CASHBACK CARDS
Best Cashback Credit Cards in India 2026
Top cashback credit cards in India ranked by reward rate. Get direct money back on every spend — no points, no catalogues. Ordered by our own shortlist, chosen and ranked by hand — weighing real-world return against whether you can actually get the card. For the order at your own spend, use the recommender.
Cashback credit cards return a fixed percentage of your spending as a direct statement credit — the simplest reward you can earn. There are no points to track, no redemption catalogues, and nothing to expire. For most people who just want straightforward value, a flat or category cashback card is the easiest card to own.
The best cashback cards in India typically offer 1–10% back, with the highest rates tightly capped and tied to categories like online shopping, dining, or utility bills. Watch the monthly caps and minimum-spend conditions — a 5% headline rate capped at ₹100/month is worth less to a heavy spender than a flat 1.5% with no cap. The cards below are our editors’ picks for cashback — chosen for real effective return after caps, strongest first.
Cashback cards, ranked
₹999/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹1,179 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 10% cashback on Utility Bills
₹999/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹1,179 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 5% cashback on Online Shopping
₹499/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹589 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 5% cashback on Online Shopping
₹1,000/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹1,180 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 1% cashback on all spends
Want a shortlist matched to your actual spending?
Find my perfect card — free →Frequently asked questions
What is the best cashback credit card in India?
Is cashback better than reward points?
Do cashback cards have a limit?
Is credit card cashback taxable in India?
Recent changes to these cards
The latest source-verified changes to the cards ranked above, from their value timelines. A strong cashback cards card can be devalued overnight — this is how each pick has actually behaved.
Domestic lounges halved; base-cashback exclusions added
4 domestic lounge visits/yr (1/quarter) · 1.5% earns on hospital, local transport & international spends→2 domestic lounge visits/yr (1/6 months) · no cashback on hospital (MCC 8062), local transport (MCC 4111) or international spends
Bundled with the 26 July 2026 revision, complimentary domestic airport lounge visits were cut from 4 to 2 a year (frequency 1/quarter → 1 every six months), and the 1.5% base cashback stopped earning on hospitals (MCC 8062), local transport/bus-subway (MCC 4111), and eligible international spends.
Verification: HSBC ↗ · Confidence: High
Live+ upgraded — 10% categories widened, cap raised, Visa Infinite
10% on dining/food-delivery/grocery · ₹1,000/mo cap · 3.5% forex · Visa Platinum→10% adds shopping (excl Amazon/Flipkart/Myntra) & utility bills · ₹1,200/mo cap · 1.99% forex · Visa Infinite
Effective 26 July 2026 HSBC broadened the 10% accelerated categories to also cover shopping (excluding Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra) and utility bill payments, lifted the combined monthly cap ₹1,000→₹1,200, cut the forex markup 3.5%→1.99%, and migrated the card to the Visa Infinite platform (airport meet-&-assist, complimentary ITC Hotels stays, Avis benefits) plus 1 international lounge visit/year (international visit effective 1 September 2026) and ₹250 quarterly cashback on contactless fuel.
Verification: HSBC ↗ · Confidence: High
Dynamic currency conversion markup raised to 1.75%
1% markup→1.75% markup
HDFC's MITC: "Dynamic currency conversion Markup Fee: With effect from 15th May 2026, a Markup fee of 1.75% will be levied on all transactions carried out in Indian Currency at an international location or at merchants which are located in India but registered overseas." This is separate from, and stacks on top of, the card's ordinary foreign-currency markup. It is the charge you pay for accepting a terminal's offer to bill you in rupees while abroad - always decline that offer and pay in the local currency. It also catches India-based purchases from merchants registered overseas, which is easy to trigger without leaving the country. The PIXEL MITC dates the same change 17 May 2026.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Second devaluation — ₹4,000 combined cap, sub-caps and new exclusions
₹5,000/cycle combined cap→₹2,000 online + ₹2,000 offline = ₹4,000/cycle; 5% stops at ₹40,000 online
From 1 April 2026 the single ₹5,000 combined cap was replaced by ₹2,000 for 5% online plus ₹2,000 for 1% offline (₹4,000 combined), so the 5% rate now stops at ₹40,000 of online spend per cycle; Digital Gaming (MCC 7993/7994/5816), Tolls (4784) and Government-related transactions (9222/9311/9402) were added to the exclusion list.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
Processing fees added on toll/bus, high-value rail and third-party education spends
None→1% (toll/bus ≥₹5,000; rail ≥₹30,000; 3rd-party education apps — each max ₹5,000)
From 1 April 2026 BOBCARD applied a 1% processing fee across almost all its cards, including the Cashback card: on toll and bus (MCC 4784) spends of ₹5,000 or more, on railway bookings (MCC 4112) of ₹30,000 or more (capped ₹5,000, except the IRCTC card), and on education-fee payments made through third-party apps such as CRED, Paytm, PhonePe and MobiKwik (capped ₹5,000). Only BOBCARD One, Uni and Scapia were exempt. The reward-point changes in the same notice do not touch this pure-cashback card.
Verification: BOBCARD ↗ · Confidence: High
Show 10 more changes
BOBCARD Cashback Credit Card launched
Bank of Baroda's BOBCARD arm launched its dedicated flat-cashback card in November 2025 (applications opened around 21 November). It earns 5% back on domestic online spends — 1% base plus 4% accelerated, capped at ₹1,500 a month and requiring at least four transactions in the billing cycle — and an unlimited 1% on all other eligible spends, auto-credited to the statement with no points to redeem. Fee is ₹49 a month or ₹499 a year (switchable once); Mastercard network; fuel, ATM cash, quasi-cash, sub-₹100 and select-MCC spends are excluded, and there is no lounge access or complimentary insurance.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: Reconstructed
Utility/telecom earning capped; third-party education excluded
Utility & telecom earned uncapped; education earned via any channel→Utility & telecom 2,000 pts/mo each; third-party education earns nothing
From 1 Sep 2024 reward earning on utility (MCC 4900) and telecom/cable spends was capped at 2,000 points per calendar month each across all HDFC cards, and education paid via third-party apps (CRED, Cheq, MobiKwik) stopped earning CashPoints — direct payments to institutions still earn.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
₹50 redemption fee + 1% category fees added
Free statement-credit redemption; no category fees→₹50 per statement-credit redemption; 1% fees (cap ₹3,000) on rent/education/fuel/utility
From 1 Aug 2024 statement-credit (CashPoint) redemption began carrying a ₹50 fee — Millennia was not exempted, unlike Infinia/Diners Black — and 1% fees capped at ₹3,000 hit rent and education via third-party apps, fuel above ₹15,000 and utility above ₹50,000; PayZapp wallet loads became chargeable at 1.5%+GST.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Rebranded to HSBC Live+ (relaunch)
HSBC Cashback Credit Card · 3.5% monthly APR · no category exclusions→HSBC Live+ Credit Card · 3.75% monthly APR · no cashback on utility & EMI transactions
HSBC renamed the Cashback Credit Card to Live+ effective 15 July 2024, keeping the core 10% (dining/food-delivery/grocery, ₹1,000/mo cap) + 1.5% base intact. The two real changes: monthly finance charge rose 3.5%→3.75%, and utility-bill and EMI transactions stopped earning cashback. Largely a marketing refresh with minor devaluations.
Verification: HSBC India (news release) ↗ · Confidence: High
Complimentary lounge access removed — now ₹1 lakh/quarter
Unconditional complimentary domestic lounge access→Spend ₹1 lakh/quarter, then choose lounge voucher OR ₹1,000 brand voucher
From 1 Dec 2023 automatic domestic lounge access was withdrawn and folded into the quarterly-spend milestone: cardholders must spend ₹1 lakh in a calendar quarter and then pick EITHER one HOI lounge voucher OR the ₹1,000 brand voucher — not both, with no free access below the threshold.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Complimentary domestic lounge access removed
4 complimentary/year→None
The card's four complimentary domestic airport-lounge visits a year were discontinued from 1 May 2023, leaving it a pure cashback card with no lounge benefit.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
First devaluation — cap halved and categories excluded
₹10,000/cycle cap; few exclusions→₹5,000/cycle cap; rent, fuel, wallet, utility, insurance, jewellery, railways & education excluded
Effective 1 May 2023 the maximum cashback per statement cycle was cut from ₹10,000 to ₹5,000, and cashback was withdrawn on Rent, Fuel, Wallet loads, Utilities, Insurance, Jewellery, School/Educational fees, Railways/IRCTC, gift & novelty shops and quasi-cash — sharply narrowing where the 5% online rate actually applied.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
First-year-free promo withdrawn — ₹999 joining fee reinstated
Effectively first-year-free→₹999 + GST joining fee
For applications from 1 April 2023 SBI stopped waiving the first-year joining fee, so new cardholders pay the ₹999 + GST joining fee (renewal fee still waivable at ₹2 lakh annual spend). Sources differ on how consistently the card had been first-year-free beforehand, so this is marked reconstructed.
Verification: SBI Card (archived) ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
January 2023 earn-and-burn caps introduced
Grocery earned freely; statement-credit redemption uncapped→Grocery 1,000 pts/mo; rent & government excluded; 3,000 CashPoints/mo statement-credit cap
From 1 Jan 2023 grocery earning was capped at 1,000 CashPoints/month and rent (via third-party apps) plus government spends stopped earning; from 1 Feb 2023 statement-credit cashback redemption was capped at 3,000 CashPoints/month, catalogue-voucher redemption limited to 70% of value, and SmartBuy flight/hotel redemption capped at 50,000 points/month.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
HSBC Cashback Credit Card launched (Live+ predecessor)
HSBC India launched the Cashback Credit Card — 10% accelerated cashback on dining, food delivery and grocery (capped ₹1,000/month combined), 1.5% unlimited on all other spends, ₹999 fee waived at ₹2L annual spend, 4 domestic lounge visits/year. This is the exact product later rebranded to Live+. HSBC documents no launch date we can reach, so this is dated to the card being demonstrably in market by the end of December 2022.
Verification: HSBC India (official product page) ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
How this list has changed
Our picks move when the cards do — these are CardAdvisor’s own list updates, dated, with the reason. They are editorial decisions, not issuer events.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Removed Onecard — New applications are paused (BOBCARD audit), and its rewards are points worth ~₹0.10 each — roughly 0.2–1% effective, not cashback.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added BOBCARD Cashback Credit Card — 5% on domestic online spends (capped ₹1,500/month) plus unlimited 1% base, credited to statement — the strongest cashback card the June list missed.