    ICICI is giving limit increase on ICICI Amazon pay credit card…login to iMobilePay app and check under manage credit limit…my credit limit increased from 2.5 lakhs to 7.8 lakhs

    Reply
  90. Ravindra Mali

    I received INFINA upgrade from regalia with 8.4 lakh limit. Applied through the branch without much hassle. But didn’t receive any reply from HDFC for a month. So lodged a complaint with HDFC. Within 3 days card was approved and delivered today. One query is how come HDFC still issues a card on the MasterCard platform even though it is banned in India. My regalia was on the MasterCard platform.

    Reply
  91. Abhishek Singh

    I have HDFC Moneyback ( limit 80K) since 2009 and Diners Club Miles Card (400K) since 2018.

    Have decent spend on both these cards but HDFC not offering upgrade from Diners Club Miles Card to Diners Club Black.

    They are offering upgrade to 6E cards from Moneyback card though .

    Can u suggest how to get Regalia ( ultimate goal : Infinia) or DCB.

    This Diners ban can be ignored for reply.

    Reply
    1. Harry

      If you have a diners card, HDFC can upgrade to another diners card irrespective of the ban. I recently upgraded from regalia first (mastercard) to Regalia, hoping to get a visa signature Regalia card. But received a mastercard Regalia, irrespective of the mastercard ban.

      Hope this helps.

      Reply
      1. Amit

        can you confirm from your rm for diners card to diners upgrade as my rm is denying.

        Reply
        1. Rahil Shah

          Same here. Hold a Diners Privilege for 1.5 years and being denied an upgrade to DCB citing the Diner’s ban.

          Reply
  92. Kaustubh Sonawane

    Does Regalia offers rewards points on insurance, utility bills, etc?? Also if I purchase Gold/Silver/Platinum, will I earn rewards points?

    Also, I want to know if I can earn rewards points on AMEX MRCC or Gold CC if I purchase Gold or Silver?

    Reply
  93. Manikanta

    Indusind started charging reward redemption fee of 118(100 + GST), so those cards have lost their shine now due to that.

    Reply
  94. Ankur Dhanda

    The strategy I use now for fuel spends is to use Amex reward multiplier with my Gold Charge and MRCC to buy e vouchers of HP.
    Get 5x on Gold Charge and 2x on MRCC for buying these HP vouchers and then redeem them at HP pumps without issue.
    The best value for petrol spends.

    Reply
  95. Praveen Perumalla

    Side – Good to see that you are keeping this article updated.

    Reply
  96. DEB

    Axis Bank has launched an exclusive offer for its credit and debit card customers on its Grab Deals portal. The bank is offering an instant discount of 10% and an additional 10% cashback (max benefit capped at Rs 5,000 per account) on shopping on Amazon with eligible Axis Bank credit cards. The offer is applicable from 13th to 17th October 2021

    Reply
  97. Rajesh KSV

    You should definitely consider adding Flipkart axis bank credit card in ecommerce section. Last couple of years Flipkart tied up with Axis Bank during sale period (Big billion day) which earns 15% returns more frequently compared to Amazon which doesn’t tie up with Amazon often and hence its very rare to get 15%..

    Reply
  98. Fahd

    Any tricks to get ICICI Sapphiro Card LTF? I am being offered it on a paid basis currently but dont think its worth paying fees for. Would request the card experts on this forum to help with suggestions.

    I have a savings account, PPF account with ICICI and hold the ICICI Amazon Pay credit card.

    Reply
    1. Sandeep Kumar

      It’s not worth to pay for ICICI Rubyx and Sapphiro both. ICICI bank cards are useless (except ICICI Amazon Pay, that too now is inferior to Flipkart Axis card).
      The only reason I would opt for Sapphiro (that too LTF) is for Spa at airports.

      Reply
  99. yuva nesh

    does rupay select cards really have 12 spa in addition to golf and interantional lounge access

    Reply
  100. Nihar

    Sid Pls share your list for best credit cards for 2022 .
    Great to go through this article every yr .

    Reply
  101. ARR

    Hi Siddharth,
    I’m a regular reader of this blog. I check this space at least twice or thrice a day. I fell in love with this blog as soon as I landed here. I started my credit card journey with one card in 2014. After going through this content, i’m able to get around 20 cards and save a lot of money. I travelled to many places for almost free of cost! I’m extremely grateful to Sid for this.
    I’ve a piece of advice to you. Why don’t you invite credit cards and financial journeys of individuals and publish in this blog? By that, all the readers will get the benefit and we will have more information about the credit cards, hotel and travel hacks. Consider my request!

    Reply
  102. Paras

    Is Standard Chartered Ultimate better than Axis ACE ? considering the limited catalog redemption in SC with no real cachback ?

    Reply

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