Are you looking for the best credit cards for cashback in India for 2020? Or are you looking for a simplified credit card rewards program without too much hassle? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you have landed at the correct article.
Most of the time credit cards provide reward points which can be redeemed for flight tickets or hotel stay. Those who don’t travel a lot, these redemption options don’t make any sense to them. Hence to cater their needs, there are some credit cards in Indian market which provide rewards in form of statement cashback. In this article, I am listing down 10 such credit cards explaining their benefits and nuances. So let’s dive right in!
- 1. American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card
- 2. IndusInd Bank Pinnacle Credit Card
- 3. IndusInd Bank Iconia Amex Credit Card
- 4. Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card
- 5. HDFC Bank Millennia Credit Card
- 6. HSBC Cashback Credit Card
- 7. Paytm First Credit Card
- 8. Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card
- 9. SBI SimplyCLICK Credit Card
- 10. Ola Money SBI Credit Card
- Bottomline
1. American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card
- Cashback Rate
- 0.5% if points are converted to statement credit
- 9% if redeemed for statement credit using 18 Karat Gold Collection
- 10% if redeemed for statement credit using 24 Karat Gold Collection
- Joining Fee: Nil if applied via referral link, Rs. 1,000 + GST otherwise
- Renewal Fee: Amex generally waives off the charges if your spend on card is substantial.
- Via referral: Nil if total spends greater than Rs. 1,50,000, Rs. 750 + GST if total spends greater than Rs. 90,000, Rs. 1,500 otherwise
- Regular: Nil if total spends greater than Rs. 1,50,000, Rs. 2,250 + GST if total spends greater than Rs. 90,000, Rs. 4,500 otherwise
- Other benefits
- Fuel Convenience Fee Waiver
- Discounts of up to 20% on participating restaurants
- Emergency Card Replacement
Though the reward rate looks paltry on American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card, this card shines when you redeem the Membership Rewards Points from 18 Karat or 24 Karat Gold collection. Let’s do a sample math to calculate the reward rate when you just do 4 transactions of Rs. 1,000 every month and redeem from 18 Karat Gold Collection.
Bonus Membership Rewards Points earned on spending Rs. 4,000 = 1,000
Total Membership Rewards Points earned on spending Rs. 4,000 = 1,080
Now, 18,000 Membership Rewards Points = Rs. 6,000
Hence, value of 1,080 Membership Rewards Points = Rs. 360
Therefore, Reward Rate = 9%
Only catch with this card is to get the maximum cashback rate, you need to limit your spends to 4 transactions of Rs. 1,000 (total Rs. 4,000) per month.
2. IndusInd Bank Pinnacle Credit Card
- Cashback Rate
- 2.5% on online e-commerce transactions
- 1.5% on travel and airline transactions
- 1% on others
- 0.7% on Utility Bill Payments, Insurance Premium Payments, Government Services/Charges/Payments & Education Institute Fees
- Joining Fee:
- Rs. 12,999 + GST without vouchers
- Rs. 50,000 + GST with vouchers
- Annual Fee: Nil
- Other benefits
- Complimentary Airport Lounge Access
- Domestic: 1 per quarter
- International: 2 per quarter
- Golf privilege
- Concierge
- Complimentary Airport Lounge Access
IndusInd Bank Pinnacle Credit Card is a premium product from IndusInd Bank. This card provides a reward rate of 2.5% on online e-commerce transactions which is great. You need to explicitly redeem the reward points for statement cash via online portal and only Rs. 25,000 can be redeemed per statement cycle as cashback.
3. IndusInd Bank Iconia Amex Credit Card
- Cashback Rate
- 2% on weekends (Saturday & Sunday)
- 1.5% on weekdays
- 0.7% on Utility Bill Payments, Insurance Premium Payments, Government Services/Charges/Payments & Education Institute Fees
- Joining Fee:
- Rs. 3,500 + GST without vouchers
- Rs. 10,000 + GST with vouchers
- Annual Fee: Nil
- Other benefits
- Complimentary Airport Lounge Access: 2 domestic airport lounge access per quarter
- Golf privilege
- Concierge
IndusInd Bank Iconia Amex Credit Card is the most popular credit card from IndusInd Bank. With a default reward rate of 1.5% on weekdays and 2% on weekends, this card can easily become your primary driver.
4. Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card
- Cashback Rate
- 5% cashback on Flipkart, Myntra and 2GUD
- 4% cashback on Preferred Partners (MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Uber, PVR, Curefit and UrbanClap)
- 1.5% cashback on all other merchants
- Joining Fee: Rs. 500 + GST, Flipkart voucher worth Rs. 500 provided
- Annual Fee: Rs. 500 + GST, waived off on annual spends greater than Rs. 2 Lakhs
- Other benefits
- Complimentary Airport Lounge Access: 1 domestic airport lounge access per quarter
- 1% fuel surcharge waiver on transactions between Rs. 400 and Rs. 4000
Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card is one of most rewarding co-branded credit cards currently. 5% cashback on Flipkart and 1.5% cashback on other transactions is really amazing. And the best part is you don’t need to redeem the cashback manually, it’s automatically posted to next month statement.
5. HDFC Bank Millennia Credit Card
- Cashback Rate
- 5% CashBack on all spends/shopping via PayZapp and SmartBuy
- Maximum Cashback: Rs. 750 per month
- Launch Offer: Maximum Cashback Rs. 1,000 per month for the first six months post issuance of the card
- Minimum Transaction: Rs. 2,000
- 2.5% CashBack on all online spends
- Maximum Cashback: Rs. Rs. 750
- Minimum Transaction: Rs. 2,000
- 1% CashBack on all offline spends
- Maximum Cashback: Rs. Rs. 750
- Minimum Transaction: Rs. 100
- 5% CashBack on all spends/shopping via PayZapp and SmartBuy
- Joining Fee: Rs. 1,000 + GST, 1,000 Cash Points worth Rs. 1,000 provided
- Annual Fee: Rs. 1,000 + GST, waived off on annual spends of more than Rs. 1 Lakh
- Other benefits
- Complimentary Airport Lounge Access: 2 domestic airport lounge access per quarter
- 1% fuel surcharge waiver on transactions more Rs. 400 limited to Rs. 250 per statement cycle
HDFC Bank Millennia Credit Card is an entry level lifestyle credit card from HDFC Bank. The cashback on this card is given in the form of CashPoints where each CashPoint is equivalent to Re. 1. The CashPoints expire after a year and a minimum 2,500 CashPoints required for redemption.
6. HSBC Cashback Credit Card
- Cashback Rate
- 1.5% cashback on online spends, excluding wallet load
- 1% cashback on offline spends
- Joining Fee: Nil
- Renewal Fee: Rs. 750, reversed on annual spends on Rs. 1 Lakh
- Other benefits
- 15% off on dining at over 1,000 restaurants across major cities
HSBC Cashback Credit Card is a simple and straightforward credit card from HSBC Bank. 1.5% unlimited cashback on online and 1% unlimited cashback on offline spends is decent.
7. Paytm First Credit Card
- Cashback Rate: 1% cashback on all transactions
- Joining Fee: Rs. 500
- Renewal Fee: Rs. 500, reversed on annual spends on Rs. 50,000
- Other benefits
- Complimentary one Year Paytm First Membership
- Buy 1 Get 1 movie ticket every Friday on Paytm movies
- Rs. 1,000 cashback on spending Rs. 5,000 within 30 days of card issuance
- Upto 20% discount at Partner Restaurants
Paytm First Credit Card is an entry level co-branded card from CitiBank. This card provides a decent cashback of 1% on all transactions. The cashback is directly posted to statement credit without any manual intervention which is quite convenient.
8. Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card
- Cashback Rate
- 5% for Amazon Prime customers and 3% for others on Amazon
- 2% on paying through Amazon Pay
- 1% on other spends
- Joining Fee: Nil
- Renewal Fee: Nil
Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card is one the best entry level cards in the Indian market right now. This card doesn’t provide direct statement credit, rather the cashback is credited to Amazon Pay balance which is as good as cash. Given that this card is issued life time free and provides a handsome cashback rate, this card is favorite of many and you should definitely consider getting this card.
9. SBI SimplyCLICK Credit Card
- Cashback Rate
- 2.5% back on online spends with exclusive partners - Amazon, BookMyShow, Cleartrip, Lenskart, Netmeds & UrbanClap
- 1.25% on other online spends
- 0.25% on offline spends
- Joining Fee: Rs. 499, get equivalent amount of Amazon voucher
- Renewal Fee: Rs. 499, reversed if annual spends for last year >= Rs. 1,00,000
- Other benefits
SBI SimplyCLICK Credit Card is a great card if you spend online a lot. Though this card doesn’t provide direct cashback, you can redeem reward points for Amazon vouchers which is as good as cash. Also on spending Rs. 2 Lakhs online in a year, the reward rate is enhanced by 2% due to Cleartrip voucher further pushing the reward rate between 4.5% and 2.25%. You may look at its counterpart, SBI SimplySAVE Credit Card, if the majority of your spends are offline.
10. Ola Money SBI Credit Card
- Cashback Rate
- 15% cashback on Ola rides for first year (limited period offer), limited to Rs. 1,000 per month
- 7% cashback on Ola rides from second year onwards, limited to Rs. 500 per month
- 1% cashback on all spends
- 5% cashback on flight tickets at Cleartrip
- 20% cashback on payment via Dineout, limited to Rs. 200 per month
- Joining Fee: Nil
- Annual Fee: Rs. 499, reversed on annual spends of Rs. 1 Lakh
- Other benefits
- 1% fuel surcharge waiver
Ola Money SBI Credit Card, instead of statement cash, provides cashback in Ola Money wallet within 3 days of transaction. Ola Money wallet can be used at 1500+ other merchants online.
Thanks Rishabh Mangal for sharing above tip.
Bottomline
Cashback credit cards simplify the reward redemption and are a good option to many. The only caveat of these credit cards is low reward rate. While credit cards which allow redemption for air tickets and hotel stay can offer a reward rate between 5% and 7%, cashback credit cards provide an average reward rate of around 2%. If you are an occasional traveler, consider going for cashback credit cards, otherwise look at other better credit cards to maximize your return.
Which is your favorite cashback credit card? Did I miss any credit card which should be part of this list? Let me know by leaving a quick comment below.
