Axis Bank
Axis Flipkart Credit Card
Annual fee₹500
Top rate5% back
Monthly capNone
Category · Cashback · India
Cashback cards that pay out without the asterisks.
Twenty-four cashback cards, but the headline rate is rarely what you actually keep.
The headline rate is almost never the realised rate. A “5 percent cashback” card with a ₹500 monthly cap is functionally a ₹6,000-per-year product; whether it beats a 1.5 percent flat-rate card with no cap depends on whether your spend pattern actually hits the cap categories. We modelled each card against three reference spend profiles. Metro salaried (online-heavy), tier-2 family (groceries and fuel), and high earner (lifestyle and dining). We surfaced the realised return after caps for each profile. The cards below are sorted by overall fit, not headline rate, which is why a ₹199-fee card sits beside a ₹1,000-fee card in the same grid.
HDFC Bank
HDFC Millennia
Annual fee₹1,000
Top rate5% back
Monthly cap₹2,000
Axis Bank
Axis ACE Credit Card
Annual fee₹499
Top rate5% back
Monthly cap₹500
SBI Card
SBI Cashback Credit Card
Annual fee₹999
Top rate5% back
Monthly cap₹4,000
SBI Card
SBI Flipkart Credit Card
Annual fee₹500
Top rate7.5% back
Monthly capNone
HDFC Bank
HDFC Pixel Play Credit Card
Annual fee₹500
Top rate5% back
Monthly capNone
HDFC Bank
HDFC Pixel Go Credit Card
Annual fee₹250
Top rate5% back
Monthly capNone
Kotak Mahindra Bank
Kotak Cashback Plus Credit Card
Annual fee₹750
Top rate5% back
Monthly cap₹750
Bank of Baroda
BOBCARD Cashback Credit Card
Annual fee₹499
Top rate5% back
Monthly cap₹1,500
HDFC Bank
Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Credit Card
Annual fee₹1,499
Top rate10% back
Monthly capNone
HDFC Bank
Tata Neu Plus HDFC Credit Card
Annual fee₹499
Top rate5% back
Monthly capNone
Axis Bank
Axis Bank Cashback Credit Card
Annual fee₹1,000
Top rate7% back
Monthly cap₹4,000
Axis Bank
Airtel Axis Bank Credit Card
Annual fee₹500
Top rate25% back
Monthly capNone
HDFC Bank
HDFC Bank MoneyBack+ Credit Card
Annual fee₹500
Top rate3.33% back
Monthly cap₹625
Unity Small Finance Bank
Roarbank Credit Card
Annual feeFree
Top rate20% back
Monthly cap₹2,500
AU Small Finance Bank
AU Spont Credit Card
Annual fee₹299
Top rate1% back
Monthly cap₹500
AU Small Finance Bank
AU Bank InstaPay Credit Card
Annual feeFree
Top rate1% back
Monthly cap₹100
HDFC Bank
HDFC Swiggy BLCK Credit Card
Annual fee₹1,000
Top rate10% back
Monthly cap₹3,500
HDFC Bank
HDFC Swiggy ORNGE Credit Card
Annual fee₹500
Top rate10% back
Monthly cap₹3,500
AU Small Finance Bank
AU Bank Altura Plus Credit Card
Annual fee₹499
Top rate1.5% back
Monthly cap₹100
Yes Bank
Kredit.Pe Yes Bank ACE Credit Card
Annual feeFree
Top rate5% back
Monthly capNone
Suryoday Small Finance Bank
Stable Money Suryoday Bank Credit Card
Annual feeFree
Top rate0.5% back
Monthly cap₹3,000
AU Small Finance Bank
AU LIT Credit Card
Annual feeFree
Top rate1x points
Monthly capNone
CSB Bank
Jupiter Edge+ CSB Bank RuPay Credit Card
Annual feeFree
Top rate10% back
Monthly cap₹4,000
How to choose
Headline rate is a marketing number.
Realised return is what you keep after the monthly cap, the category exclusions, and the annual fee. A few questions narrow the field quickly. Where does your spend actually land: online retail, fuel and utilities, or dining and travel? Will you clear ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh annual spend, the threshold where fee waivers kick in on most cards, or stay below it? And do you want a flat-rate card that pays predictably, or a tiered card that pays more but only on the right merchants?
FAQ
Common questions
01Which cashback card has the highest realised rate?
SBI Cashback has the highest realised rate for the typical online-heavy spender. It pays 5 percent on every online merchant with a ₹5,000 monthly cap. At full cap utilisation, that returns ₹60,000 a year against the ₹999 fee. The Amex SmartEarn returns more in absolute terms for spenders who clear ₹2 lakh on partner merchants, but the conversion ratio (4 points per ₹100, ₹0.25 per point) makes the realised rate harder to forecast.
02Is a 1.5 percent flat-rate card better than a 5 percent category card?
It depends on whether your spend pattern can sustain the cap on the category card. A 5 percent card with a ₹1,000 monthly cap returns at most ₹12,000 a year. A 1.5 percent flat-rate card with no cap returns the same on ₹8 lakh annual spend. If you spend less than ₹8 lakh a year on the category card’s qualifying merchants, the category card wins. If you spend more, or your spend is too varied to stay inside the category, the flat-rate card wins.
03Are cashback rewards taxable in India?
Cashback is generally treated as a discount on purchase rather than taxable income, which is why issuers report it as “adjustment to statement” rather than as a payout. Bulk cashback received as part of a referral or sign-up offer can be classified as income if it exceeds ₹50,000 in a financial year from a single source, under Section 56(2). Standard transactional cashback on regular spends is not.