Cashback is the easiest reward to judge, because a rupee back is worth exactly a rupee. That makes these cards the honest baseline: if a points card cannot beat a flat-rate cashback card on your spending, the points are decoration. The catch is almost never the headline rate — it is the monthly cap and the exclusion list, which is where most of the difference between two 5% cards actually lives.
103
Cards listed
Free
Cheapest to hold
₹2,500
Most expensive
Ranked by how widely held each card is — not by commission, because CardCopilot takes none. 4 of them carry no annual fee.
The shortlist
Cards whose reward currency pays out as direct cashback or statement credit, ranked by how widely used they are. Rates shown are the card's own; caps and category exclusions are on each card's page.
Lifetime free — 5% on Amazon for Prime members, 2% on Amazon Pay partners, 1% everywhere.
Annual fee
Lifetime free
shopping online
utilities
2
SBI CardCore
Cashback SBI Card
•••• •••• •••• ••••
2
3
HDFC BankCore
HDFC Millennia
•••• •••• •••• ••••
3
4
Axis BankEntry
Flipkart Axis Bank
•••• •••• •••• ••••
4
5
Axis BankEntry
Axis Ace
•••• •••• •••• ••••
5
6
HDFC BankCore
Tata Neu Infinity HDFC
•••• •••• •••• ••••
6
7
HDFC BankEntry
Swiggy HDFC Bank
•••• •••• •••• ••••
7
8
HSBC IndiaCore
HSBC Live+
•••• •••• •••• ••••
8
9
Axis BankEntry
Airtel Axis Bank
•••• •••• •••• ••••
9
10
ICICI BankEntry
ICICI HPCL Super Saver
•••• •••• •••• ••••
10
11
HDFC BankEntry
HDFC MoneyBack+
•••• •••• •••• ••••
11
12
HDFC BankEntry
IRCTC HDFC Bank
•••• •••• •••• ••••
12
13
HDFC BankEntry
HDFC Freedom
•••• •••• •••• ••••
13
14
Standard CharteredEntry
SC Smart
•••• •••• •••• ••••
14
15
Amazon PayEntry
AmazonPay Cashback Platinum
•••• •••• •••• ••••
15
16
Amazon PayCore
AmazonPay Cashback Rewards
•••• •••• •••• ••••
16
17
South Indian BankEntry
SIB Cashback Easy
•••• •••• •••• ••••
17
18
SliceCore
Slice Cashback Plus
•••• •••• •••• ••••
18
19
SliceCore
Slice Cashback Prime
•••• •••• •••• ••••
19
20
Dhanlaxmi BankEntry
Dhan Cashback Platinum
•••• •••• •••• ••••
20
21
Jupiter (Edge)Core
Jupiter Cashback Plus
•••• •••• •••• ••••
21
22
Uni CardsCore
Uni Cashback Signature
•••• •••• •••• ••••
22
23
DBS Bank IndiaCore
DBS Cashback Plus
•••• •••• •••• ••••
23
24
Jana SFBCore
Jana Cashback Rewards
•••• •••• •••• ••••
24
Frequently asked questions
Is cashback better than reward points?
For most people, yes — cashback is certain and needs no effort, while points are only worth more if you actually redeem them well. Points beat cashback mainly when transferred to airline or hotel partners at a good rate, which realistically means premium travel. If you would redeem points for statement credit anyway, a cashback card almost always wins.
Why is my cashback lower than the advertised rate?
Nearly always a monthly cap or a category exclusion. A card advertising 5% online cashback commonly caps it at a few hundred rupees a month, and typically excludes rent, fuel, wallet loads, insurance and government payments. The effective rate across a full month of mixed spending is usually well below the headline number.
Do cashback cards charge an annual fee?
Many do, though a good number are lifetime free. A fee is worth paying only if the extra cashback clears it — for a card with a ₹500 fee and 1% more cashback, that is ₹50,000 of qualifying annual spend before you break even.