Vikram Warialani
IT professional by day, navigating Indian credit cards as a passion project since 2012. PickMyCard is the working draft of a goal I’ve been chasing for years: an accurate, up-to-date credit-card databank that anyone can use to see through a card before applying, and to get the most out of whichever card already sits in their wallet.
About me
I’m Vikram Warialani. My primary work is in the IT industry, where I manage a project team. PickMyCard is the passion project I run on the side to satisfy a long-standing obsession with Indian credit cards. I’ve been routing my personal spending through them since I picked up my first card at the start of my career in 2012, and over the years I’ve held a long list of them across the spectrum, from a basic lifetime-free workhorse to super-premium products with five-figure annual fees.
I completed my MCA from Maharaja Sayajirao University in 2012, which steered me into the IT industry, and I went back to school in 2025 to sharpen the fintech side with a postgraduate degree from IIT Kanpur. Credit cards started as a side interest and became the kind of thing friends, family, and colleagues kept asking me about. PickMyCard is where I put the answers in one place.
Why I started PickMyCard
Most Indian credit-card content on the web is either a bank’s own marketing page or an aggregator listing that quietly mixes paid placement into the ranking. The numbers are often outdated, the “best card” lists are unfalsifiable, and the affiliate disclosure is usually buried at the bottom of the footer.
I started PickMyCard because I had spent enough years stacking welcome bonuses, milestone rewards, and fee waivers to compound a meaningful amount of value from spending that would have otherwise paid plain bank fees, and because the answer to “which card should I get?” almost always begins with how the person spends, not which card sits at the top of an aggregator list.
The site exists to put that calculation in front of readers without the aggregator games.
What I bring to this
Two things. First, the habit of treating every reward rate, fee, and cap as a number to be verified, not a claim to be repeated. Every figure on the site is traced back to the issuer’s Most Important Terms & Conditions PDF, and the verifiedAt timestamp on each card row tells you when we last checked.
Second, fourteen years of actually carrying these cards in my own wallet. I know what it feels like to time a milestone spend in the last month of an anniversary year, to chase a welcome bonus that turned out to have a hidden MCC exclusion, and to redeem points through a partner programme rather than the issuer’s own catalogue when the math works out. Where that experience adds verifiable signal to a review, I mark it clearly and explain the workings.
Cards I’ve personally used
A list of cards that have been in my wallet long enough to know how they actually behave at the statement-cycle level, not just at the marketing-page level. Grouped by era of my wallet, not strictly by issuer.
Early years (2012–2016)
- 2012ICICI Coral: My first credit card at the start of my career. Held for 4-5 years through early career-building.
- 2014HDFC Regalia First (LTF): Got it as lifetime-free; used it extensively through 2016, then it went dormant as other cards came in. Upgraded to Millennia LTF in 2020, then to Regalia Gold LTF in 2024, and I still hold this card today.
Building the rotation (2017–2020)
- 2017Amex Platinum Travel: My most favourite card of all time, right up to its April 2026 devaluation. I hit every annual milestone and claimed Taj vouchers every year since I got it.
- 2018Amex MRCC (LTF): Amex offered it lifetime-free; I love it for the bonus 2,000 rewards every month on ₹20K spends, convertible to Taj or Marriott. Quiet workhorse for years.
- 2020Axis Ace: Held it for a few years, but SBI Cashback, Regalia Gold, and my Amex duo made this card redundant. Let it go for wallet cleanup in 2024 despite being a LTF card.
- 2020ICICI Amazon Pay: The no-brainer card for regular Amazon shoppers. Still in rotation.
Specialist plays and current rotation (2021–2026)
- 2021Citibank PremierMiles: Joined for a fabulous welcome offer; continued for three years only because Citibank gave me fee waivers plus a ₹2,000-3,000 Amazon voucher as a retention gift despite minimal usage. Migrated to Axis Horizon in 2023 (used briefly for Accor transfers), then closed during a wallet cleanup in 2024.
- 2022RBL Zomato Classic Edition: Mainly for Zomato credits and the unbelievable 10% birthday-cashback offer. The card was discontinued in 2023.
- 2022SBI Cashback: The most generous flat-cashback card at launch, with a ₹10,000 monthly cap that made hitting milestones on other cards deliberately harder. Devalued to a ₹5K cap, still strong; then the latest devaluation to a ₹2K online cap.
- 2023IDFC First Club Vistara: Joined specifically to pay college fees for the IIT Kanpur Fintech programme. My other cards would have maxed their rewards or earned nothing, but Club Vistara gave free miles and free tickets.
- 2023HDFC Swiggy Credit Card: 10% back on groceries and food, which offsets the ₹12-per-order Swiggy platform fee. Earns its keep one order at a time.
- 2024SBI Club Vistara: Same reasoning as IDFC First Club Vistara; additional Vistara mileage during the period.
- 2025HDFC Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card: Mainly just as a supplement for the free Marriott Night and for spends at Marriott. (No other spends.)
- 2026BOB Eterna (LTF): Mainly because it was lifetime-free, and BOBCard was one issuer I didn't yet have. Came with a free FitPass membership for a year and a strong welcome bonus. With SBI Cashback's recent devaluation, this felt like a useful fallback.
Briefly held
Cards where the sales pitch got me before I worked out the numbers. Once the math caught up with the welcome offer, the value did not hold up and I let them go:
- 2016HSBC Platinum
- 2017Tata Card
- 2018SBI Central Credit Card
Published work
31 postsLong-form posts on Indian credit-card mechanics: devaluations, comparisons, and the kind of edge-case maths that does not fit cleanly into a card review. Card reviews live on each card’s page, not here.
IndiGo Axis Premium: Double Joining Bonus Ends June 30
Scapia Refer and Earn 2026: How the In-App Referral Campaign Works
HSBC ALL Accor Bonus Points Festival: What to Expect
Jupiter Edge+ Devaluation 2026: The 10% Cashback Is Now About 7%
ICICI Credit Card Devaluation 2026: iShop Cut and New Fees
Scapia, IDFC First and Yes Bank Devaluation 2026
Amex Platinum Travel Devaluation 2026: ₹4L to ₹7L
HDFC Credit Card Devaluation 2026: Swiggy, Tata Neu, Fees
Axis Bank Credit Card Devaluation 2026: Accor Gone, Atlas Gutted
Credit Card Devaluations in India 2026: The Complete List
HDFC Regalia Gold Devaluation 2026: Spend-Gated Lounges and a Thinner Base Rate
How to Build a 780+ CIBIL Score Using Just One Credit Card
Kiwi vs Jupiter Edge+ CSB: Which RuPay Credit Card Should You Pick
BOBCARD Etihad Guest vs Etihad Guest Premium: The Rs 2,500 Gap and What It Actually Buys
Air India Maharaja Club Points Fest 2026: where the 50% bonus actually lands
Axis Bank Ace Credit Card Review: Still the Best Bill-Payment Card in India?
Starting Your First Job? Why You Need a Credit Card Early
American Express Platinum Reserve: how the May 2026 referral offer covers the joining fee
Best Lifetime Free Credit Cards in India 2026: The Five That Actually Cost Nothing
When Fee Waivers Actually Save You Money in 2026
How I Earned ₹22,000+ in Zomato Credits in One Birthday Month
Axis LIC Platinum vs Signature: Which to Pick
IndianOil Axis Visa vs RuPay: Which Variant Wins for Fuel?
Axis Flipkart vs HDFC Millennia for Online Shopping
Federal Scapia Credit Card Review: Is the Unlimited Lounge Claim Real?
RBL IndianOil vs IndianOil Xtra: Which Fuel Card Should You Get?
Best Credit Cards for Salaried Professionals in India 2026
HDFC Millennia vs SBI Cashback Card 2026: Which One Wins
SBI Cashback Card Devaluation 2026: What Changed, What to Do
Best Credit Cards for Airport Lounge Access in India 2026
How Credit Card Cashback Works in India: A Plain-English Guide
Get in touch
I’m happy to chat about credit cards with anyone who reaches out. The fastest way is a DM on X, @vikramwarialani. If you’d rather email, hello@pickmycard.in reaches the editorial inbox, or vikram.warialani@gmail.com for something more personal.
I’m not currently offering professional consulting; my day job in IT keeps me busy enough. But I read every email and respond as time permits. Blog comments are also a good place to start a conversation.
The full methodology
Where the numbers come from, how reviews are scored, and the re-verification cadence.
Read methodology →Professional history, talks, and the occasional credit-card thread.
Email the card name and a link to the issuer page that shows the right number. Corrections are made same-day.
hello@pickmycard.in