Best First Credit Cards in India

How to read this ranking

Swiggy BLCK leads only because of an assumption of ours: that 40% of dining and groceries is spent on the Swiggy app. On a ₹15,000-a-month profile the annual fee is the main thing to avoid. The persona spends ₹1.8 lakh a year, so Swiggy BLCK (fee ₹1,000, waived at ₹2 lakh) and SBI Cashback (₹999, waived at ₹2 lakh) are charged in the ranking, while Swiggy ORNGE (₹500, waived at ₹1.5 lakh) is not. BLCK still comes first, by only about ₹80 a year: its extra 5% on Swiggy is worth ₹1,080 a year on our assumption that 40% of the ₹4,500 of monthly dining and groceries goes to Swiggy, against a ₹1,000 fee. If you use Swiggy less than that (about 37%), ORNGE is the better pick. Cards whose published minimum income is above ₹25,000 a month are left out, and this is the same ₹15,000-a-month profile used on the card and comparison pages. Lifetime-free cards avoid the fee question entirely.

This list assumes you will be approved. Approval depends on income, credit score and the issuer's policy, and several cards here have minimum income requirements shown on their pages. If approval is the problem, see our first-credit-card guide for secured (fixed-deposit-backed) options, which this ranking does not model.

Figures come from the issuers' own terms as recorded on each card page (sources and check dates are listed there). Estimates, not offers.