ENTRY-LEVEL CARDS
Best First Credit Cards in India 2026
Best entry-level credit cards in India for first-time applicants. Low eligibility requirements, lifetime free options, and simple reward structures. 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.
Your first credit card should be easy to get approved for, cheap or free to hold, and simple to use responsibly while you build a credit history. Entry-level cards often come lifetime-free and keep reward structures straightforward, and many publish no income or credit-score bar at all; where a bank does publish one, the card’s page quotes it.
Used well — paying the full bill every month — a first card builds the credit score you’ll need for premium cards and loans later. Avoid high-fee cards until you know your spending. The beginner-friendly entry-level cards below are our editors’ picks for a first card, strongest first.
Entry-level cards, ranked
Lifetime Free
annual fee
● BEST FOR: 1.25% reward points on Dining
Lifetime Free
annual fee
● BEST FOR: 1% cashback on all spends
₹499/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹589 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 0.25% reward points on all spends
Lifetime Free
annual fee
● BEST FOR: 3% cashback on OTT & Entertainment
Want a shortlist matched to your actual spending?
Find my perfect card — free →Frequently asked questions
Which is the best first credit card in India?
What CIBIL score do I need for my first credit card?
Can I get a credit card with no credit history?
How do I build my credit score with a first card?
Recent changes to these cards
The latest source-verified changes to the cards ranked above, from their value timelines. A strong entry-level cards card can be devalued overnight — this is how each pick has actually behaved.
International spends stop earning reward points
Reward points on international spends at the card's own rate→No reward points on international spends
From 26 October 2026 IDFC FIRST Bank credit cards stop earning reward points on international spends, except the Ashva, Mayura, Gaj, FIRST Private, FIRST WOW!, FIRST WOW! Black and IndiGo cards. IDFC announced it in its 9 September 2026 letter to cardmembers, the same letter that removed the forex markup, so paying abroad still costs no markup but earns nothing. On the Classic, Millennia, Select and FIRST Wealth this ends the 10X rate on international spends.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Forex markup removed
1% to 3.5%, depending on the card→0% (nil)
IDFC FIRST Bank stopped charging a markup on foreign-currency spends on all its credit cards from 9 September 2026, the effective date its letter to cardmembers gives. Its Key Fact Statement dated 15 September 2026 lists the markup on foreign-currency and currency-conversion transactions as nil, with no card-by-card exception, where the January 2026 edition charged 3.5% on most cards and less on a few (1.99% on the FIRST Select, 1.5% on the FIRST Wealth, 1.49% on the IndiGo card and 1% on the Ashva). The same letter says international spends stop earning reward points from 26 October 2026 on most IDFC FIRST cards; that is recorded as its own change.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Dynamic currency conversion markup more than doubles to 3.5%
1.5% + GST→3.5% + GST
Axis Bank raised the dynamic currency conversion mark-up from 1.5% to 3.5% plus GST. DCC applies when an overseas merchant offers to bill you in rupees instead of the local currency, and it stacks on top of the usual foreign-currency mark-up. Declining the rupee option at the terminal and paying in the local currency avoids the charge entirely.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
In-app travel accelerators trimmed (hotels & flights)
33% bonus on hotels, 13% bonus on flights→20% bonus on hotels, 10% bonus on flights
From 18 June 2026 the accelerated reward points on travel booked through the IDFC FIRST Bank app were cut for the Millennia — hotel bookings from a 33% bonus to 20%, and flight bookings from a 13% bonus to 10% — reducing a bounded upside for customers who book travel in-app.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High
Points get 24-month expiry + credit-limit earn cap
Points never expired; no per-cycle earn cap→24-month expiry; rewards capped to credit limit per cycle
Reward points credited from the July 2026 statement cycle now expire 24 months after being earned (previously lifetime-valid), and points accrue only on spends up to the assigned credit limit in a billing cycle. The FIRST Millennia was explicitly named among the affected cards. Existing balances stay redeemable for 24 months from the July 2026 cycle.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Show 10 more changes
FASTag & railway spends cut to 1X, plus high-usage fees
Earned at card rate, counted toward 10X threshold→1X only; excluded from 10X threshold; 1% high-usage fee
Under a portfolio-wide fair-usage revision effective 18 January 2026, FASTag recharges and railway spends earn only 1X and no longer count toward the 10X threshold. A 1% fee (plus GST) now applies if FASTag recharges exceed ₹10,000 or railway spends exceed ₹25,000 in a billing cycle. The same notice added that no reward points accrue for a cycle if the Minimum Amount Due is not paid by the due date.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High
Rent, high-fuel and third-party-education payments pick up 1% fees
None→1% on rent (min ₹249); 1% on fuel above ₹30,000/cycle; 1% on education via third-party apps (min ₹249)
IDFC FIRST's 2026 fee schedule added a 1% Rent and Property Management fee (minimum ₹249 a transaction, MCC 6513), a 1% fee on statement-cycle fuel spends above ₹30,000, and a 1% fee (minimum ₹249) on education payments routed through third-party apps. These sit alongside the earlier FASTag/toll (above ₹10,000/cycle) and railway (above ₹25,000/cycle) fees. None of them applies to the FIRST Private card.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
3% super.money QR cashback throttled to 1× base earn; sub-₹100 spends excluded
Bounded only by the ₹500 total cap→Capped at 1× the base cashback earned that cycle; sub-₹100 txns earn nothing
From 1 January 2026 (announced 10 December 2025) the 3% cashback on QR scan-and-pay through the super.money app is capped at the total cashback earned from all other 1% spends in the same billing cycle — with a ₹100 floor if those other earnings are under ₹100 — and transactions below ₹100 no longer earn any cashback. This sharply throttles reward for UPI-only users who spend little elsewhere.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Flat ₹500-per-cycle cashback cap removed — 1% base now uncapped
Flat ₹500 per statement cycle (all cashback)→1% base cashback uncapped
Announced 10 December 2025 and effective 1 January 2026, Axis scrapped the old flat ₹500-per-statement-cycle total cashback cap. The 1% base cashback on every eligible spend outside the 3% channel became uncapped, a clear gain for cardholders with high everyday spending away from super.money QR payments.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Swiggy reinstated as a 10X partner
5X→10X
Effective August 2025, SBI reinstated Swiggy to the SimplyCLICK 10X reward-partner roster, reversing the 1 April 2025 cut, and added Gyftr as a new 10X partner from 1 August 2025.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
Reward-exclusion method switched from MCC to spend category
MCC-based→spend-category-based
Axis reworked how non-earning spends are identified — by spend category (Rent, Wallet load, etc.) rather than the 4-digit Merchant Category Code. Axis states the excluded categories themselves are unchanged: Education, Rent, Wallet load, Government services, Insurance, Gold & Jewellery, Fuel, Gift Cards, Cash advances and Repayments earn no cashback.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Launch promo — 100% cashback up to ₹500 on the first Flipkart UPI spend
A one-time launch offer gave 100% cashback (capped at ₹500) on the first eligible super.money-app UPI transaction on Flipkart, valid 1–30 June 2025. A new-cardholder onboarding promo, not a recurring benefit — it lapsed at the end of June 2025.
Verification: super.money ↗ · Confidence: High
Axis Bank & super.money launch the SUPERMONEY RuPay Credit Card
Axis Bank and super.money (Flipkart Group's credit-first UPI platform) launched this lifetime-free RuPay card on 22 May 2025: 3% cashback on 'Scan & Pay' UPI made through the super.money app, 1% on all other spends, a flat ₹500-per-statement-cycle total cashback cap, and a 1% fuel surcharge waiver on ₹400–₹4,000 fuel spends (max ₹400/cycle). No joining or annual fee, and as a RuPay card it links to UPI apps so you pay by scanning QR codes.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Swiggy dropped from 10X to 5X
10X→5X
Effective 1 April 2025, Swiggy spends were revised from 10X to 5X reward points, leaving eight 10X partners: Apollo 24X7, BookMyShow, Cleartrip, Dominos, IGP, Myntra, Netmeds and Yatra.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
Spend surcharges introduced across the Axis portfolio
No surcharge on utility, wallet, fuel or gaming spends; 1% rent surcharge capped ₹1,500/txn→1% on cumulative utility spends of ₹25,000+ per statement cycle; 1% on wallet loads of ₹10,000+; 1% on fuel of ₹50,000+; 1% on online skill-based gaming of ₹10,000+; 1% per rental transaction, uncapped; 1% on education payments via third-party apps
Axis's portfolio-wide repricing of 20 December 2024 applies to the Fibe card as it does to every other active Axis card, and it is published on the Fibe product page's own Fees & Charges table. The surcharges are assessed on cumulative spend within a statement cycle rather than per transaction, so they switch on once for the whole cycle's volume in that category. They bite less here than on a utility-rewarding card, since Fibe pays only the 1% base on utilities — but a fee on a spend earning 1% is a net negative, and the rent surcharge is uncapped. The equivalent event was already recorded on the Axis Cashback timeline; it was missing here.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Same change also applies here to Fibe Axis Bank 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 Icici Amazon Pay — Now on our online-shopping list only, where it ranks first. It is still a fine first card — we now list each card once.
- 25 Sept 2026 · Removed Idfc Wow — Now on our zero-forex list only — a lifetime-free card issued against a fixed deposit, whose 0% forex markup is what sets it apart. We now list each card once.
- 25 Sept 2026 · Added SBI SimplyCLICK Credit Card — A ₹499 entry card: 10X points (about 2.5%) at partner brands including Myntra, Cleartrip, BookMyShow and Apollo 24x7, plus milestone vouchers — a common first card for online shoppers.
- 25 Sept 2026 · Added Fibe Axis Bank Credit Card — Lifetime free: 3% cashback on food delivery, OTT subscriptions and local commute (capped at ₹1,500 a cycle) and 1% on everything else.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Removed Idfc First Classic — It is a mid-tier card, and our recommender only shows entry-tier cards to first-card users — the page contradicted the engine beside it. Its entry-tier twin takes the slot.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added IDFC FIRST Millennia Credit Card — The entry-tier twin of the FIRST Classic: lifetime-free, with the same low-APR safety net.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added Axis Bank SUPERMONEY RuPay Credit Card — Entry-tier, lifetime-free, RuPay-UPI linked with 1% uncapped cashback — the UPI-first beginner card.