BEST FOR DINING
Best Credit Cards for Dining in India 2026
Top credit cards for restaurant dining and food delivery in India. Earn maximum rewards on Swiggy, Zomato, and restaurant bills. 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.
Dining credit cards reward restaurant bills, food delivery, and sometimes cafe and bar spends. With Swiggy and Zomato now part of everyday life, a card paying 5%+ on dining and delivery returns meaningful value to anyone who eats out or orders in regularly.
Some dining cards earn flat accelerated rewards on the category, while co-branded cards with Swiggy or Zomato add platform-specific cashback and welcome memberships. Watch the monthly cap and whether delivery counts as “dining.” The cards below are our editors’ picks for dining — chosen for dining and delivery rewards, strongest first.
Best for dining, ranked
₹2,999/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹3,539 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 25% cashback on Dining at PayEazy-enabled EazyDiner restaurants
Lifetime Free
annual fee
● BEST FOR: 20% cashback on Dining at EazyDiner partner restaurants (booked and paid via the EazyDiner app / PayEazy)
₹500/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹590 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 10% cashback on Dining at Swiggy app (Food, Instamart, Dineout)
₹1,000/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹1,180 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 5% reward points on Dining at Swiggy, Zomato
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Find my perfect card — free →Frequently asked questions
Which credit card is best for Swiggy and Zomato?
Do dining rewards apply to food delivery?
Are there caps on dining cashback?
Is a dining card worth the annual fee?
Recent changes to these cards
The latest source-verified changes to the cards ranked above, from their value timelines. A strong best for dining card can be devalued overnight — this is how each pick has actually behaved.
Genie drops out of the 10% Swiggy cashback
Food ordering, Instamart, Genie and Dineout→Food ordering, Instamart and Dineout
HDFC's revised card T&C, published 18 September 2026, lists the 10% as "Swiggy App (Food ordering, Instamart & Dineout)" in §2.2. The April 2026 version read "Food ordering, Instamart, Genie & Dineout", so Genie parcel deliveries no longer earn the 10%. Caps and the ₹249 minimum are unchanged.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Card phased out: holders move to Swiggy Ornge or Swiggy BLCK
HDFC is phasing the Swiggy HDFC Bank Credit Card out for every holder, with notices going out in phases until March 2027. Holders choose the Swiggy BLCK card (10% on Swiggy, ₹1,000 a year, first year free for a holder who pays a fee now) or the Swiggy Ornge card (5% on Swiggy, lifetime free for every moved holder); a holder who does not respond is moved to Ornge after at least 30 days' notice. The fee anniversary restarts and the card number changes, and the old card stops at the first use of the new one, after 60 days, or at its expiry. HDFC's own files date the process to September (migration terms dated 18-09-2026, both FAQs published on 30 September 2026); the exact start is not published. Rated a devaluation because both routes cost a heavy Swiggy user: the default halves the Swiggy rate, and the route that keeps 10% costs ₹1,000 a year.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
Lounge access became spend-gated (₹60,000/quarter)
2 domestic + 1 international lounge visits per quarter, unconditional→Same 2 + 1 per quarter, but only on ₹60,000 spend in the previous quarter
HDFC's per-card product-feature update tied the Diners Club Privilege's complimentary lounge access (2 domestic + 1 international per calendar quarter) to a spend gate: from the quarter starting 1 July 2026 the vouchers unlock only if the cardholder spent ₹60,000 or more in the preceding calendar quarter. A previously automatic benefit now has to be earned each quarter.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
SmartBuy brand-voucher earning capped at 3,000 RP/month
Full 4,000 RP/month accelerated pool usable via vouchers→3,000 RP/month sub-cap on Brand Vouchers (GyFTR/Woohoo)
From 1 July 2026 HDFC carved out a separate 3,000-Reward-Point monthly sub-cap for accelerated points earned on Brand Vouchers (GyFTR/Woohoo) bought through SmartBuy. Diners Club Privilege is explicitly named: its overall SmartBuy accelerated cap stays 4,000 RP/month, but no more than 3,000 of those can now come from brand vouchers, so the easy voucher route to the monthly ceiling is closed.
Verification: HDFC SmartBuy ↗ · Confidence: High
Portfolio-wide surcharges added: fuel, transport, DCC & interest
No cumulative fuel/transport/DCC surcharge→1%+GST fuel over ₹50,000/cycle; 1%+GST transport over ₹40,000/cycle; 1%+GST DCC
From 15 June 2026 IndusInd applied portfolio-wide charges that include the EazyDiner Signature: 1%+GST on cumulative fuel spends above ₹50,000 per statement cycle, 1%+GST on cumulative transport (select MCCs) above ₹40,000, 1%+GST on Dynamic Currency Conversion, plus a stricter partial-payment interest method. Card-specific dining benefits were unchanged by this revision.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: Reconstructed
Show 10 more changes
Dynamic Currency Conversion fee doubled 1% → 2%
1% + taxes→2% + GST
From 15 June 2026 the Dynamic Currency Conversion mark-up — levied when an international transaction, or one at an India-based merchant registered overseas, is billed in rupees rather than the local currency — doubled from 1% to 2% + GST on the EazyDiner Platinum. The paid EazyDiner Signature was held at 1%. DCC is avoidable: always choose to be billed in the merchant's local currency.
Verification: IndusInd Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Fuel fee threshold cut ₹50,000 → ₹30,000 a cycle
1% + GST above ₹50,000/cycle→1% + GST above ₹30,000/cycle
From 15 June 2026 IndusInd charges 1% + GST on cumulative fuel spends above ₹30,000 in a statement cycle on the EazyDiner Platinum, down from the ₹50,000 threshold that applied until 14 June 2026. Notably the paid EazyDiner Signature was placed in the premium ₹50,000 tier, so the free Platinum now carries the tighter fuel ceiling of the two EazyDiner cards. This is a fee on the spend itself, separate from the fuel surcharge waiver.
Verification: IndusInd Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
New 1% fee on transport spends above ₹40,000 a cycle
No transport fee→1% + GST above ₹40,000/cycle
From 15 June 2026 IndusInd levies 1% + GST on cumulative transport spends above ₹40,000 in a statement cycle — MCCs 4111, 4112, 4131 and 4784, covering cabs, rail, bus and tolls. Air travel is excluded. Only Pioneer Private, Pioneer Heritage and Indus Solitaire are exempt, so this card is in scope.
Verification: IndusInd Bank ↗ · 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
Base earn rate cut ~25% (per ₹150 → per ₹200)
4 Reward Points per ₹150 (~1.33% at ₹0.50/point)→4 Reward Points per ₹200 (~1% at ₹0.50/point)
Effective 15 May 2026 HDFC widened the base earning block from ₹150 to ₹200, cutting the general reward rate on Diners Club Privilege by roughly a quarter (from ~1.33% to ~1% on SmartBuy point value). The accelerated Swiggy/Zomato and SmartBuy rates were unchanged; only the base retail-spend rate was trimmed.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Dynamic Currency Conversion markup revised to 1.75%
1.75% on INR-billed international / foreign-registered transactions
The same 15 May 2026 update revised the Dynamic Currency Conversion markup to 1.75% on any transaction billed in Indian rupees at an international location, or in INR with a merchant located in India but registered abroad. This is separate from the 3.5% forex markup and raises the cost of paying in INR overseas. (The same notice also introduced a ₹199 lost/stolen/damaged-card re-issuance fee.)
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
₹249 minimum per Swiggy transaction for 10% cashback
₹100 per transaction→₹249 per transaction
HDFC's T&C §4.1: "W.e.f. from 21st April 2026" each Swiggy-app transaction must be ₹249 or more to earn the 10% cashback, up from a ₹100 minimum; the 5% online and 1% base tiers keep the ₹100 floor. Caps unchanged.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Cashback starts adjusting within the same billing cycle
Credited in the following billing cycle→Adjusted within the same billing cycle
HDFC's T&C §4.2 dates this change "w.e.f. 18th April 2026" — a day after the Cleartrip addition and three days before the ₹249 minimum. A small but real improvement: cashback now offsets the balance you are about to pay rather than the next one.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Cleartrip joins the 5% online cashback bucket
No Cleartrip benefit→5% cashback on Cleartrip, inside the existing 5% online ₹1,500/cycle cap
HDFC added Cleartrip to the card's 5% online category — "Transactions on Cleartrip will earn 5% cashback for statement starting 17th April 2026 basis the merchant name". It is an addition to the existing bucket, NOT a third cap: Table 1.1 lists Cleartrip under the same online block, which has a single ₹1,500-per-cycle cell. Cleartrip separately runs instant discounts of its own — 20% on hotels and 6.35% on flights, marked a limited-period offer from the same date.
Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Complimentary air-accident insurance withdrawn
Complimentary air-accident cover provided with the card→No air-accident cover
On 21 December 2025 IndusInd discontinued the complimentary air-accident insurance feature across its credit cards, stating simply that the coverage "stands discontinued". The bank published no replacement and named no exempt card. Note that several IndusInd product pages still described the cover months afterwards — the Avios, Duo, Pioneer Private and Platinum pages all still advertised it in August 2026 — so a reader may encounter the old wording on IndusInd's own site; the dated withdrawal notice is the operative statement. Other insurance benefits are unaffected: lost-card liability, Total Protect fraud cover, travel insurance and purchase protection continue where the card carried them.
Verification: IndusInd Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Same change also applies here to HDFC Bank Diners Club Privilege Credit Card.
Same change also applies here to EazyDiner IndusInd Bank Platinum Credit Card.
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.
- 25 Sept 2026 · Removed Hsbc Live Plus — Now on our cashback list only. Its 10% rate is one ₹1,200-a-month pool shared across dining, food delivery, groceries, shopping and utilities — a broad cashback card rather than a dining specialist, and we now list each card once.
- 25 Sept 2026 · Removed Au Xcite — Now on our grocery list only, where it ranks higher — we now list each card once.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Removed Hdfc Infinia — It has no dining reward row — dining earns its ordinary base rate — and the card is invite-only; it never belonged on a category-earn list.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Removed Axis Magnus — No dining reward row, and the April 2026 devaluation cut even the base return to ~1.2–2% against a ₹12,500 fee.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added EazyDiner IndusInd Bank Platinum Credit Card — 20% off via PayEazy at EazyDiner restaurants on a lifetime-free card — the best no-fee dining value in the catalog.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added Swiggy HDFC Bank Credit Card — 10% on the Swiggy app (food, Instamart, Dineout) — moved here from the online-shopping list, where its rate did not apply.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added Hsbc Live Plus — 10% on dining including Swiggy and Zomato — the only broad-coverage pick that also rewards offline restaurants.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added HDFC Bank Diners Club Privilege Credit Card — 5% on Swiggy and Zomato with a meaningful monthly cap at a ₹1,000 fee.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added Au Xcite — 3.75% on dining with no stated cap, on an entry-tier card whose ₹249 fee waives at ₹1 lakh annual spend.