Every year, we compile a list of the best credit cards in India for a variety of reasons. As credit cards evolve, their rewards and benefits rarely remain the same. Unless you keep track of a few credit cards, it is difficult to keep up with these changes. Indian consumers now have over 150+ options for credit cards. This is a good thing, but it also makes it more difficult to find the best credit cards. So which credit cards offer you the most benefits and rewards during your spending? We present you with a list of the best credit cards in India. Whether it’s cashback, miles, lounge access, or free vacations, we have a credit card for you.
Best Credit Cards in India: Entry-Level
This list is for someone starting off with credit cards and looking for something simple. Entry-level credit cards are best suited for annual spends of less than Rs 2 Lakh. The credit cards in this segment feature:
- Easy approval
- Low or zero annual fee
- Low salary requirements for eligibility
- Rewards such as cashback, statement credit or Amazon gift vouchers
SBI Cashback Credit Card
SBI Cashback credit card is one of the best cards in the cashback segment. We get 5% cashback on any e-commerce spends like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Tata CLiQ etc. If most of your spends are online (which is the case nowadays), the SBI Cashback credit card will give you effortless 5% cashback every month in your credit card statement. The cashback is automatically credited within 3 days of statement generation. This makes the card a highly recommended option from our side.
HSBC Cashback Credit Card
HSBC Cashback credit card is a new addition in the list of best credit cards in India for 2024. HSBC Cashback credit card was recently relaunched with revised rewards and is a must-have option in the cashback segment. We get 10% cashback on dining, food delivery and grocery spends. So any spend on Swiggy, Zomato, Bigbasket etc. gets an easy 10% value back. On other spends, we get 1.5% cashback.
Axis Bank Ace Credit Card
With online spends sorted, it is time to find an option for getting cashback for offline spends. Axis Bank Ace credit card continues to be the best option for this. We get 2% unlimited cashback on offline spends and 5% cashback on utility bill payments with Google Pay. The only con is that Google Pay bill payments using this card are not available on iOS yet. So, iOS users lose out on 5% cashback. This card is invite-only from Google Pay for now.
Amex Membership Rewards Credit Card
Amex MRCC is an entry-level credit card that can give rewards on par with some of the premium cards. We get 1000 bonus MR points each on Rs 1500 X 4 transactions and Rs 20000 spent every month. With the Gold Collection redemption, the reward rate is between 5% to 8%. For achieving the milestone benefits, one of the options is to buy Amazon Pay gift vouchers from Amex Reward Multiplier.
Best Credit Cards in India: Premium Segment
This list is for cards that offer reward points along with some lifestyle benefits. These offer more value than entry-level credit cards and are suitable if annual spends are more than 4 Lakhs. The cards in the segment will feature:
- Higher salary eligibility criteria (preferably > Rs 6 Lakhs per annum)
- Higher fee that may not have a waiver criteria
- Lifestyle benefits with better rewards than entry-level credit cards
IDFC First Bank Wealth Credit Card
IDFC First Wealth credit card does not have the high rewards that few others on this list have. But, it is LTF without any strings. For the LTF pricing, we get up to 2.5% rewards with some good benefits. Some of the complimentary benefits are railway lounge access, roadside assistance, airport spa access and a BOGO movie offer. We also get domestic and international airport lounge access.
- Joining and Annual Fee: Zero (Lifetime Free)
- Rewards: Up to 2.5%
- Annual Fee Waiver: Not Applicable
- Best Use: Online Spends and Lounge/Spa Access
- Rewards Redemption: Statement Credit
- Airport Lounge Access: 4 visits/quarter to airport lounges in India and 4 visits/quarter to airport lounges outside India
HDFC Bank Regalia Gold Credit Card
Regalia Gold is the newest launch from HDFC Bank. It is an upgrade over the Regalia/Diners Club Privilege and also offers better milestone benefits. While the base reward rate might seem low, HDFC Bank has SmartBuy and other spending offers to boost the return. Get Regalia Gold especially if it is offered LTF and keep it for an upgrade to the future HDFC super-premium credit card.
Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank Credit Card
Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank credit card is one of the underrated options today. The RuPay variant is popular as a good UPI card but it does a lot more. We can earn up to 10% NeuCoins and more through promotional offers on the Tata Neu app.
- Joining and Annual Fee: ₹ 1499+GST / LTF
- Rewards: 1.5% to 5%
- Annual Fee Waiver: ₹ 3 Lakh Spend for paid cards
- Best Use: UPI, Bill Payments and Tata Neu spends
- Rewards Redemption: Tata Neu partner brands
- Airport Lounge Access: 2 visits/quarter to airport lounges in India and 1 visit/quarter to airport lounges outside India
Best Credit Cards in India: Super Premium Segment
These are the cards that everyone wants but few get them thanks to the stringent criteria. The super-premium credit cards can offer you every benefit that you wanted and more. For the cards in this segment:
- The salary should be high (preferably > Rs 15 Lakhs per annum)
- Annual spending should be close to 10 Lakhs
Axis Bank Atlas Credit Card
Axis Atlas under the super-premium credit card section? While it is surprising, Atlas very much belongs to the league of Infinia and DCB. At a fee of Rs 5000+GST, the Atlas provides great value for our spends. And it is easy to get compared to other options in this list.
HDFC Bank Infinia Credit Card
The HDFC Bank Infinia is in a league of its own when it comes to super-premium credit cards. 3.3% base rewards, up to 33% SmartBuy rewards, and many other offers ensure Infinia retains its crown. Till the much-rumoured Infinia Reserve/Galaxia is launched, Infinia will continue to be a good option.
- Joining and Annual Fee: ₹ 12,500+GST
- Rewards: 3.3% to 33%
- Annual Fee Waiver: ₹ 10 Lakh Spend
- Rewards Redemption: 1:1 redemption on SmartBuy, Points transfer to airline and hotel loyalty programs
- Airport Lounge Access: Unlimited for both Domestic and International
HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card
Diners Club Black is the second card from HDFC Bank in the super-premium segment. The card is on par with Infinia with some minor differences in rewards and redemption. The recent relaunch in Metal form came in with revised milestone benefits and a higher SmartBuy cap bringing it closer to Infinia.
- Joining and Annual Fee: ₹ 10,000+GST
- Rewards: 3.3% to 33%
- Annual Fee Waiver: ₹ 8 Lakh Spend
- Rewards Redemption: 1:1 redemption on SmartBuy, Points transfer to airline and hotel loyalty programs
- Airport Lounge Access: Unlimited for both Domestic and International
Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card
This is the first time we are featuring a Yes Bank credit card in the list of best credit cards in India. The Yes Bank Marquee credit card offers a return of 1.25% to 4.5% on spends. We can use the reward points for booking flights or transfer them out to Vistara. Marquee also features a great BMS BOGO offer along with unlimited visits to international airport lounges.
Best Credit Cards in India: Travel
All the cards we covered till now are all-purpose cards for both earning and redeeming points. The redemption value depends on the option we choose – travel, gift vouchers, or cash back. Apart from this, we also have travel credit cards that offer better value if the rewards are used for flights/hotels.
Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card
Milestone benefits and Taj vouchers are the highlights of the Amex Plat Travel credit card. If Taj vouchers are not useful for you, then there are other options as well. We get at least 48000 MR points every year including regular and milestone MR points. These can be transferred to Marriott Bonvoy or one of the airline travel partners as AirMiles.
Club Vistara IDFC First Bank Credit Card
The Club Vistara IDFC First Bank credit card is one of the better Vistara co-branded credit cards. It offers you up to 5 premium economy tickets on spends.
Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card
This is the first Marriott Bonvoy co-branded credit card in India. While the reward rate is low, this card is still a good bet just for the joining and renewal benefits. We get Bonvoy Silver Elite status with 10 night credits that help in reaching higher statuses like Gold/Platinum. The second benefit against the fee is a FNA credit worth up to 15K points.
Best Credit Cards in India: Fuel
BPCL SBI Credit Card
The BPCL SBI credit card is a good option for getting 3%+ return on fuel spends. We can meet the annual fee waiver with only fuel spends getting an overall reward rate of 3.25% plus a 1% fuel surcharge waiver. You can also explore the BPCL SBI Octane credit card for a higher fuel return. But that comes with a higher annual fee too.
IDFC First Bank HPCL Power+ Credit Card
IDFC First Bank HPCL Power+ Credit Card is the best option for HPCL fuel spends. It has a low annual fee of ₹ 499+GST and offers 4% rewards for HPCL fuel spends. It also offers 5% for utilities & grocery spends. The card is available on the RuPay payment network and can be used for UPI spends too.
Consolidated List of Best Credit Cards in India
Segment | Credit Card | Annual Fee |
---|---|---|
Entry-Level | Axis Bank Ace Credit Card | ₹ 499+GST |
Entry-Level | SBI Cashback Credit Card | ₹ 999+GST |
Entry-Level | HSBC Cashback Credit Card | ₹ 999+GST |
Entry-Level | Amex Membership Rewards Credit Card | ₹ 1500+GST |
Premium | IDFC First Bank Wealth Credit Card | LTF |
Premium | Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank Credit Card | ₹ 1499+GST |
Premium | HDFC Bank Regalia Gold Credit Card | ₹ 2500+GST |
Super-Premium | Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card | ₹ 4999+GST |
Super-Premium | Axis Bank Atlas Credit Card | ₹ 5000+GST |
Super-Premium | HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card | ₹ 10,000+GST |
Super-Premium | HDFC Bank Infinia Credit Card | ₹ 12,500+GST |
Travel | Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card | ₹ 3000+GST |
Travel | Club Vistara IDFC First Bank Credit Card | ₹ 4999+GST |
Travel | Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card | ₹ 5000+GST |
Travel | Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card | ₹ 3000+GST |
Fuel | BPCL SBI Credit Card | ₹ 499+GST |
Fuel | IDFC First Bank HPCL Power+ Credit Card | ₹ 499+GST |
Final Thoughts
This is the list of the best credit cards in India that we think are worth checking out and applying for across all banks and credit cards. The decision to get a card depends on what you intend to use the rewards for and whether the card will help you do that. So, do check the redemption options to see if you are getting a good value out of your spending. The next thing to check would be the annual fee. The card should offer a good return on spending including the annual fee (if not waived).
Hope this list helps you in getting a card that gives you a rewarding experience. 🙂
Any other card you think should be a part of this best credit cards in India list? Do comment and let us know!
Frequently Asked Questions
We recommend getting SBI Cashback for online spends and Axis Ace for offline spends.
Axis Atlas, HDFC Infinia and HDFC DCB are the best options for accumulating airmiles with an extensive list of transfer partners.
We recommend getting either the Tata Neu Plus or Infinity variant to get NeuCoins on UPI spends. We also have other options.
Both BPCL SBI Card and BPCL SBI Octane credit card offer a good return on fuel spends. We also have other options.
There is no such limit except limits put on how many cards can we hold per issuer. For example, Axis Bank allows us to hold 3 credit cards at any point in time.
Check out our dedicated article to get the best options.
Super premium credit cards like Infinia and DCB offer unlimited international airport lounge access. We also have other options that we have covered in another article.
Check out our top cashback credit cards lists in this article.