Credit card billing cycle and due date explained
Updated 30 Oct 2026 · by SwipeWise editorial team · how we write
A card bill is not due a fixed number of days after each purchase. It depends on where the purchase falls in your billing cycle. This guide uses RBI’s definitions and the worked examples in two issuers’ MITC documents to show how the dates fit together.
Your own statement and MITC give the real dates and day counts for your card.
The dates
- Billing cycle. RBI defines it as “the regular length of time between closing dates of two consecutive bills raised by the card-issuer.”
- Statement date. The closing date of a cycle, when the bill is generated.
- Payment due date. RBI requires issuers to give at least one fortnight between the bill and the point where interest starts to be charged. In the examples below the due date is 20 days after the statement date at both SBI Card (2nd statement, 22nd due) and HDFC Bank (4 May statement, 24 May due).
- Minimum amount due. In RBI’s words, the amount a cardholder has to pay “to not be treated as an overdue bill.” It does not stop interest; see interest and minimum due.
- Interest-free credit period. RBI defines it as the time from the date of the transaction to the due date, with interest-free payment possible only if the entire outstanding is paid by the due date.
Worked example: SBI Card
SBI Card’s MITC uses a statement date of the 2nd and a due date 20 days later, the 22nd. For a cycle from 3 January to 2 February, due on 22 February:
- A purchase on 3 January, the first day of the cycle, has 50 days until 22 February (28 days left in January after the 3rd, plus 22 days of February).
- A purchase on 2 February, the last day, has 20 days.
The MITC states that the interest-free credit period “could range from 20 to 50 days”, which matches this arithmetic, and that it is suspended if any balance of the previous month’s bill is outstanding.
Worked example: HDFC Bank
HDFC Bank’s MITC gives this example for its International Platinum Plus card, which it describes as having an interest-free period of up to 50 days. The billing date is the 4th. Spends from 5 April to 4 May appear on the bill generated on 4 May, due 24 May.
- A purchase on 14 April has a credit period of 41 days (HDFC’s count).
- A purchase on 2 May has 23 days.
HDFC’s counts include the purchase day. By plain date difference they are 40 and 22 days, whereas SBI Card’s 50 and 20 above are date differences.
The MITC adds that this period is free of interest only if all previous dues are paid in full and no unpaid balance is carried over. HDFC’s MITC for its business cards gives a different range, 25 to 55 days, so the maximum depends on the card.
Due date, grace and late payment
- RBI says an account can be reported as past due to credit information companies, or charged late fees, only if it stays past due for more than three days. Days past due and the fee are still counted from the due date on the statement.
- SBI Card’s MITC says a grace period of three days from the due date is allowed where payments are not overdue from earlier cycles, but that the due date on the statement is the date by which clear funds must be credited.
- HDFC Bank’s MITC says clear funds must be credited on or before the due date to avoid late payment charges, and its illustrations show a separate “grace date” a few days after the due date (for example, due 25 May, grace date 28 May).
- Late payment fees at both issuers are set by slabs of the outstanding amount; the tables are in each MITC.
Check how your issuer treats the grace days before relying on them. A payment that has not reached the issuer as cleared funds by the due date can still be treated as late.
The interest-free period at twelve issuers
Every issuer says a purchase can be interest-free for up to roughly 50 days if you pay the whole total due by the due date. The range depends on how many days after the statement date your due date falls and on where in the cycle you bought. From each issuer’s MITC (read 30 and 31 October 2026):
| Issuer | Stated interest-free period | What the document adds |
|---|---|---|
| HDFC Bank | 20 to 50 days | Not applicable to cash advances or if the previous balance is carried |
| SBI Card | 20 to 50 days | “Subject to submission of claims by the merchant” |
| Axis Bank | 20 to 50 days | Illustrated with a grace-period example |
| AU Small Finance | 20 to 50 days | Only if all previous dues were paid in full; suspended if the total due is not cleared |
| American Express India | up to 48 days | Lost if any balance of the previous bill is outstanding, even if the minimum was paid; due date is 18 to 23 days after the statement date |
| RBL Bank | up to 50 days | Interest on purchases starts only if the full balance is not paid by the due date; a 3-day grace after the due date is described for the late fee |
| YES Bank | up to 50 days | Not applicable if the previous statement balance has not been paid in full |
| ICICI Bank (Amazon Pay card) | 18 to 48 days | A 3-day grace period after the due date; paying the total due within it keeps the free period, and paying the minimum within it avoids the late fee though interest runs from the transaction date |
| Kotak (League Platinum) | up to 51 days; 18 to 48 or 21 to 51 depending on due date | Due date is 18 to 21 days after the statement date |
| Standard Chartered | 18 to 48 days up to 25 to 55 days | Due date is 18 to 25 days after the statement date; not for cash advances and revolving balances |
| Federal Bank | up to 48 days | Subject to paying the previous statement by the due date |
| HSBC India | 45 days (Cashback and Live+), 48 days (Platinum) | Applies only if the outstanding is settled within 3 days after the due date; suspended while any balance of the previous bill is outstanding |
The same pattern holds across all of them: the interest-free period belongs to purchases, it disappears if you carry any balance from the previous statement, and it never applies to cash advances. Paying the minimum due therefore ends the interest-free period on the next cycle’s purchases as well as charging interest on the balance you carried. HSBC and ICICI both give a three-day grace period after the due date: HSBC says the free period holds if you settle within 3 days after the due date, and ICICI’s MITC says the same and adds that paying only the minimum within the grace period avoids the late fee but not the interest. Paying on the due date remains the safe habit. We did not find a stated range in the IDFC FIRST or IndusInd documents we read, and ICICI’s row is from the Amazon Pay card’s MITC rather than the general ICICI document, which could not be read.
Refunds in the cycle
RBI requires a credit from a refund, failed or reversed transaction that arrives before the due date, where the bill is unpaid, to be adjusted at once against the payment due and notified to you. SBI Card’s MITC shows this in an example: a ₹9,400 refund received on 10 November was set against a ₹10,000 bill due 22 November, and because the credit was larger than the minimum due, no late fee applied.
Changing the billing cycle
RBI’s directions say issuers must give each cardholder the option to modify the billing cycle at least once. RBI’s FAQ clarifies that the cardholder can choose any date as the starting or closing day of the cycle, and that issuers may offer the change through a helpline, e-mail, IVR, internet banking or the app. This text was in the 2022 Master Direction as amended on 7 March 2024 and is carried into the 2025 directions for commercial banks. HDFC Bank’s MITC says the change can be requested by phone banking, e-mail or letter. Any waiting period or restrictions beyond “at least once” are set by the issuer, and we have not verified them.
What to check on your own card
- The statement date and the due date on your latest statement, and the gap between them.
- The maximum interest-free period the MITC claims, and its conditions.
- Whether the issuer lets you choose a new cycle date and how to request it.
- Late fee slabs and when the fee starts counting.
This guide is general information, not advice. See how to read a credit card MITC, and use our calculator for reward estimates and our methodology for the assumptions we use.
Sources
- Reserve Bank of India, Master Direction – Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2022 (RBI/2022-23/92, 21 April 2022, updated as on 7 March 2024), definitions, paragraphs 9(b)(v), 10(a), 10(f), 10(g) and the FAQ on billing cycle; accessed 2026-10-30.
- Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Credit Cards and Debit Cards: Issuance and Conduct) Directions, 2025 (RBI/DOR/2025-26/155, 28 November 2025), text as reproduced by TaxGuru; we did not retrieve it from rbi.org.in; accessed 2026-10-30.
- SBI Card, Most Important Terms & Conditions (PDF; file metadata shows creation on 27 October 2026), interest-free credit period, late payment and grace period sections; accessed 2026-10-30.
- HDFC Bank, Key Fact Statement cum MITC for Credit Cards (version 4.17, dated October 2026; PDF file metadata shows creation on 29 October 2026), interest-free period, billing and late payment sections; accessed 2026-10-30.
- Interest-free period figures: the MITCs of American Express India, RBL Bank, ICICI Bank (Amazon Pay card, 10 Jul 2026), Axis Bank, AU Small Finance Bank, YES Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Standard Chartered, Federal Bank and HSBC India, read 31 Oct 2026.