In this post, we are going to talk about the Best Credit Cards In India
In this post, we are going to take a look at several credit cards and see what makes them different in the set of benefits for you.
Once you see the benefits and features along with the associated fee, you will be able to arrive at a card best suited to your needs and lifestyle.
You must know that credit cards are a double-edged sword and cut both ways. If you need a credit card, always be sure that you close the outstanding balances at the end of each month. Because if you don’t clear your balances promptly they attract high interest. Credit cards when used properly are the best way to save money and earn cashback and reward points.
Standard Chartered Manhattan credit card
With this credit card, you get 5% cashback when spending at retail supermarkets. You get 3 times the reward points for your spending. In addition, you are allowed supplementary credit cards and discounts at partner stores.
The year 1 fee is Rs 999 and the corresponding years onwards Rs 999 again.
There are late payment charges that start at Rs 100 and go up incrementally. The monthly APR is 3.49%.
Requirements
To apply you need to be between 21 to 65 years of age.
You need a stable monthly income to be approved.
In addition, you need an id proof, photo proof along with a recent photo of yours.
Pros
You can carry out most of the day to day expenses with this credit card.
With the cashback on offer, you get to save and earn a lot of points.
It’s a great credit card for salaried accounts.
Standard chartered platinum manhattan card is one of the best cards you get to get reward points for everyday shopping and spending on stuff like groceries.
Which grocery stores do you get the cashback on?
- More
- Reliance Fresh
- Big Bazaar
- Food Bazaar
In addition there are certain categories that entitle you to a whopping 5% discount like dining, hotels and flight bookings.
Another great thing I like about the Standard Chartered card is that during Indian festival season, they come up with great promotions that can save you tons of money. During Diwali they had a spend based cashback offer where you could have gotten up to Rs 10000 on 3 lakh rupees spending.
So that’s another big reason to hold on to this card.
Cons
The late payment fee is high.
Is Standard chartered manhattan the best credit card one in the list? Our verdict says so.
Also you will find my post on how to earn money online in India useful.
Standard chartered platinum rewards credit card best rewards credit card
For every Rs. 150 you spend with the credit card you get 5 times as many reward points. The good thing is you get points for all your spends and there’s no particular cap limiting your monthly spending to cap the reward points.
For shopping in retail stores and online, restaurants and other expenses, there are multiple benefits to the cardholder. The Good life program is a feature of the card for the holders that give many discounts.
The platinum card has many benefits like
You get 1000 reward points as a bonus if you transact with the card in the first 60 days of getting it.
If you register with online banking you get extra points.
It’s great to save on your cab bills as you get additional points on both Uber and Ola rides.
The minimal joining fee is Rs 250 and that also gets waived off if you spend in the first 90 days.
Here are some of the standout features that I love about the Standard Chartered Platinum card.
There’s no annual fees associated with the card if you use the card without the first 90 days of getting hold on the card
If you don’t, then the fee is only minimal at Rs 250.
The other best features are that you get
Up to 20% cashback with this card on your Uber rides
If you do a credit card transaction within 60 days you get 1000 bonus points as extra. Register for online banking and get 500 more points extra
The downside is that there’s a rewards catalogue with products and vouchers listed. You can only exchange the reward points against the items listed in this catalogue.
Also the minimum number of points to save to redeem is 500.
Cons
There are late payment charges that start at Rs 100 and go progressively up as the amount gets higher that you have to pay.
Monthly APR stands at 3.49%.
Both Manhattan and Platinum cards are issued by the Standard Chartered bank.
In the next section, we will have a look at the best credit cards for Online Shopping in India. As you know online shopping is exploding in India and while cash on delivery sputtered things off to a big start, credit and debit cards are in vogue now.
For online shopping, these are great choices
ICICI Amazon Pay credit card
A card that actually integrates with India’s biggest shopping site and offers exclusive discounts and offers for those who have it. Since it’s directly integrated with Amazon, there’s no way for you to directly apply to the card.
When shopping on Amazon if you see a link to apply to the said card, you can click on it and apply. Your application goes through and you can get the card.
They have to choose you. But if they do, the Icici bank amazon pay card is something you ought to definitely choose to get points when shopping.
One more thing is whatever cashback you get doesn’t get credited to your bank account but is available in the form of Amazon pay account balance.
Amazon Prime customers get 5% cashback (It’s a great option since prime subscription falls under Rs 500 annually in India)
For nonprime customers cashback amounts to 3%
With 100+ Amazon pay partner merchants, you get 2% cashback if you use amazon pay as the payment method
You get 1% cashback on other payments. What are other purchases? These include dining, shopping, and grocery shopping and fuel surcharge.
The greatest benefit with the Amazon ICICI credit card is that as a prime member you get 5% cashback on all purchases made on Amazon. If you’re living in a relatively connected city in India, that means Amazon can be your one-stop destination to get everything delivered to your doorstep- ranging from fresh groceries to items used in the pantry, to electronics, to clothes. Also with Amazon running the cheapest store, you get more discounts.
Another factor that came to my attention is that you get additional 2% off on partner sites that associate with Amazon like Makemytrip, bookmyshow and eatery sites like Swiggy
The icici bank app is your one stop destination where you can see transaction reward points. That means for each transaction carried out you can see how many points you won. There’s absolutely no other credit card in India that gives you such a granular makeup on reward points earned.
In addition, another fact is Amazon always offers card level offers to customers. There will be special discounts for Axis bank customers, SBI customers and so on. So if there’s a discount going on say for 10% for icici bank customers couple that with the already 5% you’re getting to earn more. Total effective discount becomes 15%
In addition the card is aided by a chip that makes secure transactions at points of sale and at atms
Another big feature is the zero percent EMIs provided to users on items that cost more than 3000 rupees. The emis have a tenure of 6 months max.
There are also many downsides for the card
If you’re regularly transacting on supermarkets, grocery shopping or paying utility bills you get zero points.
The foreign currency transaction fees sits at 3.5%
You have no lounge access benefits or air miles rewards.
The credit card is great if you’re primarily focused on Amazon for all your shopping needs. If you want a low risk zero fee credit card this is an option for you. Just that it’s not great to earn points on everyday shopping.
In addition as an ICICI bank customer, you get 15% savings on dining bills in over 2500 restaurants that participate in the Culinary Treats Programme.
SBI Simply Save Credit Card
Simply Save is a great credit card from the bank that’s available in every corner in India SBI.
For every Rs. 100 you spend you get 10x the reward points with Simply Save Credit card. Being from SBI the card has wide coverage not only in India but also throughout the whole world.
The card is accepted at over 24 million outlets all across the globe. In addition, the card is accepted at 3,25000 outlets across India.
If you spend more than 100,000 any given year with the credit card you get a reversal of fee. That is—you pay no membership fee from the 2nd year onwards if your spending exceeds the threshold level.
Get 1% off on fuel surcharge on outlets.
With the Flexipay option, don’t pay a large sum for purchases at the outset. Convert them into easy monthly installments.
SBI Simply Save is ideal for saving money because you get reward points and they are worth a lot. 4 reward points equal to one rupee and you can convert that to money.
In addition, there are several features that let you enjoy life with the credit card.
You get a rs 500 welcome voucher from Amazon on sign up as a sign up bonus.
In addition, you get e-vouchers that are worth 2000 if you spend more than 1 lakh in a given year.
Flexible EMI options. Purchase items worth Rs. 2500 or more and you can break it down into easy EMIs that are payable over 3 to 12 months.
If you choose to use this route, the EMI option must be selected within a month of purchase.
SBI simply save certainly offers multiple advantages for those of you who want cashbacks.
The greatest feature associated with the card is that you get to enjoy 10 reward points when you spend Rs 100 on a number of things like grocery, supermarkets, dining and so on.
With the card you get your annual membership fee reversed if you spend a minimum of Rs 90000 with the card. A little steep than other cards but the benefits are worth it.
With the card you get a welcome gift of 2000 reward points if you spend more than Rs 2000 within the first 60 days of joining. The welcome gift is tantamount to the value of the first year annual fee.
With things like dining you get 10 reward points. You can definitely enjoy using the card for spending at outlets and supermarkets where you stand to get 2.5% cashback. However the value of the 10 reward points is relatively lower when compared to other cards.
The ordinary set of reward points is point per Rs 100 spend. So if you’re spending online, the card isn’t apt for you.
I mentioned before that there’s fuel surcharge waiver. The downside is that there’s a cap of Rs 100 per for transactions up to Rs 3000.
What are the fees associated with it? Up to Rs. 25 or 2.5% per month from the transaction date. The card gets you 3 addon cards for the spouse, family members or anyone above the age of 18.
ICICI Instant Platinum credit card
ICICI instant platinum card emails might be lining up in your inbox. The prime reason to join the program is that you get a no annual fee option when choosing this card.
The only caveat? The card is issued against fixed deposits. So if you don’t have a fixed deposit or want to take one, you can’t get this credit card.
It’s a lifetime free credit that is issued out to you instantly at ICICI branches against FD.
The benefits?
You get 2 payback points per 100 Rs spent.
You get R. 100 discount on 2 movie tickets per month. The card like all other ICICI cards gets you discounts at 2500 plus restaurants through the culinary treats program.
What I like about the Instant Platinum card is compared to other cards discussed here, they levy a low charge of 2.49% interest rates.
This is great especially if you have the habit of paying the minimum every month. However that’s something I strictly advise against. With that, you will be living pay cheque to pay cheque.
Another good feature is that being a card holder gets you instant access to insurance. If you have this card and a fixed deposit the insurance coverage is handed out in minutes.
You get 2 reward points for Rs 100 spend. This is woefully low when compared to other cards discussed here and could be the lowest for any card.
The only way to redeem is through Payback catalogue which as I mentioned before isn’t your best option.
The card is equipped with NBFC tech which means you can make contactless payments with it.
You can initiate great savings with the card up to 15% on dining.
What I absolutely hate is the low reward points and the high markup on railway transactions. Book a ticket online and there’s a 1.8% surcharge and for counter booking 2.5% surcharge.
Another thing I dislike is the foreign transaction markup at 3.5%. It took me years as a blogger to understand this trap.
ICICI Bank Coral Credit Card
You get instant credit with Coral credit card. This card is also issued against FD.
The other features are you get lounge visits for free on airports and railway stations.
When you spend online you get reward points. The star attraction of the credit card is that you get 1 free movie ticket when you purchase one.
At the same time, you also get 4 payback points for every Rs 100 in spending. The spending can be divided into dining, groceries, and supermarket spend. The reward ratio is a bit too low compared to other credit cards. For every other spending, you get 2 payback points.
1 payback point equals 25 paise, which means 4 points add up to a rupee and you need to spend 1000 on grocery and dining to get Rs 10.
The reward structure is disappointing. But a good feature is you get 2.5% off on fuel surcharge to a maximum spend of Rs 4000.
The standout features of the card is 4 payback points for every Rs 100 in spending on dining and groceries.
However the points are low compared to the annual fee and the actual rupee value.
For online spending or other spending you get only 2 points
You get 2.5% fuel surcharge waiver to a max transaction value of Rs 3000 at HPCL.
The caveat is that you get this if the cards are swiped against ICICi machines.
You need a whopping Rs 125000 in annual spend to waive of the fee. You get complimentary 2 lounge access visits.
Just like every other ICICI card the points can be redeemed only against the Payback catalogue which sports one of the worst selection of goods and vouchers you can dream of.
ICICI Bank Rubyx Credit Card Against Fixed Deposit
You get Rs 5000 welcome points for free on joining. You get 15000 bonus reward points on spending. Also golf tickets.
It’s another credit card that is issued against the FD you hold in the bank.
With every Rs 100 spend you get 4 points. The reward points tally isn’t all too different compared to what we saw with the Coral card. These 4 points are rewarded when you spent internationally. For spending on grocery, shopping, and dining in India you get 2 reward points per Rs 100. For utility payments and insurance payments, you get just 1 point per Rs 100 spend.
No reward points for fuel-related transactions.
But the star attraction for this card is that you get reward points when you cross milestones. You get rewarded with 3000 points on spending 3 lakh rupees with the card. If you spend one more lakh you get 1500 points. Speaking of which that translates to Rs 750 and Rs 375 respectively.
You get 1% on fuel surcharge.
Upon anniversary you get 15000 additional reward points. Equivalent to Rs 2250.
There’s the joining fee of Rs 3000 and an annual fee to the tune of Rs 2000.
Which sort of water down the anniversary and spending reward points.
For every Rs 100 in spend you get 4 points if you spend it internationally.
For every Rs 100 spend domestically on utilities and insurance you only get a single point. No points on fuel.
However there are milestone reward milestones that make the card worthwhile.
When you spend Rs 1 lakh with the card you get 3000 extra reward points. And if you spend 3 lakh you get 3000 points.
HDFC money back card
HDFC is a great cashback card among those available in the country. Keep accumulating points for your spending.
100 points equate to Rs. 20 meaning each point is worth 20 paise. You get to redeem when the accumulated points cross an equivalent value of Rs. 500. Rs 500 is the equivalent of 2500 points. The points are also only valid up to years from the date of accumulation after which they expire. So if you keep lagging you’re going to miss out on those hard-earned points.
For online shopping, you accumulate 4 points for every Rs 150 in spending. You can also redeem the cashback as miles that add towards flights.
If you spend 50000 in a quarter you get Rs 500 e-voucher. For the first-year and the corresponding years, membership is free if you spend more than Rs. 50000 in a year.
In addition to all this, a fuel surcharge waiver up to a maximum of Rs 250 is another feature of the card.
The biggest draw towards hdfc money back card must be that it’s a cashback card with no significant annual fee. And the fee can be waived off for a measly spend of Rs 50000 annually. If you spend around Rs 4000 on groceries this is more than enough to meet the minimum requirements.
Again if you book flight tickets with the card, you get complimentary death insurance coverage worth Rs 50 lakh. In addition, complementary protection for goods bought under Rs 5000 with the card is another feature.
With HDFC moneyback credit card, there’s a lot of potential for cash savings. Every point is worth 20 paise.
There are several great features that come part and parcel of HDFC’s moneyback credit card. It has an EMV chip enabled that allows its use on POS and swipe machines.
If credit is lost and somebody makes fradulent transactions on it, you don’t lose a penny if you report the card as missing to the bank. That absolves you off loss and liability.
As a customer you also get the benefit of revolving credit with the card.
Enjoy fuel surcharge discount of up to Rs 1800. In addition, zero documents are needed to process your application. Only digital copies are enough.
Induslnd Iconia Credit card review
The message that Induslnd wants to deliver is with its card, the benefits and features it provides you get to live like a king.
Induslnd’s Iconia is a lifestyle credit card with unmatched benefits no one else can offer. As part of joining bonus, you get to shop at Montblanc with retail presence in over 6 cities. You also get a free Luxe card that lets you shop at several brand locations all over the globe. These are offered on select cards.
You get vouchers for these premium brands like Bata, Vero monda, Aldo, titan, woodland, Louis Philippe, hush puppies among others.
With the card, you can buy one movie ticket and get another for free. The tickets can be booked through Bookmyshow. If the price of the card exceeds Rs 200 you have to pay the remainder with the help of the card itself because that’s the limit of the card.
Other than that you get a 2% cashback on weekend spending and 1.5% cashback on weekday spending.
The biggest highlight of the Iconia card is that around every Diwali during the festivities there’s a promotional offer where you can score up to 5% on online spending. You get double the number of reward points on all other spendings during this period.
RBL Bank Platinum Maxima
To get approved for the RBL Platinum Maxima card you must possess great credit scores. RBL is not an extremely popular bank. Probably to make up for that, the cards come loaded with so many features I forgot to count. When you get hold of the card as a welcome bonus you get 8000 reward points.
But you won’t get it simply. You have to follow these steps:
Pay the joining fee in the first statement by the due date.
Next, under 30 days make a purchase and third download the RBL MyCard Mobile app.
Don’t skip any of these steps.
Get rewards on all purchases. For every Rs 100 spend you get 2 reward points.
You get 5x the number of reward points for the following: when you use the card for dining, for entertainment, for utility bill pays and for fuel and international purchase.
That’s not all there’s an added bonus if you spend 2 lakh rupees in a year. You get additional 10000 reward points. You get more 10000 points if the spending crosses 1.5 lakh more.
The annual fee is a shocker at rs 4000 and for each supplementary card at rs 1000.
RBL Platina card has several features. You get 5 times the reward points spending on dining, movies and utility bills and fuel bills.
If you spend 2 lakhs or more in a year you get bonus 10000 points awarded to you.
In addition to all this you get 10000 more points if you spend 3.5 lakh or more in a year.
The card is accepted worldwide and you get 5 times more reward points for international spending. So use the card to your heart’s desire on international locations.
YOu get 2 free domestic lounges a quarter meaning you get 8 free accesses to lounges in a year. Buy a movie ticket and get another for free on bookmyshow.
Axis buzz credit card best shopping credit card
Axis Buzz credit card is a must-have choice for those who love shopping on Flipkart. Because the discounts and cashback you get are in the form of Flipkart vouchers.
Here is the fee detail:
The first year annual fee is Rs 750 that continues for the consecutive years. The APR is 46.78%
Also, every month discounts are lined up in this manner
- From the first to the 5th of every month you get a 10% discount on purchases.
- For all other days 5% discount
- For online shopping 3 times the usual number of points.
The card is built around Flipkart to give users the maximum possible reward points for shopping with the online retail giant.
YOu get vouchers worth Rs 8000 on sign up along with features like accelerated reward points and discounts on products along with flexipay.
With flexipay you can convert any big purchase into small EMIs spread over 6 to 12 months or for smaller periods.
As welcome gift, get your hands on Flipkart vouchers when you make 3 purchases within 45 days of getting the card.
That’s not all. You get vouchers worth Rs 500, 1000 and Rs 25000 when you spend Rs 25000 Rs 50000 and Rs 1 lakh on Flipkart annually
Spend more than 1 lakh? You get Rs1000 and Rs 2000 vouchers.
You also get two reward points for each 200 you spend with the card.
With online shopping, the reward points are 3.
In the next section, we’re going to look at travel credit cards.
Travel credit cards
Citibank premier miles card
The benefit of the card is that it’s a purely built for travel card. You get 10000 miles credited to your account if you spend Rs 1000 with the card within the first 60 days after getting the card.
You also get 3000 miles on card renewal for the next year.
There’s also an opportunity with the card to earn accelerated miles. How this works
Get 10 miles per Rs. 100 spend if you book flights and hotel stays through the PremierMiles website. The url is
www.premiermiles.co.in
You get 10 miles for every Rs 100 you spend on airline transactions. This applies to all airlines. Earn 4 miles per Rs 100 spend on other transactions say shopping online, grocery and supermarkets.
A great feature with this card is the miles never expire. They’re not limited to two years of validity. So enjoy them without limits.
Being part of the frequent flyer program of any airline you can book tickets through Citi PremierMiles Card. You get 10 miles per Rs. 100 spent.
You may redeem these miles against 100+ airlines on the premier miles site as well as partner hotels.
I have to reiterate that the miles you earn don’t expire.
Complimentary air insurance worth Rs 1 crore.
Get lost card liability worth Rs 10 lakh
Ability to turn big transactions into Flexi pay EMI
You can apply to instant loans with the card
YOu get discounts on dining with the card. Across partner restaurants in cities, you save 15%. You get double the reward points with EazyDiner prime subscription along with an opportunity of 50% cashback.
SBI Prime credit card
Here are the features of SBI Prime credit card
You stand to get 20 reward points on spending Rs 100. The points apply to utility bill payments as well.
When you spend on Bigbasket you get 15 points per rs 100.
10 reward points on spending on dining, groceries and on supermarkets.
You can get 2 reward points per 100 spendings and 1 reward point on all other retail spendings.
1% fuel surcharge is covered.
You get up to 4 lounge visits to International priority pass lounges in a year.
You get 8 complimentary visits to VISA/mastercard lounges.
You get a pizza hut e-voucher worth rs 1000 when spending rs 50000 in a quarter-
You get an egift vouchers to Yatra and Pantaloons if you spend more than Rs 5 lakhs.
Fuel and Utility credit card
Standard Chartered Super Titanium best credit card for fuel
You get 5% cashback on paying telephone bills with the card.
For every Rs 150, you spend, you get 1 reward point on all categories except for fuel and utility bills.
With the card, you get 5% cashback on fuel at petrol pumps through India. 1% surcharge is discounted and 4% cashback on the transaction amount.
Again to avail of cashback, the minimum amount you transact must be at least Rs 750. And the most amount you get as cashback is limited to Rs 100 and tallies to a total of Rs 500.
You earn 1000 reward points on first use and if you spend more than 60000 rupees annually with the card the renewal fee is forgiven.
The flexipay option lets you convert big-ticket purchases to easy small monthly installments you can pay off at convenience. Register online banking account to get 500 reward points more.
Its features include savings on dining, payback points, discount vouchers from different brands like Zomato, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop from time to time.
There’s a completely waived off renewal fee of Rs 750 if you spend more than 60000 a year with the card.
You also get up to 5% cashback on electricity bill and water bill payments with the card which makes it the number 1 card for utility payment.
There are several other features I like about the card such as the fact that when you make your very first transaction 1000 reward points await you. You also get 500 extra points on registering for internet banking.
Spend on Uber rides, up to Rs 8000 or more a month and you get up to 20% additional cashback.
The points are redeemed only through the online rewards catalogue site from standard chartered which means you have a limited set of products or vouchers to choose from. That’s a downside.
HDFC Regalia Credit Card Benefits best premium credit card
* If you love to shop, then this one shall be just right for you. The endless benefits and rewards that you get using this HDFC Regalia credit card is just too much for one to get attracted. * You can earn 1 reward point for every Rs.100 spent. * You get instant redemption ob fuel purchase at HPCL fuel stations. * Latteys stocked abundantly at HPCL fuel stations. * Special discounts are available on dining, shopping, fuel and other categories of groceries. * You can also convert your reward points into a savings card when you wish to.
As said before HDFC Bank Regalia Credit Card is a premium card. For the premium features these are the charges:
There’s a joining fee of Rs 2500 plus taxes.
You get 1 reward point equal to 50 paise when booking hotels and tickets.
If you redeem for cash the same point is worth 20 paise. At reward catalogues too the same conversion rates apply
For every Rs 150 in spending you get 1.3% reward rate.
- You get 10x times the points on online shopping and on hotels and fligths.
The monthly cap for reward points is 5000
- You can convert these points to airmiles on Jet airways, Singapore airlines where you translate 2 reward points into one mile
- Get free 6 domestic lounge access in international airports.
- 12 within India
- If you spend more than 8lakh a year get 5000 bonus points. You get 10000 bonus points on 5 lakh additional spend.
A whole lot of welcome gifts await you in the form of this credit card!
What is the eligibility criteria to get your credit card?
The applicant’s age should be between 21 and 65.
The applicant should have a stable monthly income. Due to these conditions, the salaried class applicant has more chances to get approval.
The applicant should belong to the credit card sourcing locations of the bank.
Documents Required
Identity Card
Address proof
1 passport size photograph.
Salaried class- latest one month salary slip
Self Employed Businessmen- Latest IT return with the computation of income.
Self Employed Professionals – Latest IT return
