IDFC FIRST Bank Credit Cards 2026: Free Cards, Zero Forex and the Catch

IDFC FIRST cards for each need

Most IDFC FIRST cards use the same points, worth ₹0.25 each, so choose by the earn multiple and by the lounge rule or income bar you can meet.

Lifetime free, for young earners

FIRST Millennia and FIRST Classic share almost the same rules: 3 points per ₹200 as base, which is 0.375% (3 x ₹0.25 divided by ₹200), and 10 points per ₹200 on dining, travel and your birthday, which is 1.25%. Since 18 June 2026 the 10X works from the first transaction, earlier you needed ₹20,000 of spend in a cycle. Both need ₹3 lakh of annual income and give 4 railway lounge visits a quarter to anyone who spent ₹20,000 the month before. The decider is ₹3 lakh of income. Below it, look at the FD-backed WOW!.

Lifetime free with lounges

FIRST Select keeps the same earn but adds one domestic airport lounge visit each quarter and a buy-one-get-one movie offer, both tied to ₹20,000 of spend in the previous month, plus trip cancellation cover up to ₹10,000. Its income bar is ₹12 lakh a year. FIRST Wealth goes further with one domestic and one international airport lounge visit a quarter, golf and a Visa Infinite card, but ask for ₹36 lakh a year. On these four lifetime-free cards, points now expire after 24 months, a change from the old never-expiring points.

Premium metal: Ashva and Mayura

Ashva (₹2,999) and Mayura (₹5,999) earn 5 points per ₹150 on the first ₹20,000 of a statement cycle and 10 points per ₹150 above it, so 0.833% and 1.667% at ₹0.25 a point. The difference are in the extras. Ashva gives 4 domestic and 2 international airport lounge visits a quarter, Mayura 4 and 4, both for cardholders who spent ₹20,000 the month before. On hotel and flight bookings in the bank's app, a point is worth ₹0.40 on Ashva and ₹0.50 on Mayura. Neither card has a fee waiver. Instead, 7,500 points comes on ₹8 lakh of yearly spend when you pay the next fee, and Mayura also gives 15,000 points at ₹15 lakh.

For someone spending ₹50,000 in a cycle, the ₹30,000 above the threshold earns 2,000 points (30,000 divided by 150, times 10), worth ₹500. Abroad, Ashva fell to 2 points per ₹150 from 26 October 2026 while Mayura kept 5.

No income proof: FD-backed cards

FIRST WOW! is lifetime free against an IDFC FIRST fixed deposit of at least ₹20,000, and your limit is 100% of the FD, so a ₹50,000 FD gives a ₹50,000 limit. It earn 4 points per ₹200 everywhere, keeps those points on international spends and charges no forex, which suit students heading abroad. NRIs need an NRE FD of at least ₹25,000. Axis Bank offers 80% to 90% of the FD on its FD cards and ICICI up to 90%, which our Axis Bank hub and ICICI Bank hub cover.

FIRST EA₹N is a virtual RuPay card for UPI, against an FD of ₹5,000 or more. It pays 1% cashback on UPI through the IDFC FIRST app and 0.5% elsewhere, capped at ₹500 a statement cycle. No credit history is needed for either card, and the age range is 18 to 80.

Fuel at HPCL

FIRST Power+ (₹499, reversed at ₹1.5 lakh of yearly spend) earns 30 points per ₹150 at HPCL, which is 5%, plus 1.5% as Happy Coins when you pay through HP Pay. The decider is the ₹12,000 fuel cap per cycle, which tops out at 2,400 points or ₹600. Grocery and utilities gets the same 5% but only on ₹2,000 a cycle, and FASTag on ₹1,000. There is no fuel surcharge waiver on this card.

IndiGo flyers

IndiGo IDFC FIRST (₹4,999) earns 6 BluChips per ₹100 on IndiGo bookings, plus up to 16 more from IndiGo depending on your tier, and 3 elsewhere, and it list no airport lounge. The FD variant has no joining fee, but the FD needed is shown as ₹50,000 on most of the page and ₹1 lakh in its documents list, so confirm before you book one. Both variants pay ₹4,999 a year from the second year.

UPI

EA₹N, Power+ and IndiGo are RuPay cards and link to UPI directly. For Millennia, Classic, Select, Wealth, WOW!, Ashva and Mayura you need the FIRST Digital RuPay companion card at ₹199 plus GST a year, which then earn points on UPI payments, at a higher rate on payments above ₹2,000.

IDFC FIRST charges in rupees

IDFC FIRST's fee schedule look different from most banks in three places: the late fee is a percentage, cash withdrawals cost a flat amount, and interest is set for each person. GST at 18% applies to everything below.

Late payment

The late fee is 15% of the total amount due minus what you paid before the due date, with a ₹100 minimum and a ₹1,300 maximum. So ₹2,000 unpaid costs ₹300, ₹6,000 costs ₹900 (15% of ₹6,000), and anything above about ₹8,667 hits the ₹1,300 ceiling (₹1,300 divided by 15%). Nothing is charged if the amount due is below ₹100.

Interest

The bank sets your rate between 0.71% and 3.85% a month, or 8.5% to 46.2% a year, depending on your profile. If you miss the minimum due, overdue interest of 3.99% a month (47.88% a year) apply instead. The interest-free period runs up to 45 days, and payment is due 15 to 20 days after the statement, with a 3-day grace period.

Cash and forex

A cash withdrawal costs ₹199 a time plus GST rather than a percentage. The card pages say ATM cash carries no interest for up to 45 days, until the due date, but cash still eat into your limit and ₹199 a time adds up if you withdraw often. Forex markup is nil on every card from 9 September 2026, for foreign currency and DCC spends alike. Over-limit use, where allowed, costs 2.5% with a ₹550 minimum.

Category fees

The ₹249 minimum matter for smaller rents. A ₹15,000 rent payment would be ₹150 at 1%, but you pay ₹249, while on ₹30,000 the fee is ₹300. Because the utility fee works on the whole total once you cross ₹20,000, ₹25,000 of bills in a cycle cost ₹250, not ₹50.

Other charges

• Reward redemption: ₹99 each time (not on the IndiGo card).
• Card replacement: ₹199, but ₹1,500 for Ashva and ₹3,500 for Mayura.
• Payment return: 2% of the amount, minimum ₹500.
• Add-on cards on Millennia, Classic, Select and Wealth: ₹499 a year each.
• FIRST Digital RuPay companion card for UPI: ₹199 a year, plus GST.

IDFC FIRST changes, 2024 to 2026

• 1 September 2024: minimum amount due cut to 2% of principal plus EMIs, interest, fees and taxes. Lower minimum, but paying only that are still expensive at up to 3.85% a month.
• 20 February 2025: railway lounge access on Millennia, Classic and Select now needs ₹20,000 of spend in the previous month, and FIRST Wealth's fuel waiver cap was cut from ₹400 to ₹300.
• 1 July 2025: movie offers was moved from BookMyShow to the District app.
• 18 August 2025: IndiGo IDFC FIRST card launched, with a 1.49% forex markup at that time.
• 1 September 2025: joining-fee benefits of up to 7,500 points on Ashva and 12,000 on Mayura.
• 16 December 2025: new EA₹N cards get 1% cashback on UPI through the bank's app.
• 18 June 2026: 10X from the first transaction on Millennia, Classic, Select and Wealth; points on those cards now expire after 24 months; rewards only on spends up to the credit limit; buy-one-get-one movies need ₹20,000 of spend the month before.
• 22 July 2026: the IndiGo card's FASTag, railway, government and education earn cut to 0.5 BluChips per ₹100.
• 9 September 2026: zero forex on every card, down from 1% on Ashva, 1.99% on Select and 1.5% on Wealth under a May 2026 notice, and 1.49% on IndiGo.
• 30 September 2026: the Club Vistara card programme ends.
• 26 October 2026: no reward points on international spends for most cards, and Ashva drops to 2X abroad.

So what changed for a typical Millennia user? Dining in India earns better than before, abroad earns nothing, and points that used to last forever now has a 24-month clock. Points you held as of July 2026 stay valid until July 2028, so plan a redemption well before then.

The forex cut is the one change that helps nearly everyone who travel. On ₹1 lakh spent abroad, a 1.99% markup on Select would have been ₹1,990 before GST (1.99% of ₹1 lakh), and now it is nothing.

Who can get an IDFC FIRST card, and how

The application is fully digital on the bank's website or app with Video KYC, or you can walk into a branch. FD-backed cards need the deposit opened online first. Final decision on issuing stays with the bank whichever way you apply.

Published income and age

• FIRST Millennia and FIRST Classic: 21 or older, ₹3 lakh a year.
• FIRST Select: ₹12 lakh a year. FIRST Wealth: ₹36 lakh a year.
• FIRST Power+: 21 if salaried, 25 if self-employed, ₹3 lakh a year.
• FIRST WOW! and FIRST EA₹N: 18 to 80, no income proof, an FD of ₹20,000 or ₹5,000 respectively.
• IndiGo IDFC FIRST: 18 or older; no income published for the fee-paying variant.
• Ashva and Mayura: the bank does not publish age or income.

The bank also want a healthy credit score and credit usage within an acceptable level, without putting a number on either. For the unsecured cards you'll be asked for identity and income proof and KYC. EA₹N needs Aadhaar and PAN, and IndiGo want a physical PAN card for the video call.

RBI protections every applicant has

Under the RBI's 2025 card Directions for banks, three protections are worth knowing before you click apply. First, no card is valid without your explicit consent, and if a card you never asked for is billed, the bank must reverse the charges and pay a penalty of double. Second, if you change your mind later, closure has to happen within seven working days of your request once dues are clear, failing which the bank pays ₹500 for each day. Third, the billing cycle is yours to change at least once, which help if your salary date doesn't match the bill. Rejected? The bank must tell you the specific reasons in writing.

IDFC FIRST customer care

IDFC FIRST's card care runs 24/7 on 1800 10 888, and from abroad you call +91 22 6248 5152. To block a lost card use any channel the bank offers, the RBI requires every issuer to give round-the-clock reporting channels and to confirm the block.

For a complaint not resolved in 30 days, the RBI Ombudsman is the next stop. Our IDFC FIRST Bank customer care page keep the bank's other numbers together.

Before you escalate, look at your statement. The RBI's rules make every issuer print the name of its grievance officer there, and its compensation policy is supposed to cover loss of time, expenses, financial loss and harassment caused by the bank's own fault. Credit reports also moves faster now. From 1 July 2026 lenders report to bureaus as on the 9th, 16th, 23rd and last day of each month, so a late payment can show up within days, though an account can be reported past due only once it is more than three days late. Pay on time and a wrong entry is easier to argue, and the bank must correct a settled account within 30 days.