Best Lifetime Free Credit Cards in India 2026: Zero Fee in the MITC

Nine cards that stay free, by who they suit

Everyday spending on a salary

IDFC FIRST Millennia (income ₹3 lakh a year) gives 3 points per ₹200 on most spends and 10 per ₹200 on dining, food delivery, travel and your birthday, at ₹0.25 a point (0.375% and 1.25%). Since 18 June 2026 the 10X start from the first rupee. Deciding figure: zero forex since 9 September 2026, though international spends earn no points from 26 October 2026. FIRST Classic is its twin.

ICICI Bank Platinum Chip (income ₹20,000 a month) pays 2 reward points per ₹100, 1 on utilities and insurance, with no lounge and a 3.5% forex markup. Deciding figure: a ₹20,000 income floor, as low as any published here, but ICICI publish no rupee value for its points.

Higher income, with lounges

IDFC FIRST Select (₹12 lakh a year) earns like Millennia and adds 1 domestic airport lounge visit and 4 railway lounge visits a quarter. Deciding figure: ₹20,000 of spend in a calendar month to open them for the next month. FIRST Wealth go further, with a domestic and an international lounge visit each quarter, but asks ₹36 lakh a year.

IndusInd Bank Tiger (IndusInd's general ₹20,000 net a month) gives 2 domestic lounge visits a quarter and 2 international a year via Priority Pass, with no spend condition published, and 1.5% forex. Points climb from 1 per ₹100 on the first ₹1 lakh a year to 6 per ₹100 above ₹5 lakh, at ₹0.40 as cash credit. Deciding figure: the MITC says nil fees, but IndusInd tells the actual fee at the time of application, so check it is nil before you accept.

Shopping and travel

Amazon Pay ICICI Bank (₹30,000 a month, invite only) gives Prime members 5% on Amazon.in, others 3%, bills through Amazon Pay 2% and everything else 1%, all as Amazon Pay balance that do not expire. Deciding figure: no cap stated on the 5%.

Scapia Federal pays 10% as Scapia Coins on Visa spends of ₹20 or more and 20% on travel booked in the Scapia app, at 5 coins to ₹1, so about 2% and 4%; its RuPay card earns about 1% on UPI, only above ₹500. Zero forex, and unlimited domestic lounge visits after ₹20,000 of spend in a billing cycle, though Scapia's pages disagree if Visa and RuPay spends adds up for it. Deciding figure: coins pay only for travel in the Scapia app. Fees come from the November 2024 MITC Scapia hosts, as Federal Bank's current one couldn't be read, and the age and income rules wasn't on any page we could read.

Pick your own, or no income proof

AU LIT is a free card with paid extras, 90-day features in the AU 0101 app such as 5% grocery cashback for ₹299, apparel for ₹199 or a lounge visit for ₹399. Deciding figure: the terms cap category cashback at ₹500 per 30-day cycle (the product guide says ₹1,000). AU publish neither a point value nor an income figure.

One Credit Card, issued by OneCard with partner banks, gives 1 point per ₹50, five times that in your top 2 categories if you spend ₹750 or more in each of three, and 1% forex. OneCard says no income proof is needed, with an FD-backed card as fallback. Deciding figure: no issuer publish what a point is worth, and rent fees differ by partner bank, 1% or 2%.

IDFC FIRST WOW! needs a fixed deposit of ₹20,000 or more with IDFC FIRST Bank, no income proof and no credit history. The limit is 100% of the FD and it pay 4 points per ₹200 almost everywhere, at zero forex. Deciding figure: WOW! keeps points on international spends after 26 October 2026, which the unsecured IDFC FIRST cards lose.

One ₹25,000 month on every free card

The month: groceries ₹6,000, dining and food delivery ₹4,000, Amazon ₹3,000, other online shopping ₹3,000, electricity and phone bills ₹3,000, fuel ₹2,000, a flight booked online ₹2,000 and other shop spends ₹2,000, so ₹3,00,000 a year. Fuel earn nothing on every one of these cards.

• Scapia Federal: 2% on the ₹18,000 that isn't bills, fuel or the flight is ₹360, and the flight booked in the Scapia app at 4% is ₹80, so ₹440 in coins. Bills count as nothing: Scapia's agreement excludes utility and telecom, though its blog say only bills above ₹20,000 a month miss out.
• Amazon Pay ICICI Bank (Prime): Amazon ₹3,000 at 5% is ₹150 and ₹17,000 of other spends at 1% is ₹170, so ₹320. Bills outside Amazon earns nothing, through Amazon Pay at 2% they'd add ₹60.
• IDFC FIRST Millennia or Select: ₹14,000 at 3 points per ₹200 is 210 points, dining ₹4,000 and the flight ₹2,000 at 10 per ₹200 are 200 and 100, bills at 1 per ₹200 are 15. That makes 525 points, ₹131.25.
• IndusInd Bank Tiger, counted yearly: the ₹2,40,000 that isn't bills or fuel (₹20,000 times 12) earns 1,000 points on the first ₹1 lakh and 2,800 on the next ₹1,40,000, and ₹36,000 of bills earn 360 at base rate since utilities get no accelerated points. 4,160 points, ₹1,664 at ₹0.40.
• AU LIT with the grocery feature: ₹6,000 at 5% is ₹300 a 30-day cycle, under the ₹500 cap, so ₹3,600 over 12 cycles, less four 90-day features at ₹299 plus 18% GST (₹352.82 each), ₹1,411.28. Base points are left unvalued.
• IDFC FIRST WOW!: 4 points per ₹200 on ₹20,000 is 400, bills add 15, so 415 points, ₹103.75, and the month needs an FD of ₹25,000 or more to fit the limit.
• One Credit Card: if groceries and shopping (₹12,000) are your top two, they earn 1,200 points at 5 per ₹50, and dining, the flight and shops (₹8,000) earn 160; bills earn nothing since 15 July 2026. Total 1,360 points.
• ICICI Bank Platinum Chip: ₹20,000 at 2 points per ₹100 is 400 and bills at 1 point add 30, so 430 points.

The year is the month times 12 (Tiger's ₹1,664 divided by 12 is about ₹139), and ₹116.82 is IDFC's ₹99 redemption fee with 18% GST. Perks aren't counted, such as IDFC's ₹500 voucher for spending ₹5,000 in the first 30 days or the lounges. Even the top result here are modest, so if your spend can earn a waiver, a card from our no annual fee or easy waiver picks may leave you more.

Free on paper, and other catches

Sold as free, but not on our test

• Axis Bank My Zone and Axis Bank Privilege show nil fees on the Visa variant under an offer valid till 31 December 2026. Their MITC fees is ₹500 plus ₹500 and ₹1,500 plus ₹1,500.
• Kotak League Platinum's listing shows ₹0, but its MITC charges ₹499 joining and annual, waived on ₹50,000 a year.
• HDFC Bank PIXEL Play was lifetime free only until 31 October 2026 and now costs ₹500 plus GST. HDFC Bank has no standing lifetime-free consumer card at the moment.
• IndusInd Platinum RuPay is marketed as lifetime free, yet its MITC carry a ₹10,000 joining fee, with no annual fee.
• IDFC FIRST EA₹N show a ₹0 joining fee as a limited-time offer; the MITC says ₹499.
• Standard Chartered Platinum Rewards is free for digital applications per its terms, with a one-time ₹250 plus GST if you spend under ₹500 in 30 days, but its FAQ and fee table list ₹250 a year. With the pages disagreeing we left it out, and BOBCARD PRIME too, whose zero fee shows only on its card page, not in the fee tables.

Changes on the picks

IDFC FIRST points now expire after 24 months, and international spends on Millennia, Classic and Select stopped earning on 26 October 2026. Amazon Pay ICICI Bank dropped rewards on education, international and non-Amazon utility spends on 11 October 2025. OneCard and Scapia both cancel points or coins if the card sit unused over 365 days.

Small costs on free cards

IDFC FIRST charges ₹499 plus GST a year per add-on card and ₹199 plus GST a year for the FIRST Digital RuPay card you need for UPI, plus 1% on rent (₹249 minimum) and on utilities above ₹20,000 a statement cycle. Scapia's February 2026 agreement adds 1% on rent and on utility or fuel spends above ₹50,000 a cycle, capped at ₹3,000 a transaction.

Which free card for whom

• Earning ₹20,000 to ₹25,000 a month: ICICI Bank Platinum Chip or IndusInd Bank Tiger on their published floors, and IDFC FIRST Millennia once your income reach ₹3 lakh a year.
• Earning ₹50,000 a month in a big city: HSBC Visa Platinum is also free, with 2 reward points per ₹150, for ₹6 lakh a year salaried in its 21 listed cities, though HSBC publishes no point value.
• Earning ₹1 lakh a month or more: IDFC FIRST Select for its lounge visit, or FIRST Wealth at ₹3 lakh a month.
• Amazon first: Amazon Pay ICICI Bank, if the invite comes. Pair it with Millennia for dining and you have two free cards that don't overlap much.
• Travel: Scapia Federal for coins and lounges, or FIRST WOW! if you want points on foreign spends as well as zero forex.
• Mostly UPI: Kotak UPI RuPay is free and virtual, at 3 points per ₹100, but only for existing Kotak credit card holders, and cash value is just ₹0.07 a point.
• You like to tinker: AU LIT, switching on only the feature that pays for itself. Our AU LIT vs One Credit Card page set the two app-first cards side by side.

Getting approved for a free card

Approval is always the bank's decision. RBI asks every issuer to judge your independent financial means and the limits you already have elsewhere, and if you are rejected the bank must tell you the reasons in writing. No free card on this page come with a promise of approval.

Your score matters. Experian India scores run from 300 to 900, with above 750 generally seen as good, and CRIF counts above 700 as good. With no borrowing history you get an NH (no history) report, and that is where an FD-backed card help most: FIRST WOW! from ₹20,000, or ICICI Bank Instant Platinum, which ICICI's general terms put at a ₹50,000 FD and a 90% limit (another ICICI document says ₹20,000 and 85%, so confirm at the branch). Our guide to cards without credit history covers other routes.

Keep PAN and an officially valid address proof ready, and expect a Video KYC call for app-based applications, as a card needs full KYC. One more rule worth knowing: a card unused for over a year can be closed by the bank after it informs you and gets no reply in 30 days, so use a free card now and then if you want to keep it.