A lifetime free card is meant to be the one you stop thinking about. The AU LIT credit card from AU Small Finance Bank is the exception, and that is the whole product.
The card costs ₹0 to hold, forever, with no spend condition. Everything that makes it worth holding is sold back to you as a 90-day pack, switched on or off in the AU 0101 app. The question is never "is it free". The question is what each switch costs you, and what forgetting one costs.
What the base card pays with every pack off
The base earn is 1 Reward Point per ₹100 on eligible UPI, POS and online spends. Each point is worth ₹0.25.
That is a 0.25% return, one of the thinnest on any no-fee card we track. Fuel, cash advances, EMI conversions, insurance premiums, and government and utility payments earn nothing. Earning is capped at 10,000 points per billing cycle.
In rupee terms, the base card is a free credit line with a token reward attached. For comparison, the lifetime-free Axis Neo RuPay lists 1% cashback on spends outside its partner offers, four times the LIT base rate with nothing to manage.
The welcome offer is the one large number in the base card: 10,000 bonus points on ₹1,00,000 of spend in the first 60 days, worth ₹2,500. That bar is roughly ₹50,000 a month for two months. Plan for it or ignore it.
The pack menu, priced
Every pack runs on the same 90-day cycle and is charged per cycle, plus taxes. The full range runs from ₹49 to ₹399.
| Pack | Fee per 90 days | What it pays | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grocery cashback | ₹299 | 5% on grocery spends | ₹500 per 30 days |
| Apparel cashback | ₹199 | 5% on apparel spends | ₹500 per 30 days |
| Retail cashback | inside the ₹49 to ₹399 range | 2% on eligible retail spend above ₹7,500 a month | ₹500 per 30 days |
| Domestic lounge | ₹199 to ₹399 by tier | 1 visit per cycle on the ₹399 pack | per tier |
| Fuel surcharge | inside the ₹49 to ₹399 range | 1% waiver on ₹400 to ₹5,000 fills | none stated |
| OTT and fitness | inside the ₹49 to ₹399 range | ZEE5, Amazon Prime, Cult.fit | none stated |
Two corrections to the usual description. The 5% is not one combined travel, dining and electronics pack. Grocery and apparel are separate packs, each with its own ₹500 ceiling. And the lounge pack buys one domestic visit per cycle on the ₹399 tier, not a quarterly allowance of four.
We have not itemised fees for the retail, fuel and OTT packs. Check the live price in the app before you switch one on.
What switching a pack on is worth
The grocery pack is the clearest test. Its 5% ceiling of ₹500 per 30 days arrives at ₹10,000 of monthly grocery spend.
- Spend ₹1,500 a month on groceries: about ₹4,500 per cycle earns ₹225, against a ₹299 fee. You lose ₹74 before taxes.
- Spend ₹4,000 a month: ₹12,000 per cycle earns ₹600. You keep ₹301 before taxes.
- Spend ₹10,000 a month: the ceiling pays ₹1,500 per cycle. You keep ₹1,201 before taxes.
On our calculation the grocery pack breaks even at roughly ₹6,000 of grocery spend per cycle, about ₹2,000 a month. The apparel pack, at ₹199, needs roughly ₹4,000 of apparel spend per cycle. Taxes on the fee push both bars up slightly.
The 2% retail pack is a harder sell. It only pays on spend above ₹7,500 a month, so its ₹500 ceiling needs about ₹32,500 of monthly retail spend.
What switching off, or forgetting to, costs
Packs renew on the 90-day cycle unless you switch them off, as the terms we hold on file read. That is the catch the "lifetime free" label hides.
A lounge pack left running through a year with no airport trips costs ₹1,596 before taxes, four cycles at ₹399, for nothing. Both 5% packs left on through a quiet quarter cost ₹498 for that cycle whether you shop or not.
Timing matters too. A pack charges for the full 90 days, so switching one on halfway through a cycle buys half the value at full price. Set a calendar reminder at each cycle start, review the active list, and switch off anything your next 90 days will not use.
Forex markup is 3.49%, so this is not a travel card. UPI on third-party apps needs the RuPay variant, so ask for it at application if you pay by UPI.
Bottomline
3.4 out of 5. AU LIT is a sound card for one specific person: someone with steady grocery or apparel spend who treats the pack menu as a quarterly budget decision. For that cardholder, both 5% packs together cost ₹498 per cycle against a combined ceiling of ₹1,000 per 30 days, which is a strong return for a card with no annual fee.
For everyone else, the base 0.25% is the card you actually hold. If you want a free card that pays without supervision, a flat-rate lifetime-free card does more. Our lifetime free card guide lists the alternatives, and our explainer on cashback ceilings shows how to test a cap against your own statements.
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. If you apply through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial view is independent of that. #ad
Frequently asked
Is the AU LIT credit card really lifetime free?
Yes. The joining fee and the annual fee are both ₹0, with no spend condition attached. The only charges you choose are the optional feature packs, which cost ₹49 to ₹399 plus taxes per 90-day cycle, and you can run the card with none of them switched on.
How much cashback can AU LIT pay with the 5% packs?
The 5% packs are sold separately for grocery and for apparel. Each pays 5% and is capped at ₹500 per 30 days, a ceiling reached at ₹10,000 of spend in that category in the period. With both packs active the ceiling is ₹1,000 per 30 days, against ₹498 of combined pack fees per 90 days before taxes.
When does an AU LIT cashback pack pay for itself?
On our calculation, the ₹299 grocery pack needs roughly ₹6,000 of grocery spend in a 90-day cycle to recover its fee, and the ₹199 apparel pack needs roughly ₹4,000 of apparel spend. Both figures are before taxes on the fee, so the real bar sits slightly higher.
Does AU LIT earn rewards on UPI and fuel?
The card earns 1 Reward Point per ₹100 on eligible UPI, POS and online spends, but UPI payments on third-party apps need the RuPay variant. Fuel, cash advances, EMI conversions, insurance premiums, and government and utility payments earn no points.
Card devaluations, reward maths, and rate changes the day they land.
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