Airtel

Joining ₹500 · Annual ₹500 · Annual fee waived on spends of ₹2,00,000 in the preceding year. Rent and wallet-load spends do not count toward the threshold.

Fee break-even: ≈₹50,000/yr through this card at its base rate. Below that, the fee eats the rewards.

Earns Cashback (statement credit). Direct rupee cashback credited to the card account (₹1 = ₹1, no redemption fee or expiry), rounded DOWN per transaction, on a 60-day credit cycle. Cashback for a cycle posts 3 days before the following statement. The headline 25% and 10% rates are NOT achievable in isolation: the 25% Airtel bucket is capped at 2×, and the 10% Airtel-Thanks utility bucket at 1×, the 1% base cashback earned in the SAME statement cycle. The practical ceiling is therefore 4× the base cashback, i.e. About 4% of base-category spend, and only if Airtel bills are at least 8% and Thanks-app utility bills at least 10% of base spend that cycle. Worked case: ₹25,000 base + ₹2,500 Airtel + ₹4,000 utility = ₹250 + ₹500 + ₹250 = ₹1,000 on ₹31,500 (3.2%). Critically, a bills-only cardholder earns ₹0. With no base cashback both accelerated caps are zero. The 10% at Zomato, Blinkit and District Movies is NOT Axis cashback at all: it is partner value back paid into that partner's own wallet, so it is only worth ₹1 per ₹1 to someone who keeps spending on that platform.

Verified 10 Aug 2026

Forex markup3.5%

GolfNone

ConciergeNone

International loungeNone

EMI₹299 plus GST below ₹50,000, ₹599 plus GST at ₹50,000 and above processing fee · A converted purchase stops earning rewards · The fee is charged on every conversion and is not refunded if you cancel or pre close, so on a no cost EMI deal it is the one thing you genuinely pay. Tenures run 3 to 24 months. · EMI transactions earn nothing. A later conversion to EMI reverses cashback already earned in the same cycle, and foreclosing or cancelling the EMI does not restore it.

Fuel surcharge1% surcharge refunded on fuel transactions between ₹400 and ₹4,000, capped at ₹500 per statement cycle

Domestic loungeNone. There is NO residual spend-gated path. The card is absent from both Set A and Set B of the Axis domestic lounge programme.

Return by category

Category	Return	Notes
Online spend	1%	Base rate
Amazon	1%	Base rate
Flipkart	1%	Base rate
Subscriptions & OTT	1%	Base rate
Offline spend	1%	Base rate
UPI spending	1%	Only the RuPay variant of this card can be linked to UPI (BHIM, PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, Mobikwik, Slice). Mastercard/Visa variants cannot. UPI spend earns the standard 1% base. Usefully, Axis matches the 25% and 10% Airtel-Thanks buckets on merchant IDs AND on Virtual Payment Addresses for UPI spends, so an Airtel Thanks bill paid by RuPay-on-UPI can still earn the accelerated rate. The 10% preferred-merchant value back is explicitly excluded on UPI.
Dining	1%	Zomato only, minimum order ₹499, online/Ecom card payment only. UPI is explicitly NOT eligible, and a coupon must be applied at checkout. Paid as instant value back into the Zomato wallet, not as statement cashback, and Axis cashback does not apply to this spend. Restaurant dining elsewhere earns only the 1% base.
Swiggy	1%	Uses its dining rate
Zomato	10%	₹200 per month · Zomato only, minimum order ₹499, online/Ecom card payment only. UPI is explicitly NOT eligible, and a coupon must be applied at checkout. Paid as instant value back into the Zomato wallet, not as statement cashback, and Axis cashback does not apply to this spend. Restaurant dining elsewhere earns only the 1% base.
Groceries	1%	Base rate
Quick commerce	1%	Blinkit only, minimum order ₹499, Ecom only, UPI not eligible, credited to the Blinkit wallet rather than the statement. Replaced BigBasket on 12 April 2026. Supermarket and other grocery spend earns only the 1% base.
Swiggy Instamart	1%	Uses its quick-commerce rate
Blinkit	10%	₹200 per month · Blinkit only, minimum order ₹499, Ecom only, UPI not eligible, credited to the Blinkit wallet rather than the statement. Replaced BigBasket on 12 April 2026. Supermarket and other grocery spend earns only the 1% base.
BigBasket	1%	Base rate
Movies & shows	1%	The 10% is District Movies only, online, with no UPI and the value paid into the District wallet. Any other cinema or ticketing site earns the 1% base.
BookMyShow	1%	Uses its movies rate
PVR INOX	1%	Uses its movies rate
Fuel	0%	No cashback on fuel. 1% fuel transaction fee once cumulative fuel spend reaches ₹50,000 in a statement cycle, separate from the surcharge waiver.
Travel (general)	1%	Base rate
Flights	1%	Base rate
Hotels	1%	Base rate
MakeMyTrip	1%	Base rate
IRCTC rail	1%	Base rate
International	−2.5%	1% reward − 3.5% forex markup
Utilities & bills	10%	Capped at 1× the 1% base cashback earned in the same STATEMENT CYCLE · 10% applies to non-Airtel utility bills (electricity, gas, water and any BBPS-enabled biller) but ONLY when paid inside the Airtel Thanks app. The same bill paid anywhere else earns ZERO. Separately, Airtel's OWN Mobile, Broadband, WiFi and DTH bills paid via the Airtel Thanks app earn 25%, capped at 2× the same-cycle base cashback, and only for active Airtel connections (new-connection hardware, installation and advance payments do not qualify). Both are NAMED carve-outs from Axis's 20 June 2025 portfolio-wide Utility & Telecom exclusion. Axis also levies a 1% Utility Transaction Fee once utility spend reaches ₹25,000 in a statement cycle. Note the derived cap makes the headline rates misleading: with zero base spend both buckets pay nothing.
Rent	0%	No cashback, and excluded from the ₹2 lakh fee-waiver threshold. 1% rent surcharge on every rent transaction, with the earlier ₹1,500 per-transaction cap removed.
Education fees	0%	No cashback on education services. 1% fee on education payments made through third-party apps.
Insurance premiums	0%	No cashback on insurance services.
Government & tax	0%	No cashback on government services.
Wallet loads	0%	Wallet recharges earn nothing and are excluded from the fee-waiver threshold. 1% fee once cumulative wallet loads reach ₹10,000 in a statement cycle.
Anything else	1%	Base rate
Jewellery	0%	No cashback on jewellery purchases.

Rates are the card's own published rates, before any spend profile. Add this card inMy cards to rank it against the rest of your wallet.

Also worth knowing

Welcome/activation benefit: ₹250 Amazon e-voucher on the first transaction within 30 days of issuance, redeemable within 3 months. Not available on cards issued without the joining fee, and not available if you merely switch the network of an existing card. The ₹500 voucher widely quoted online was an earlier limited-time offer.
15% off (max ₹500) at 4,000+ restaurants via the Axis dining programme on a minimum bill of ₹2,500, once a month.
Interest on revolving credit is 55.55% p.a. (Key Fact Sheet, 17 July 2026).
Minimum Amount Due formula: all instalments + all fees + interest/finance charges + taxes + any over-limit amount + 2% of the remaining outstanding balance. An extra ₹100 applies if MAD is missed for two consecutive cycles, recurring every cycle until cleared. Note that on this card a default also forfeits accrued cashback outright.
Late payment fee from 28 August 2026: nil below ₹500, ₹500 (₹501 to 5,000), ₹750 (₹5,001 to 10,000), ₹1,200 (₹10,001 to 50,000) and a new ₹1,300 tier above ₹50,000.
From 28 August 2026 payments are appropriated fees and charges first, then EMIs, interest, purchases, cash advances.
From 28 August 2026 no rewards on Bridge Fees, Road Fees and Tolls (FASTag).
Axis identifies excluded spend by its own internal spend classification rather than the 4-digit MCC, so merchants can be reclassified into an excluded bucket without any MCC change and cardholders cannot audit it.
Dynamic Currency Conversion markup is 1.5% on top of the 3.5% forex fee as of the 17 July 2026 Key Fact Sheet. The 28 Aug 2026 rise to 3.5% is documented for MyZone, Neo, Select and Privilege. No Airtel-specific revision document exists, so it is unconfirmed for this card.
Because of the 60-day cashback credit cycle, the new derived caps first showed up in statements generated on or after 12 June 2026 even though the rule took effect 12 April 2026.
Network is issuance-dependent: RuPay is confirmed on Airtel's own dedicated page and Mastercard by CardInsider's issuance coverage. Cardholders can request a network switch, which voids the welcome voucher.

Other exclusions

EMI transactions earn nothing. A later conversion to EMI reverses cashback already earned in the same cycle, and foreclosing or cancelling the EMI does not restore it.
Cash advances and payments to financial institutions earn nothing. 2.5% fee (min ₹500) plus interest from day one.
Effective 28 August 2026 gift card purchases sit in their own 'Gift card' spend category and earn no rewards. Partner value back also never applies to gift card or wallet-load purchases.

Sources

Every figure above comes from the issuer's own pages and documents. Last verified 10 Aug 2026.

Airtel

Return by category

Also worth knowing

Other exclusions

Sources

Other Axis Bank cards