This is the same product on a different payment network. Everything on this page applies to both rails — the differences are below. Pick the rail you want; you apply for it directly with the bank.
Same 25%/10% cashback and ₹500 fee, plus 1% cashback on UPI spends the Visa version cannot make at all.
In-depth review
Axis Bank Airtel Credit Card
Once a near-no-brainer for Airtel households — 25% on Airtel bills, 10% on Swiggy and groceries, lounge access, and a ₹500 fee that the ₹2 lakh waiver usually cancelled. The April 2026 devaluation removed the lounge access, tied the bill cashback to your retail spend (so bills-only users now earn almost nothing), and swapped the Swiggy perk for capped Zomato/Blinkit value-back. Still worth holding for an active Airtel household; the brilliance has been clipped.
Read the full review →Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
Welcome Benefit
~₹250 in vouchers, points or cashback in year one — usually conditional on a first spend within 30–90 days
25% cashback at Airtel Thanks app
25% on Airtel mobile, broadband, WiFi and DTH bills paid in the Airtel Thanks app (active connections only), and 10% on other utility bills paid in the app; capped at 2× and 1× your base 1% cashback that cycle. Utilities paid outside the app earn nothing.
10% cashback at Zomato, District Movies
10% value-back on Zomato and District Movies, ₹200 a month each, credited to the partner wallet rather than your card statement. The ₹499 minimum order applies to Zomato only, not District
Annual Fee Waiver
Fee of ₹500 + 18% GST (₹590 all-in)/yr fully waived when you spend ₹2,00,000/year
Fuel Surcharge Waiver
1% waiver on fuel transactions, capped at ₹500/month
💰 CASHBACK STRUCTURE
How much you earn back on each type of spend — no points math required.
25.0%
utility bills cashback
1.0%
Base rate (all other spends)
₹400
Monthly cap (accelerated)
- 25% cashback on utility bills
- 1.0% on all other spends — no restrictions
- Accelerated cashback capped at ₹400/month
🍽️ FOOD & DINING BENEFITS
Dining rewards, food delivery cashback and partner benefits.
10.0%
Dining cashback rate
PARTNER PLATFORMS
- 10% cashback on dining and food delivery
- Accelerated earn on: Zomato, District Movies
For Airtel customers who pay recharges and broadband inside the Thanks app and order on Zomato/Blinkit, used as a focused second card alongside a card carrying enough retail spend to lift the caps.
Full reward structure
What you earn on every rupee, per spend category — as of 11 Oct 2026.
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utility Billsonly at Airtel Thanks app | cashback | 25% | — |
| Diningonly at Zomato, District Movies | cashback | 10% | ₹400 |
| Groceriesonly at Blinkit | cashback | 10% | ₹200 |
| Other | cashback | 1% | — |
Utility Bills: 25% on Airtel mobile, broadband, WiFi and DTH bills paid in the Airtel Thanks app (active connections only), and 10% on other utility bills paid in the app; capped at 2× and 1× your base 1% cashback that cycle. Utilities paid outside the app earn nothing. · Airtel Thanks app
Dining: 10% value-back on Zomato and District Movies, ₹200 a month each, credited to the partner wallet rather than your card statement. The ₹499 minimum order applies to Zomato only, not District · Zomato, District Movies
Groceries: 10% on Blinkit (cap ₹200/month, min order ₹499) — replaced BigBasket in the April 2026 revision · Blinkit
Other: 1% cashback on all other spends
Earns nothing on: Rent · Wallet Loads · Fuel · Government & Tax · Insurance · Education · Cash Advances · EMI Conversions · Gold and jewellery · Tolls & Road Fees · Gift Cards & Vouchers
These spends earn no rewards at all — not a reduced rate, and not the base rate. They are also normally left out of any milestone or fee-waiver calculation.
Fees & charges
The numbers that matter beyond rewards — verify on the issuer site before applying. Fees below are shown inclusive of 18% GST, as of 11 Oct 2026.
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹590 |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹590 |
| Finance charge (APR) | 3.75% p.m. |
| Forex markup | 3.5% |
| Fuel surcharge waiver | 1%, cap ₹500 |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹600/yr in total.
1% fuel surcharge refund on fuel transactions of ₹400 to ₹4,000, capped at ₹500 a statement cycle. Fuel earns no cashback, and GST on the surcharge is not refunded
Should you get it?
- Best for: Airtel postpaid or broadband subscriber who also runs everyday retail spend on the card, Zomato or Blinkit regular, Food-delivery and quick-commerce user, Urban professional with steady everyday spend
- Mid tier — a solid all-rounder for steady monthly spend.
- Strongest value if you spend heavily on everyday spends (1% back; 25% only at Airtel Thanks app).
Pros & cons
✓ Pros
- 25% cashback on Airtel mobile, broadband, WiFi and DTH bills paid in the Airtel Thanks app — the highest Airtel-bill rate from any card in India, though since April 2026 it pays out only up to 2× the base 1% cashback you earn in the same cycle
- 10% on other utility bills, provided they too are paid inside the Airtel Thanks app
- 10% value-back on Zomato, Blinkit and District Movies, ₹200 per partner per month
- 1% cashback on all other spends, with no cap
- Low ₹500 annual fee, waived on ₹2 lakh of annual spend (rent and wallet loads excluded)
- 1% fuel surcharge refund up to ₹500 a statement cycle — one of only three Axis cards at that cap
✕ Cons
- Airtel 25% cashback is capped at 2× the base 1% cashback you earn that cycle (the flat ₹250/month cap was scrapped in April 2026) — low overall-spend cardholders earn little on Airtel bills
- Bills must be paid inside the Airtel Thanks app — the same bill paid anywhere else earns nothing
- The 25% applies only to active Airtel connections; new or inactive ones are excluded by name
- The 10% partner value-back lands in the Zomato/Blinkit/District wallet, not on your statement
- Non-Airtel subscribers miss the headline benefit — switch to Axis ACE if you use Jio or Vi
- No lounge access
Eligibility & documents
Documents required
- 📄PAN card
- 📄Aadhaar / valid address proof
- 📄Latest 3 months bank statement
- 📄Income proof — salary slips (salaried) or ITR (self-employed)
- 📄Recent passport-size photograph
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
- 🎁Statement credit / cashback adjustment
- 🎁Online rewards catalogue (vouchers, merchandise)
- 🎁Flight & hotel bookings via the issuer rewards portal
What your Cashback are worth
Realistic value per point by redemption route — the difference is what most people leave on the table.
Direct cash adjustment — no conversion
The 25% headline is capped at 2× your base cashback, locked to the Airtel ecosystem, and only paid inside the Airtel Thanks app — so a bills-only holder earns almost nothing, and the card's value evaporates entirely if you switch telecom providers.
Frequently asked questions
Does the 25% apply to Airtel Broadband bills?
Has the cashback structure changed recently?
What is the monthly cap on 25% Airtel cashback?
Does it work for non-Airtel subscribers?
Is there lounge access?
How will Axis apply my payment across the outstanding balance from 28 August 2026?
How has the Axis Bank Airtel Credit Card changed over time?
Has the Axis Bank Airtel Credit Card been devalued recently?
When did the Axis Bank Airtel Credit Card's fees last change?
How did the Axis Bank Airtel Credit Card change in 2026?
The bottom line
Post the April 2026 revision the Airtel Axis is narrower than it looks: the lounge access is gone, the partner earn changed to Zomato/Blinkit/District Movies with ₹200 monthly caps each, and the base dropped to 1%. The deeper problem is the cap logic. Because the 25% tier is limited to twice the base cashback you earn in the same month, unlocking ₹500 of Airtel cashback means routing about ₹25,000 of other spend through a 1% card — so the card only pays if the card you would otherwise have used earns under roughly 2.8%. Anyone already holding a decent cashback card loses money chasing the headline. It is a card for an Airtel subscriber whose alternative is another 1% card.
How this page was built
Counted from this card’s own record: 4 earn rules, 3 of them capped, 3 paid only at named merchants, the spends listed as earning nothing and 1 recorded perk. The renewal fee is conditional — it is waived on a published spend target, so the fee you pay depends on what you spend.
Last updated 11 Oct 2026.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the Axis Bank Airtel Credit Card are taken from Axis Bank's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page. Last updated 11 Oct 2026. Reviewed by Devchandra Sah. Always confirm current details on the issuer's site before applying. How we research →
Independence. CardAdvisor is an independent editorial publication. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or authorised to act for Axis Bank. All issuer names, product names, and payment-network marks are the property of their respective owners and appear here for identification and comparison only. Card faces shown on this site are our own original illustrations — we do not display or host issuer card artwork or logos.
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Guides and reviews related to this card.
Axis Bank Airtel Credit Card
Once a near-no-brainer for Airtel households — 25% on Airtel bills, 10% on Swiggy and groceries, lounge access, and a ₹500 fee that the ₹2 lakh waiver usually cancelled. The April 2026 devaluation removed the lounge access, tied the bill cashback to your retail spend (so bills-only users now earn almost nothing), and swapped the Swiggy perk for capped Zomato/Blinkit value-back. Still worth holding for an active Airtel household; the brilliance has been clipped.
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LIC Axis Bank Signature Credit Card
A lifetime-free co-brand between Axis Bank and LIC Cards that earns better than its reputation — about 2% on LIC premiums and international spends and about 1% elsewhere, once the points are priced at what LIC's own catalogue pays for them. Two haircuts to know: points lapse after 12 months and every redemption costs ₹30 plus GST.
Samsung Axis Bank Infinite Credit Card
The premium tier of Axis Bank's Samsung co-brand: 10% cashback on Samsung purchases capped at ₹20,000/year, 3% on five partners, a large 30,000-point welcome benefit and full domestic-plus-international lounge access — for a ₹5,000 fee that waives at ₹7 lakh. Strong the year you buy heavily into Samsung; overkill if you don't.
Google Pay Flex Axis Bank Credit Card
A lifetime-free RuPay/UPI co-brand between Axis Bank and Google Pay: earn 'stars' worth ₹1 each, redeemable straight into UPI payments in Google Pay. Axis's contractual rate is 0.2%, doubling to 0.4% once you've spent ₹100 in the prior cycle, hard-capped at 1,500 stars a cycle. The 4X and 8X rates the card is marketed on are a Google Pay promotion on current-period spend that Axis explicitly disclaims. A convenient free secondary card for Google Pay natives, not a rewards engine.
Axis Bank Freecharge Credit Card
An entry-level, invite-only EDGE Reward Points card built around Axis Bank's own Freecharge app for recharges and bill payments, with spend-based monthly bonus points. A light ₹250 digital card for Freecharge regulars — not a cashback earner, and outshone by its own Plus sibling if cashback is what you want.
Samsung Axis Bank Signature Credit Card
The entry tier of Axis Bank's Samsung co-brand: 10% cashback on Samsung purchases (capped ₹2,500/month, ₹10,000/year) plus EDGE Reward Points on everyday spend, for a ₹500 fee that waives at ₹2 lakh. A device-buyer's card that earns its keep the year you buy a Samsung, and an ordinary 1% points card the rest of the time.
SpiceJet Axis Bank Voyage Credit Card
A low-fee SpiceJet co-brand earning SpiceClub points — up to 18 per ₹200 on SpiceJet bookings (~4.5% value) — with a ₹1,500 welcome flight voucher and four spend-gated lounge visits. The earn is fine; the catch is that every point is locked to SpiceJet, an airline whose reliability has been persistently troubled. A card for committed SpiceJet regulars, not a general travel card.
PhonePe SBI Card SELECT BLACK
A PhonePe × SBI co-brand that pays 10% reward points (1 RP = ₹1) on bill payments, recharges and utilities routed through the PhonePe app — a category most cards exclude. A 1 July 2026 devaluation cut the PhonePe cap to 1,500 RP/month (500 on insurance) and halved the online cap, so it now rewards routine household bills, not large one-off payments. A ₹1,500 PhonePe gift card covers most of the ₹1,769 all-in first-year fee, and the fee is waived at ₹3 lakh.
IndiGo Axis Bank Credit Card
The entry rung of the IndiGo × Axis co-brand on the IndiGo BluChip programme — 3 BluChips per ₹100 on IndiGo, 2 on grocery and dining, 1 elsewhere, for a ₹799 fee that a 1,200-BluChip renewal voucher mostly offsets. Genuinely useful if IndiGo is your default airline, but BluChips are a closed, dynamically-priced currency worth about 42 paise each, so the real return is well below the headline rates.
Axis Bank Freecharge Plus Credit Card
The cashback sibling of the Freecharge card: 5% on Freecharge recharges and bill payments, 2% on local commute and 1% everywhere else, for a low ₹350 fee that waives at ₹50,000. A tidy bill-pay-and-commute card that Axis is no longer offering to new applicants — sharp inside its lanes, plain 1% outside them, with a long exclusion list to respect.
SpiceJet Axis Bank Voyage Black Credit Card
The premium SpiceJet co-brand — up to 28 SpiceClub points per ₹200 on SpiceJet bookings (~7% value), a ₹4,000 welcome voucher, SpiceClub Gold and 8 lounge visits. The richest way to earn on SpiceJet spend, but a ₹2,000 fee raises the stakes on the same single-airline bet: every point is locked to a carrier whose reliability has been persistently troubled.
Value timeline
Every real-world change to this card's rewards, fees and benefits we've tracked — newest first, each linked to its source.
Tracking since 2022 · last change Aug 2026
2026
- ▼ FeeObserved 29 Jul 2026 · Effective 28 Aug 2026
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
- ▼ FeeObserved 29 Jul 2026 · Effective 28 Aug 2026
New top late-payment slab of Rs 1,300 above Rs 50,000
Rs 1,200 on any total payment due above Rs 10,000→Rs 1,200 from Rs 10,001 to Rs 50,000; Rs 1,300 above Rs 50,000
Axis Bank added a fifth late-payment slab. Everything up to Rs 50,000 is unchanged, but a total payment due of more than Rs 50,000 now attracts Rs 1,300 instead of Rs 1,200. The same notice fixes the order in which a payment is applied to the outstanding: fees and charges including taxes first, then EMIs, interest, purchases and cash advances.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
- ▼ RewardObserved 29 Jul 2026 · Effective 28 Aug 2026
Tolls and road fees stop earning rewards; gift cards split into their own category
Bridge fees, road fees and tolls earned at the normal rate→No rewards or cashback on bridge fees, road fees and tolls
Axis Bank added bridge fees, road fees and tolls to the spends that earn nothing. Separately, gift card purchases move out of the Wallet spend category into a new Gift Card category; they already earned no rewards, and they continue to be excluded from spend-based fee waivers and milestone thresholds.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
- ▼ RewardEffective 12 Apr 2026
10% partners switched to Zomato/Blinkit/District, paid as partner-wallet value-back
10% cashback on Swiggy, Zomato & BigBasket (to card statement)→10% value-back on Zomato, Blinkit & District Movies (to partner wallet), ₹200/partner/month, ₹499 min order
Effective 12 April 2026 the 10% cashback on Swiggy, Zomato and BigBasket was replaced with 10% value-back on Zomato, Blinkit and District Movies, credited to the respective partner wallet (not the card statement), capped at ₹200 per partner per month with a ₹499 minimum order on Zomato and Blinkit. No Axis Bank cashback applies to this category.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
- ▼ LoungeEffective 12 Apr 2026
Complimentary domestic lounge access discontinued
4 complimentary domestic visits/year (spend-gated)→None
On the same 12 April 2026 revision the 4 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits were withdrawn entirely, completing the card's shift into a pure Airtel-ecosystem cashback card with no travel perk.
Verification: Axis Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
Each change links to the issuer's own document — bank T&C, MITC, notice, press release or product page — where one is public. Where the bank published nothing, it's marked CardAdvisor Research and verified against the card's current terms. Independent of the live terms shown above. This timeline is one card's slice of our market-wide change record across every tracked card.
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Source: <a href="https://cardadvisor.in/cards/axis-airtel#value-timeline">Axis Bank Airtel Credit Card value timeline</a>, CardAdvisor (CC BY 4.0).
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