IDFC FIRST Mayura Credit Card

Quick verdict: IDFC's flagship Visa Infinite metal card — a genuine 0% forex, 16 domestic plus 16 international lounge visits a year, up to two golf rounds a month and as much as 40X points on in-app travel bookings. It is a frequent-traveller's card whose ₹5,999 fee is carried by its perks, not its base rewards, and the January 2026 cut halved the international earn to 5X.

The Mayura is the top of IDFC FIRST Bank's publicly available range — the most premium card you can actually apply for, sitting above the Ashva and below only the invitation-only Gaj. It is a metal Visa Infinite built for travel, and it leads with the one number that matters most abroad: a genuine 0% forex markup. Where most premium cards quietly clip 2-3.5% on every overseas swipe, the Mayura takes nothing.

What it offers

The perk sheet is the point. The Mayura bundles 16 domestic and 16 international lounge visits a year (spend-activated on ₹20,000 in the previous month), up to two complimentary golf rounds or lessons a month, Visa Infinite privileges and travel-insurance cover. Its reward engine uses the familiar IDFC mechanic: 5 reward points per ₹150 up to ₹20,000 of monthly spend (~0.83%), 10 per ₹150 on incremental spend above that and on your birthday (~1.67%), 3 per ₹150 on rent, education, government and wallet loads, and 1 per ₹150 on insurance, utility, railway and FASTag.

Points redeem at ₹0.25 for vouchers and statement credit, but at ₹0.50 on flight and hotel bookings through the IDFC FIRST app — and that in-app channel is where the marketing "40X / up to 13% back" figure lives. A genuinely premium touch: the reward points never expire, so you can bank them toward a large in-app travel redemption.

The fee gets more help than it used to. Cards generated on or after 1 September 2025 carry a 12,000-point joining benefit paid in three 4,000-point tranches (on fee realisation, on ₹20,000 of net spends in the second cycle, and again in the third), and an annual-fee-payment milestone adds 7,500 points at ₹8 lakh of anniversary-year spend — 15,000 in total at ₹15 lakh. There are also buy-one-get-one movie tickets (up to ₹500 off, twice a calendar month via District by Zomato, on the same ₹20,000 prior-month gate), railway lounge visits, trip-cancellation cover and quarterly Postcard Hotels discounts. One nuance worth checking before you assume a benefit: Mayura ships on Visa Infinite or Mastercard World, and part of the perk sheet follows the network — the Mastercard variant carries its own golf programme and hotel-club tie-ups, while ITC stay offers, meet-and-greet and concierge privileges ride on Visa.

The Mayura's case is not its base rewards — it's the 0% forex, the deep lounge access and the golf. Buy it for the perks or don't buy it at all.

The 2026 cut

The January 2026 IDFC revision reached the flagship too. From 18 January 2026 the international earn was halved, 10X → 5X. For a card whose headline pitch is overseas travel, that is the one cut that stings — you still pay nothing in forex, but you now earn less on the spend itself. Everything else — the 0% forex, the lounge and golf bundle, the non-expiring points, the ₹0.50 in-app travel value — survived intact.

The fee problem

Here is the honest reckoning. The Mayura costs ₹5,999, with no spend-based waiver. That is a real, recurring outlay you cannot spend your way out of. To justify it on perks alone you need to actually use the lounges, the golf and the zero forex; if you take two or three international trips a year and lean on the app for travel bookings, the maths works comfortably. If you are a lighter traveller, the base rewards (~0.83-1.67%) will not recover ₹5,999 on their own, and you are better served lower down the range.

How it compares in the IDFC range

The step from Ashva to Mayura now buys you mainly a doubled international lounge quota. The forex gap closed in September 2026, when IDFC removed the markup on all its cards, the Ashva included. That step is worthwhile if you fly abroad often, marginal if you don't. And as always in this lineup, the lifetime-free FIRST Wealth shadows the paid cards on price for customers who qualify — but not on earning: it pays 0.375% on general spend where the Mayura pays 0.83% below the ₹20,000 gate and 1.67% above it, so what the paid cards have to do is out-earn ₹0 by their fee, not simply out-earn the Wealth. If you want the flat-out ultra-premium experience and can secure an invite, the FIRST Private plays in a different league again.

Who should hold it

The Mayura is for the frequent international traveller who will genuinely burn through 16+16 lounge visits, values a true 0% forex, plays enough golf to use the monthly rounds, and books travel through the IDFC FIRST app where points are worth ₹0.50. For that person it is a legitimately premium, well-rounded metal card that earns its fee.

It is the wrong card for the occasional traveller (the ₹5,999 has no waiver to hide behind), for anyone chasing raw everyday cashback (the base rates are perk-subsidised, not category-leading), and for someone who qualifies for the free FIRST Wealth and won't use the incremental lounges and zero forex.

Should you get it?

The IDFC FIRST Mayura is a real flagship: a metal Visa Infinite with a genuine 0% forex, deep lounge and golf access, non-expiring points and strong in-app travel redemption. Its weakness is arithmetic — a ₹5,999 fee with no waiver, and a 2026 cut that trimmed the international earn it used to lean on. Travel enough to use the perks and it is one of the better premium travel cards in the market; travel lightly and its own cheaper siblings quietly out-argue it.