Credit Card Reward Calculator
The rate on the brochure applies to one merchant, up to a cap, on spends the issuer has not excluded, before the fee. This works out what your cards actually return on what you actually spend — and which card to hand over for what.
9 cards, every term from the issuer's own document, verified 2026-09-04. The fees side of cards is in every credit card fee explained. Education only — no card is recommended here.
What you spend each month
Rough numbers are fine. Eight buckets cover most people; open the rest if they apply.
paid on the biller's site or app
everything online not listed
Add detail — Myntra, cabs, GPay bills, travel, Tata brands, rent, insurance, UPI, foreign spend
the same bills, paid through Google Pay
on the airline's or hotel's own site
BigBasket, Croma, 1mg, Westside, Tata CLiQ
everything in-store not listed
RuPay credit card on UPI
for the forex markup
only matters for points cards
Cards in your wallet
On ₹4.44 L a year, using each card where it pays most
Your wallet earns 3.68%, not the 5.0% on the brochure
How this is worked out. Each card is valued on your spend after its monthly caps, the categories it pays nothing on, and its annual fee. The wallet rate is what all your cards earn together, divided by everything you spend.
Net per year
₹16,360
after fees and forex
Fees you pay
nil
all waived or free
Best single card
3.20%
HDFC Millennia
Each card on its own, net of its fee
rewards ₹14,200 · fee nil · fee pays for itself above ₹31,268 a year · source, checked 2026-09-04
rewards ₹11,280 · fee nil · fee pays for itself above ₹39,322 a year · source, checked 2026-09-04
rewards ₹7,320 · fee nil · source, checked 2026-09-04
Which card for what
| Spend | Use | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon ₹6,000/mo | Amazon Pay ICICI (Prime member) | ₹3,600 5.0% |
| Flipkart ₹2,000/mo | Cashback SBI Card | ₹1,200 5.0% |
| Swiggy / Zomato ₹3,000/mo | Cashback SBI Card | ₹1,800 5.0% |
| Uber / Ola ₹1,000/mo | Cashback SBI Card | ₹600 5.0% |
| Utilities & telecom (direct) ₹3,000/mo | Amazon Pay ICICI (Prime member) | ₹360 1.0% |
| Groceries ₹8,000/mo | Amazon Pay ICICI (Prime member) | ₹960 1.0% |
| Dining out ₹4,000/mo | Amazon Pay ICICI (Prime member) | ₹480 1.0% |
| Fuel ₹3,000/mo | any — earns nothing | — |
| Other online ₹3,000/mo | Cashback SBI Card | ₹1,800 5.0% |
| Other offline ₹4,000/mo | Amazon Pay ICICI (Prime member) | ₹480 1.0% |
Splitting spend this way earns ₹11,280 in rewards versus ₹14,200 putting everything on HDFC Millennia. Caps are applied per card per category; where a card shares one cap across categories the split is approximate.
Credit card true reward rate
3.68% real, 5.0% on the brochure
₹4.44 L a year across 3 cards · ₹16,360 net
- HDFC Millennia
- ₹14,200 (3.2%)
- Cashback SBI Card
- ₹11,280 (2.5%)
- Amazon Pay ICICI (Prime member)
- ₹7,320 (1.6%)
Issuer terms verified 2026-09-04 · caps, fees and exclusions applied · jpvfin.com
Keep this result
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Why the gap: the headline rate applies to one merchant, up to a monthly cap, on spends the issuer has not excluded, before the annual fee. Rent, fuel, utilities, insurance and wallet loads earn nothing on most cards, and the caps bite at a few thousand rupees a month. Carrying a balance wipes all of it out — see the minimum-payment calculator.
Computed from each issuer's published terms as of 2026-09-04, listed under every card. Milestone vouchers are counted at face value; welcome benefits, lounge visits and insurance covers are not valued. “Which card for what” assumes you actually switch cards at the till. Issuers change terms without notice — the devaluation log lists what we have recorded.
Caps are the whole game
Millennia's 5% stops at 1,000 points a month — ₹20,000 of spend. ACE's 5% and 4% share one ₹500 pool. Cashback SBI stops at ₹2,000 online and ₹2,000 offline per cycle. Past the cap the rate falls to 1–1.5%, or to nothing. A big-spending household hits every cap by mid-month.
What earns nothing
Rent, fuel and wallet loads on every card here. Utilities, insurance and school fees on most. Several issuers now charge 1% on rent and on large utility or fuel payments. If those are half your spend, half your spend earns zero — which is usually where the gap between brochure and reality comes from.
The fee line
A ₹2,500 fee needs ₹2,500 of rewards before the card has paid for itself; at a real 1% rate that is ₹2.5 lakh of spend. Waivers help — Regalia Gold at ₹4 lakh, Tata Neu at ₹3 lakh, Millennia at ₹1 lakh — but a card whose net is red for your profile is costing you money to hold.
How this stays honest
- Every rate is traced to an issuer document with the date it was read.
- What a document did not say is flagged, not guessed.
- The ranking engine cannot import affiliate data — enforced by a lint rule.
- Changes are logged on the devaluation page.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my real reward rate so much lower than the advertised one?+
Because the advertised number is the best case on one merchant. It stops at a monthly cap — 1,000 CashPoints on Millennia, ₹500 combined on ACE, ₹2,000 per cycle on Cashback SBI — and it excludes the categories most households spend most on: rent, fuel, utilities, insurance, school fees and wallet loads. Then the annual fee comes off. The calculator applies all of that to your own numbers.
Which credit card gives the best cashback in India?+
There is no single answer, and this tool deliberately does not give one. On heavy online spend the Cashback SBI Card's ₹4,000-a-cycle ceiling beats Millennia's 2,000-point ceiling; on Tata brands the Tata Neu card's 5% is unmatched; on Google Pay bills ACE's 5% is unique. Enter your spend and the ranking follows from it.
Is a card with an annual fee worth it?+
Only if the rewards you actually earn exceed the fee, or your spend clears the waiver threshold. The calculator shows the spend at which each fee pays for itself, and a card whose net is negative for your profile is shown in red — at low spend, Regalia Gold and Atlas cost more than they return.
Do rewards on rent, fuel and utilities count?+
Almost never. Every card here excludes rent and fuel from rewards; most exclude utilities, insurance, education and wallet loads; several now charge a 1% fee on rent and on large utility or fuel transactions. The tool treats those as earning nothing unless the issuer's document says otherwise.
Where do the numbers come from?+
Each card lists its sources — the issuer's terms and conditions, Most Important Terms, Key Fact Statement or product page — with the date we read them. Anything a document did not state is flagged as unverified on the card rather than filled in from memory. Terms change without notice; the devaluation log records the changes we have found.
Does JPVFin earn anything when I pick a card?+
Not on this page. The engine that ranks cards cannot import affiliate data — that is enforced in the code, not just in policy. The separate 'which card to get' page is where any partner links would live, with the payout printed on screen, and it currently has none.
Sources, by card
- Amazon Pay ICICI (Prime member) — icici.bank.in (2026-09-04); icici.bank.in (2026-09-04)Unverified: surchargeWaiver cap (MITC states 1% waiver at all pumps, no cap stated) · 2% on Amazon Pay partner merchants not modelled
- Amazon Pay ICICI (non-Prime) — icici.bank.in (2026-09-04)Unverified: surchargeWaiver cap
- Cashback SBI Card — sbicard.com (2026-09-04); sbicard.com (2026-09-04); sbicard.com (2026-09-04)Unverified: annualFee Rs 999 and waiver at Rs 2 lakh (stated on the product page, which does not render to text; not found in the MITC or e-kit) · lounge withdrawal date
- HDFC Millennia — hdfc.bank.in (2026-09-04); v.hdfc.bank.in (2026-09-04); hdfc.bank.in (2026-09-04)Unverified: Cabs 5% applies to Uber only (Ola earns 1%); food delivery covers both Swiggy and Zomato
- HDFC Regalia Gold — hdfc.bank.in (2026-09-04); v.hdfc.bank.in (2026-09-04); hdfc.bank.in (2026-09-04)Unverified: Accelerated 20 RP per Rs 150 on Nykaa, Myntra, Marks & Spencer and Reliance Digital - not confirmed after the 15 May 2026 revision, so not modelled · Monthly reward caps on insurance/utility spend · Fuel waiver cap (Rs 500 assumed)
- Axis Bank ACE — axis.bank.in (2026-09-04); axisbank.com (2026-09-04); axis.bank.in (2026-09-04)Unverified: Cabs 4% applies to Ola only (Uber earns 1.5%)
- Flipkart Axis Bank — axis.bank.in (2026-09-04); axis.bank.in (2026-09-04)Unverified: Base rate on other spends (1% per the June 2025 summary; some issuer pages still show 1.5%) · Preferred-merchant list for the 4% (Swiggy and Uber assumed; Zomato and Ola earn the base rate) · Cleartrip 5% not modelled - no direct-OTA category
- Axis Bank Atlas — axis.bank.in (2026-09-04); axis.bank.in (2026-09-04)Unverified: Transfer-partner ratio (1:2 for Group A partners assumed; the T&C calls it dynamic) · Milestones here fold the Gold/Platinum tier bonus into the Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 15 lakh thresholds
- Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank — hdfc.bank.in (2026-09-04); hdfc.bank.in (2026-09-04)Unverified: Lounge access (8 domestic / 4 international assumed; not in the FAQ or MITC extracts) · UPI modelled at the full 1.5%, which needs the Tata Neu UPI ID
Disclaimer: Educational only; not a recommendation to apply for, keep or cancel any card. Figures are computed from published terms that issuers change without notice, on the spend you enter, and exclude welcome benefits, lounge access, insurance covers and promotional offers. Verify with the issuer before applying.
Related: Minimum payment trap · Visa, Mastercard and RuPay explained · Devaluation log