11 Best Credit Cards in India 2023 (Review and Comparison)

My first credit card was ICICI Platinum that I got just after getting my first job in 2006. I fell in love with credit cards. At that time, Indian banks did not provide great offers on credit cards.

Still saving some money as cashback and rewards were good. I decided to make an exclusive portal, just for the discussions of credit cards. Last year I earned more than 10,000 rupees just from the credit card’s rewards and cashback.

I reviewed and compared all the best credit cards in India before making a fresh and updated list. Let’s help each other in finding the top credit cards in India 2023

1. Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card
2. Standard Chartered Platinum Rewards Card
3. ICICI instant platinum card
4. SBI simply click the credit card
5. Standard Chartered Super Value Titanium Credit Card
6. Citibank Cashback Card
7. Indian Oil Citi (IOC) Platinum Credit Card
8. Amex Travel Platinum Card
9. Citi Premiermiles Credit Card
10. HDFC All Miles Credit Card
11. SBI ELITE  Credit Card

If you don’t have time to read the entire article then pick one of the following based on your requirements.

1. If you are salaried and applying for the first time, then simply click here to apply for Standard Chartered Platinum Credit card which is lifetime free and easy to get approved.
2. If you want 5% cashback on groceries and 3x reward points on shopping then go for Manhattan Card
3. For Travel related benefits, apply for Amex Travel Platinum or Citibank PremierMiles.

Now read the detailed review of each card…

Best Credit Card In India For Salaried Person

#1. Standard Chartered Manhattan Card

Standard chartered manhattan platinum card was my preferred card last year and I want to continue using this card in 2023 as well. The primary purpose of using Standard Chartered Manhattan card is 5% cashback on groceries in supermarkets. I spend around 6000 rupees every month on groceries. I usually make bills around 3000 and get straight 150 rupees into my account as cashback. It’s real cash without any hidden clause. You can earn a maximum of 6000 rupees per year and use to pay the bill of your credit card.

Fee & Charges

Joining Fee – Rs.499 (Spend Rs 30,000 in the first year and get a waiver on your joining fee)

First Year Annual Fee – Nil

Annual Fee onwards from Second Year – Rs.999 (Spend Rs 60,000 in a year and get a waiver on your renewal fee)

Key Benefits of Manhattan Credit Card

• 5% cashback on purchase at supermarkets and departmental stores like More, Reliance Fresh, Big bazar and Food bazar.
• 5x rewards when you use your credit card to pay for Hotels, Dining, Airline ticket reservation, and Fuel.
• 20% cashback on Uber rides

Important Points regarding Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card 

• You can earn up to Rs. 500 as cashback every month.
• Maximum cashback per transaction is Rs.150
• Minimum transaction amount for cashback eligibility is Rs.1000

Best Credit Card In India With No Annual Fee

#2. Standard Chartered Platinum Card

SC Platinum Rewards Credit Card is best if you are applying for the first time and looking for a No Annual Fees credit card for life.

You will have a high chance of approval of SC Platinum card if you are a salaried employee. In future, you can request for an upgrade to Manhattan card whenever you need (approval based on your salary & credit card usage)

Who Should Apply?  Salaried people who want to own an all-rounder credit card without paying annual fees.

Benefits of Standard Chartered Platinum Rewards Card

• Get additional 1000 rewards points if you transact within 60 days
• Bonus 500 points for registering for online banking
• 20% cashback on Uber rides
• 5 points on spending 150 rupees on dining
• 5 points on spending 150 on fuel
• Seasonal offers from Grofers, Yatra and other major brands.

Annual fees or joining fees

• Rs 250 joining fees but waived off with the first transaction within 90 days
• Next year fees waived off when you spend Rs. 30,000 in the first year

#3. ICICI Instant Platinum Card

ICICI offers a simple credit card without any annual fees (Annual fee is Rs. 199 but waived of spending Rs. 2000 within 2 months of approval). If your application got rejected for Standard Chartered Platinum Credit Card then you can consider applying for ICICI Instant Platinum Credit Card.

Who should apply?

ICICI credit card is a good option for Students, Housewives, and Non-Salary people if they want to apply for a credit card against a Fixed Deposit.

Key Benefits of ICICI Instant Platinum Credit Card

• 2 payback points for every Rs.100 spent.
• 1 payback point spending Rs. 100 on utilities & insurance.
• Get ₹ 100 off on movie tickets twice a month.
• 1% fuel surcharge waiver at HPCL pumps. The maximum transaction can be up to Rs. 4,000.

Note: If you got rejected for ICICI card then don’t apply for any other card. Your CIBIL report will get impacted negatively. You must get a credit card against Fixed Deposit by visiting your bank branch.

Best Credit Card For Fuel In India 2023

#4. Standard Chartered Super Value Titanium Credit Card

Standard chartered super value titanium is the best credit card that gives 5% cashback at spending money on fuel in India. It also gives 5% cashback on utility and telephone bill payments.No other card offers such types of benefits.

Annual Fee – Rs 750 (waived off on spending 60,000 in the first year)

Benefits of Standard Chartered Super Value Titanium Credit Card

• Get 5% cashback on fuel at all petrol pumps in India. 
• 5% cashback on all telecom payments including phone bills
• 5% cashback on all utility bill payments, allowing you to save more on electricity, gas, and water.
• Get 1 reward point per Rs.150 on all other spendings.

Every reward point is worth 30 paise.

Check out – Slice credit card review

#5. Indian Oil Citi (IOC) Platinum Credit Card

IndianOil Citi Platinum credit card is one of the famous cards for maximum benefits on fuel. You get 4 turbo points per Rs. 150 on fuel and 1 turbo point is equal to Rs.1 fuel. That means a benefit of 2.67% + you will get a waiver on 1% on fuel surcharge.

• Annual Fee – Rs 1000
• Fee Waiver– On spending at least Rs 30,000 per annum.

Key Benefits of Indian Oil Citi Platinum Credit Card

• Get benefits of worth Rs 250 on the activation of the card.
• 4 Turbo Points on Rs.150 of fuel purchases at authorized IndianOil Retail Outlets across the country.
• 1% fuel surcharge waiver.
• 2 Turbo Points on Rs.150 at groceries and supermarkets.
• 1 Turbo Point on Rs.150 spent elsewhere like Shopping, Dining and more.

Important Point

• You get 4 turbo points on fuel only when you purchase fuel at Indian Oil retail outlets.
• One turbo point is equal to Rs 1 of free fuel that you can redeem at any Indian Oil retail outlets.

Who should buy it?

The fuel benefit is applicable to Indian oil outlets only. So you should apply for this credit card only if you fill fuel at the Indian oil outlets.

Looking for more fuel credit cards? Read here – Best credit card for fuel

Best Credit Card in India For Online Shopping

#6. SBI Simply Click Credit Card

Simply Click Credit Card is the third-best credit card in India with a small annual fee that will be waived off if you spend 1 lakh amount per year from the date of approval. If you love to shop online then you will find a lot of offers from Amazon, Flipkart, Makemytrip, Cleartrip, and many more vendors. The details have been provided below in key benefits.

Annual fee: 499 (waived off by spending 100,000 in one year)

Bonus: Rs 500 voucher from Amazon

Key Benefits of SBI SimplyClick Credit Card

• 10X rewards on online spending – Amazon / BookMyShow / Cleartrip / Foodpanda / FabFurnish / Lenskart / OLA / Zoomcar
•  5X rewards on all other online shopping
• A welcome e-gift voucher worth Rs 500 from Amazon
• 1% fuel surcharge waiver (on 500+ transaction amount)
• Cleartrip e-voucher worth Rs.2,000 on annual online spends of Rs. 1 Lakh (one more 2000 e-voucher on another 1Lakh milestone)

Best Credit Card For Utility Bill Payments

#7. Citibank Cashback Card

Citibank cashback credit card gives you 5% cashback on utility payments and movie tickets. But there is no benefit for fuel spends, you have to apply for IOC card separately to get benefits on fuel.

• First Year Annual Fee – Rs. 500
• Annual Fee Onwards From Second Year – Rs. 500
• Fee waiver– Call customer care to check if they waive the annual fee

Key Benefits of Citibank Cashback Card

• 5% cashback on movie tickets payments.
• 5% cashback on all your telephone bills.
• 5% cashback on all utility bill payments made online through Citibank online bill pay.
• 15% savings across participating restaurants.
• 0.5% cashback on all other spendings.

Important Point regarding Citibank Cashback Card

• Cashback in the Telephone / Movies / Utility category is capped at Rs.100 per month for each category.
• Hassle free redemption of cashback in multiples of Rs.500.

Who should apply?

If your monthly expense of telephone/ movies/ bill payment is around Rs 2000 each then it best for you. You can save around Rs.300 per month with an additional 0.5% cashback.

Best Credit Card in India for Travel 2023

Let’s discuss the best credit cards for travel in India with maximum benefits.

#8. Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card

Amex Platinum Travel credit card is one of the best travel credit cards available in India, why?

Unlike the other travel credit cards, the Amex platinum travel card offers the same benefits throughout all travel booking portals. If you are a frequent flier, then this credit card must be in your wallet.

Let’s have a look at the benefits.

Bonus Offers

• Enjoy the welcome gift of 5000 bonus milestone redeemable for a travel voucher (from Spicejet) worth Rs 4000.
• Spend 1.90 lakh in a year and get Spicejet voucher worth Rs 7,700.
• Spends 4 lakh in a year and get additionally 10,000 milestones redeemable to Spicejet voucher worth Rs 10,000.
• On spending 4 lakh also get a gift voucher from Taj group worth Rs 10,000.

Other Benefits of Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card

• Earn 1 membership reward point for every Rs 50 spends except fuel, insurance, utility bill payment and cash transaction
• Enjoy 4 complimentary visits to per year in the domestic lounges in India.
• Enjoy up to 20% off every time you dine at select restaurant partners.

PS – You can redeem reward points from other over 600 other redemption options as well (redemption value will vary depending upon the item redeemed).

Fee & Charges

First Year Annual Fee – Rs 3500

Renewal fee – Rs 5000

There is no direct way to get an annual fee waiver but you can ask the customer care for the same while renewal the credit card.

Who Should Apply for this?

This card performs best at an annual spend of 4 lakh.

If your annual spending will be 4 lakh, then the AMEX platinum travel credit card is the best card for you.

#9. Citibank Premiermiles Credit Card

If you are a regular traveler along with doing transactions online then Citibank Premiermiles credit card is one of the best cards for you. This card gives rewards in the form of miles that you can redeem on over 100 domestic and international airlines.

Annual fee – Rs 3000

Fee Waiver -Annual fees will not be waived off. But if you spend Rs.1000 with your card within the 60 days you will get 10,000 miles. You can redeem those miles at Citibank’s preferred partner.

The value of these miles is 10,000= Rs. 4500, Rs.1500 more than the annual fee.

Key Benefits of Citi Premiermiles Credit Card

• Get 10,000 miles with your first spend of Rs 1,000 or more on your Citi PremierMiles card within 60 days of card issuance.
• Get 3,000 miles on card renewal.
• Earn 10 miles for every Rs. 100 spent on exclusive website www.premiermiles.co.in.
• Earn 10 miles for every Rs.100 spent on all airline transactions.
• Earn 4 miles for every Rs 100 spent on all other transactions.
• Provides air accident insurance cover up to Rs.1 crore.
• 6 complimentary lounge access to participating airport lounges in India.

Important Points

• Redeem miles across over 100 domestic and international airlines.
• You can also redeem mile, the value is 100 miles= Rs. 45 at Citibank’s preferred partners.
• Redeem your miles up to 3 hours before take-off.
• Your accumulated miles never expire.

Who should buy it?

This card is best for regular travelers. Because you will get 10% reward miles for your spending.

#10. HDFC All Miles Credit Card

HDFC All Miles credit card is a premium traveler credit card of HDFC that offers 2 times more reward points on spending exclusively AllMiles website. Along with regular reward points, it also provides bonus reward points on joining and on renewal also.

• Annual Fee – Rs.1000
• Annual Fee Waiver – Spend Rs.15,000 within the 90 days of the card setup date and get a waiver of first annual fees.
• Spend Rs. 1,00,000 in a year and get a waiver of next year’s annual fees.

Key benefits HDFC AllMiles Credit Card

• Get 3 reward points per Rs.150 you spent on anything.
• 2x reward points for hotel bookings, mobile recharge, and shopping.
• 1% Fuel surcharge waiver capped at Rs.500 every billing cycle.
• Domestic lounge access at airports in India.
• Zero liability card

Important point

Redeem your reward points for air miles, 400 points= 100 Air miles or Rs 0.25.

#11. SBI ELITE  Credit Card

SBI elite is a super premium credit card from SBI Bank. SBI elite card comes with a number of offers for online shopping along with dining, shopping on grocery and departmental stores.

Annual Fee – Rs. 4,999

Renewal Fee– Rs. 4,999

Annual Fee Waiver

There is no way to waive off an annual fee or renewal fee. But on the issuance of the card, you get a gift voucher of worth Rs. 5000 as same as the amount of annual fee.

Key Benefits of SBI Elite Credit Card

• Welcome e-gift voucher worth Rs 5000 from popular brands.
• Free movie tickets worth Rs. 6,000 every year. It is valid for at least 2 tickets per booking per month. The maximum discount is Rs.250/ ticket for 2 tickets only.
• Earn 10,000 bonus reward points on achieving annual spends of Rs 3 lakhs and 4 lakhs.
• Earn 15,000 bonus reward points on achieving annual spends of Rs 5 lakhs and 8 lakhs.
• 1% fuel surcharge waiver across all petrol pumps maximum up to Rs. 250 subjective to a transaction from Rs.500 to Rs.4000.
• Earn 2 reward points per Rs.100 on all spending.
• Earn 5X reward points on dining, departmental stores, grocery, and international spending.
• 6 complimentary international lounges access
• Enjoy complimentary domestic lounge access twice every quarter in India.

Important points

• Worth of 4 reward points = Rs.1.
• 2% Foreign Currency Mark-up charge.
• Complimentary Club Vistara Silver membership
• Complimentary Trident Privilege Red Tier membership
• You can pay your card outstanding with reward points.

Final Words

These are my favorite credit cards that I explained category-wise. Let me know your favorite credit card in the comments.