BEST FOR FUEL
Best Fuel Credit Cards in India 2026
Top credit cards for fuel purchases in India. Earn fuel surcharge waivers, cashback, and reward points at Indian Oil, BPCL, and HPCL outlets. 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.
Fuel credit cards cut the cost of petrol and diesel in two ways: they waive the fuel surcharge that pumps add to card payments, and many earn accelerated rewards or cashback on fuel spends. For anyone who drives regularly, the savings are among the easiest to capture — you earn them on a recurring expense you already have.
The fuel surcharge is roughly 1% of the transaction, levied by the petrol pump (not the bank) on card payments. A fuel card refunds this surcharge, usually on transactions within a set band — often somewhere around ₹400 up to ₹4,000–₹5,000 per fill — and caps the total waiver per statement cycle. Always read your card’s exact transaction band and monthly cap, because beyond the cap the surcharge applies as normal.
There are two broad types. Co-branded fuel cards (with Indian Oil, BPCL, HPCL, or Jio-bp) pay the highest rewards — but only at that brand’s outlets, so they suit drivers who consistently fill up at one chain. General fuel or everyday cards reward fuel spend across all pumps at a lower rate, which suits people who fill wherever is convenient. Both petrol and diesel purchases qualify for the surcharge waiver.
Before choosing, check three things: the monthly waiver cap, whether rewards are locked to one fuel brand, and any annual fee against your real monthly fuel spend. A lifetime-free fuel card earns from rupee one; a fee card only makes sense if your fuel rewards clearly beat the fee. The cards below are our editors’ picks for fuel — chosen for fuel rewards and, where offered, the surcharge waiver, strongest first. Use the recommender to match one to your actual spending.
Best for fuel, ranked
₹1,500/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹1,770 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 7.5% reward points on Fuel at IndianOil (IOCL) fuel stations
₹1,499/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹1,769 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 6.25% reward points on Fuel at Bharat Petroleum (BPCL)
₹499/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹589 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 5% reward points on Fuel at Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL)
₹500/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹590 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 5% reward points on Fuel at IndianOil (IOCL) fuel stations
₹449/yr
annual fee · ≈ ₹530 incl. GST
● BEST FOR: 4% reward points on Fuel at IndianOil (IOCL fuel outlets)
Want a shortlist matched to your actual spending?
Find my perfect card — free →Frequently asked questions
What is a fuel surcharge waiver?
Which is the best fuel credit card in India?
Which is the best credit card for petrol?
Are there separate fuel cards for Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL?
Is there a limit on the fuel surcharge waiver?
Do fuel cards earn rewards on top of the waiver?
Does diesel qualify for fuel credit card benefits?
Is a fuel credit card worth it?
What is the difference between a fuel credit card and a prepaid fuel card?
Can I get a lifetime-free fuel credit card?
Recent changes to these cards
The latest source-verified changes to the cards ranked above, from their value timelines. A strong best for fuel 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
Bonus reward points on travel booked in the IDFC FIRST app
No app-booking bonus→50X bonus on hotels, 30X bonus on flights
IDFC added accelerated earning on travel booked through the IDFC FIRST Bank mobile app — 50X bonus reward points on hotels and 30X on flights. A rare positive for a fuel card, though it only pays inside the bank's own booking channel.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
Fair-usage fees on heavy FASTag and railway spends
No FASTag or railway spend fee→1% fee above ₹10,000 FASTag or ₹25,000 railway per cycle
FASTag recharges (MCC 4784) above ₹10,000 in a billing cycle now attract a 1% fee on the whole cycle's FASTag amount, and railway spends (MCC 4111, 4112) above ₹25,000 do the same. FASTag is one of this card's three accelerated categories, so the heaviest users of a headline benefit are the ones charged for it.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Whole cycle's reward points forfeited if minimum due is missed
Points accrued regardless of payment behaviour→No points for any cycle where the minimum amount due is unpaid by the due date
From 18 January 2026, failing to pay at least the Minimum Amount Due by the payment due date voids reward points for that entire billing cycle, and any points already posted for it are reversed. One missed minimum payment now costs a full cycle of fuel earning on top of the interest and late fee.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Show 10 more changes
New 1% fee on large FASTag top-ups and toll payments
No FASTag or toll transaction fee→1% fee on any FASTag-loading or toll-payment transaction above ₹10,000
From 7 January 2026 RBL Bank charges a 1% fee on any single FASTag-loading or toll-payment transaction above ₹10,000, measured per transaction per card, across merchant category codes 4784, 4111 and 4131. Because the threshold is per transaction rather than a monthly aggregate, it bites on one-off large FASTag top-ups rather than on regular commuting; splitting a top-up below ₹10,000 avoids it. The fee sits alongside RBL's existing 1% charges on rent, on utility spends above ₹50,000 a month, on fuel transactions above ₹10,000, and on education payments routed through third-party apps. It is a fee on the transaction, not a change to reward earning — these categories already earn no reward points on most RBL cards.
Verification: RBL Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Finance charge raised; 1% category transaction fees added
A lower monthly finance charge (reported at 3.5%; Kotak publishes no pre-revision rate); no category transaction fee→3.75% per month; 1% fee on select categories over per-cycle limits — fuel exempt on this card
The same 1 June 2025 revised cardholder agreement raised Kotak's monthly finance/interest charge to 3.75% and added a 1% transaction fee on wallet loads, gaming, utility and third-party education spends once their per-cycle limits are crossed. Fuel is exempt on this card — Kotak's Key Fact Statement records the fee on fuel transactions as waived, and the merchant-category annexure states that the fuel transaction fee does not apply to the IndianOil Kotak. IndianOil's accelerated fuel earning and the 1% fuel-surcharge waiver were left in place.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: Reconstructed
Utility, rent, wallet and other categories stop earning reward points
Utility, education, insurance, wallet, rent and government spends earned points→These categories earn no reward points
Kotak's revised cardholder agreement, effective 1 June 2025, restricted reward accrual across its card range on utilities, education, insurance, wallet top-ups, rent, government services and online gaming. The accompanying merchant-category annexure carves the IndianOil Kotak out of the gaming restriction, so on this card the change covers utilities, education, insurance, wallet loads, rent and government spends. The card's core proposition was untouched — IndianOil fuel still earns its accelerated 4% and grocery and dining still earn 2% — so this trims the off-forecourt edges rather than the reason to hold the card.
Verification: Kotak Mahindra Bank ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
1% fee introduced on large utility-bill payments
No fee on utility payments→1% fee when utility payments exceed ₹50,000 in a billing cycle
From 1 December 2024 SBI Card applied a 1% fee on the total utility-bill payments in any billing cycle whose utility spends exceed ₹50,000 — a portfolio-wide change that also applies to the OCTANE. Below ₹50,000 per cycle there is no charge.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
New 1% fee on large fuel & utility transactions
No category surcharge beyond standard terms→1% on single fuel spends above ₹10,000; 1% on monthly utility spends above ₹50,000
Effective 15 October 2024, RBL added a 1% fee on any single fuel transaction above ₹10,000 (capped ₹3,000 per transaction) and a 1% fee on utility spends exceeding ₹50,000 in a month, alongside a 1% fee on third-party-app education payments. This bank-wide Schedule-of-Charges change matters most for a fuel co-brand card: large single fill-ups above ₹10,000 now carry the 1% fee on top of the existing surcharge-waiver cap. The card's core 15 Fuel Points per ₹100 IOCL earn rate and 2,000-point monthly cap were unchanged.
Verification: RBL Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
IndianOil XTRA launched — RBL's premium fuel co-brand
RBL Bank launched its IndianOil (IOCL) co-branded credit-card offering on 9 September 2024, with the XTRA as the premium tier above the base IndianOil card. It earns 15 Fuel Points per ₹100 at IndianOil outlets (each point worth ₹0.50 toward fuel, ~7.5% value, capped at 2,000 Fuel Points a month) and 2 per ₹100 elsewhere, plus a 1% fuel-surcharge waiver up to ₹200/month, 3,000 welcome Fuel Points and 1,000 points per ₹75,000 quarterly milestone, at a ₹1,500 annual fee (waived at ₹2.75 lakh spend). Fuel Points are a closed-loop IOCL currency, not standard RBL Reward Points.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High
IndianOil RBL launched as successor to the BPCL SuperCard
RBL Bank, IndianOil (IOCL) and Mastercard flagged off their co-branded fuel card in September 2024 (bike-expedition launch event on 02 Sep 2024), replacing RBL's discontinued BPCL SuperCard with an IOCL-aligned proposition. The base card earns 10 Fuel Points per ₹100 at IndianOil outlets (each point worth ₹0.50 toward fuel, ~5% value back, capped 1,000 Fuel Points/month) and 1 point per ₹100 elsewhere, plus a 1% fuel-surcharge waiver (up to ₹100/month) and a 1,000-point welcome benefit. Fee ₹500 joining/annual, waived at ₹1.75 lakh annual spend. Exact calendar date not published; the co-brand was unveiled late Aug / early Sep 2024.
Verification: RBL Bank ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
Fuel earning raised to 30X and the fuel cap widened
24X, up to 1,600 RP (₹400) per cycle on ₹10,000 fuel spend→30X, up to 2,400 RP (₹600) per cycle on ₹12,000 fuel spend
IDFC raised accelerated HPCL fuel earning from 24X to 30X and lifted the ceiling from 1,600 to 2,400 reward points (₹400 → ₹600) a statement cycle, with eligible fuel spend rising from ₹10,000 to ₹12,000 per cycle. Read alone this is a clear gain — but it landed in the same notice that withdrew the fuel-surcharge waiver, and IDFC's own wording is that the waiver's value was folded into this richer fuel-rewards category rather than added on top.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Fuel-surcharge waiver withdrawn
1% surcharge waiver on all fuel transactions→Not applicable — value folded into the fuel-rewards category
The 1% fuel-surcharge waiver was removed outright, IDFC's stated reasoning being that the equivalent value is now included in the enlarged fuel-rewards category. For a fuel card this is the structurally important change of the batch: the saving stops being an automatic waiver on every fuel transaction and instead has to be earned as capped reward points, so spend beyond the ₹12,000 per-cycle fuel ceiling now carries the surcharge with no offset.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Lounge access spend gate quadrupled to ₹20,000
1 domestic visit/quarter on ₹5,000 monthly spend→1 domestic visit/quarter on ₹20,000 monthly spend
The monthly spend needed to unlock the next month's complimentary domestic lounge visit rose from ₹5,000 to ₹20,000 — a four-fold increase that puts the benefit out of reach of the everyday commuter this card is sold to, since ₹12,000 of capped fuel spend alone no longer gets there.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Same change also applies here to RBL Bank IndianOil Credit Card.
Same change also applies here to RBL Bank IndianOil 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.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Removed Axis Indianoil — Only ₹5,000/month of fuel earns its 4% rate, and the fee waiver sits out of reach — the weakest earner of the previous five at realistic spend.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Removed Hdfc Indianoil — HDFC cut the monthly Fuel Points cap to 150 (~₹144 of fuel value) — the correction gutted the earn the pick was based on.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Removed Icici Hpcl Super Saver — The ₹200/month fuel cashback cap leaves it behind every remaining pick; its value lives in grocery and utility rates this page does not rank.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added RBL Bank IndianOil XTRA Credit Card — 7.5% back in fuel points at IndianOil pumps (~₹600/month within cap) — the strongest fuel earn in the catalog when redeemed for fuel.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added RBL Bank IndianOil Credit Card — 5% at IndianOil pumps at a ₹500 fee — the mid-fee IndianOil answer.
- 14 Aug 2026 · Added IndianOil Kotak Credit Card — 4% at IndianOil plus the surcharge waiver, with the ₹449 fee auto-waived at ₹50,000 annual spend.