HSBC Live+ Credit Card Review: 10% Cashback Capped at ₹1,200 a Month
The HSBC Live+ Credit Card pays 10% cashback on dining, food delivery, grocery, shopping and utility spends, up to ₹1,200 a month, and 1.5% on most other spends. Its ₹999 plus GST annual fee is reversed above ₹2,00,000 of yearly spend, so it suits someone in one of HSBC's 21 cities who puts about ₹12,000 a month of food and bills on one card.
Key facts
- Joining fee
- ₹999 + GST
- Annual fee
- ₹999 + GST. Annual fee, including GST, fully reversed if total eligible spend across primary and add-on cards in the anniversary year exceeds Rs 2,00,000
- Base reward
- 1.5% unlimited cashback on most other spends (exclusions apply) (about 1.5% value)
- Best category
- Dining, food delivery, grocery, shopping and utility spends: about 10% value
- Lounge
- Domestic: 2 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year, limited to 1 visit every 6 months International: 1 complimentary international lounge visit a year (from 1 September 2026)
- Forex markup
- 1.99% of the amount
- Network
- Visa
Opens the bank's own page for this card. Approval and the credit limit are the bank's decision.
In short
A strong cashback card when dining, groceries and bills come close to ₹12,000 a month, but the ₹1,200 cap and the 1.5% rate on Amazon and Flipkart limit what heavier spenders gain.
Best for
- Households spending close to ₹12,000 a month on dining, food delivery, groceries and utility bills
- Salaried earners on ₹6,00,000 a year or more in HSBC's 21 listed cities
- Occasional travellers who want a 1.99% forex markup on a cashback card
Skip it if
- Most of your online shopping is on Amazon or Flipkart, which earn only 1.5%
- You live outside HSBC's listed cities
- You want cashback on fuel, rent, wallet loads, insurance or foreign spends
Highlights
- 10% cashback in the food, grocery, shopping and utility group, up to ₹1,200 a month
- 1.5% uncapped on most other eligible spends
- Fee ₹999 plus GST, annual fee reversed above ₹2,00,000 a year
- Forex markup 1.99% since 26 July 2026
- 2 domestic and 1 international lounge visit a year
What HSBC Live+ is and who it is meant for
HSBC Live+ is a Visa cashback card from HSBC India, open for new applications. It is built around spends a city household can't really cut: eating out, ordering in, groceries and the electricity and phone bills. Those earn 10%, most other eligible spends earn 1.5%, and the money is credit to your card account on its own within 45 days of the statement date.
The natural user is a salaried person on ₹6,00,000 a year or more, living in one of HSBC's 21 listed cities, who put food and bills on one card. Self-employed applicants need ₹12,00,000 a year.
Three things that decide whether it pays
- The 10% is capped at ₹1,200 a month, which you reach at ₹12,000 of category spend (₹12,000 x 10%). Anything above that on food and bills are earning nothing more.
- Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra sit outside the 10% group and earn 1.5%. The Myntra 10% launch offer has ended on 31 October 2026.
- Joining and annual fees are ₹999 each plus GST, and the annual fee is reversed once yearly eligible spend crosses ₹2,00,000.
What changed in 2026
From 26 July 2026 HSBC stopped cashback on foreign currency spends, cut the forex markup to 1.99%, kept Amazon and Flipkart at 1.5% and fixed the 10% list with its ₹1,200 monthly cap. Then from 1 September 2026 there is 1 international lounge visit a year also added, on top of 2 domestic visits. The rest of HSBC's range is on our HSBC India credit cards page.
Fees and charges on HSBC Live+
The joining fee is ₹999 and the annual fee from year two is ₹999, with GST extra on both. At 18% GST, ₹999 becomes ₹1,178.82 (₹999 plus ₹179.82). Add-on cards are free.
Will a normal spender get the annual fee back?
HSBC reverses the annual fee, GST included, when eligible spend on the primary and add-on cards is more than ₹2,00,000 in the anniversary year, about ₹16,667 a month (₹2,00,000 / 12). A family running groceries, food delivery and bills through it will often get there, but the terms talks of eligible spend, so don't count on fuel or rent. The joining fee is paid either way.
Interest and late fee
Carry a balance and interest is 3.75% a month, or 45% a year, from the transaction date. That rate wipe out cashback fast: ₹20,000 unpaid for a month costs about ₹750 (₹20,000 x 3.75%). The late fee is 100% of the Minimum Payment Due, minimum ₹250 and maximum ₹1,200 a month, and only if the minimum hasn't reached HSBC within 3 days of the due date.
Cash, forex and special fees
- Cash advance: 2.5%, minimum ₹500, with finance charges from the withdrawal date. A ₹10,000 withdrawal therefore costs the full ₹500, as 2.5% of it is only ₹250.
- Foreign currency: 1.99% plus GST, and these spends earns no cashback.
- Rent: 1% processing fee plus taxes. Fuel: no surcharge waiver.
- Over-limit: 2.5% or ₹500, whichever is higher, plus GST; ₹100 to pay cash at a HSBC branch; ₹500 for a bounced cheque or failed NACH.
The charges we checked show no separate fee for wallet loads, utilities or education payments on this card. Every charge is exclusive of GST.
HSBC Live+: fees and charges
| Joining fee | ₹999 + GST |
|---|---|
| Annual or renewal fee | ₹999 + GST |
| Annual fee waiver | Annual fee, including GST, fully reversed if total eligible spend across primary and add-on cards in the anniversary year exceeds Rs 2,00,000 |
| Add-on card fee | Nil |
| GST | Charged on top of the fees and charges listed |
| In the bank’s words | Joining fee INR999; annual fee INR999 (waived if you spend more than INR200,000 per year). Add-on cards free. |
| Interest on unpaid balances | Up to 3.75% a month (45% a year) |
| Late payment fee | 100% of the Minimum Payment Due, minimum Rs 250 and maximum Rs 1,200 a month; charged only if the minimum payment does not reach HSBC within 3 days of the payment due date |
| Cash withdrawal | 2.5% of the amount, minimum Rs 500; finance charge from the date of withdrawal |
| Over-limit fee | 2.5% of the over-limit amount or Rs 500, whichever is higher, plus GST |
| Forex markup | 1.99% of the amount |
| Other fees |
|
How the Live+ cashback is worked out
Two rates only. Dining, food delivery, grocery, shopping and utility spends earn 10%, up to ₹1,200 a month, and most other spends earn 1.5% with no cap. Cashback is credited automatic, with no redemption fee and no expiry, so ₹1 of cashback is ₹1 off your bill.
The exclusion list is long and it matter. Fuel, e-wallets, rent, insurance, education and government, jewellery, tolls, cash and money transfers earn zero, and so do foreign currency spends from 26 July 2026. HSBC also doesn't say whether spend above the cap falls back to 1.5%, or whether "a month" mean a calendar month or a statement cycle, so our examples count nothing above the cap.
Welcome benefits
You get ₹1,000 cashback for logging on to the HSBC India Mobile Banking app and spending ₹25,000 in the first 30 days, a ₹750 Amazon Pay, Zomato or Swiggy voucher for activating with one transaction of ₹300 or more, and a ₹250 Amazon eGift voucher for applying online with video KYC. There are no spend milestones.
Three worked examples
| Monthly spend | Light: ₹12,000 | Typical: ₹30,000 | Heavy: ₹60,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dining, food delivery, groceries and utility bills | ₹7,000 | ₹14,000 | ₹23,000 |
| Other shopping (not Amazon or Flipkart) | ₹0 | ₹2,000 | ₹4,000 |
| Amazon, Flipkart and other eligible spends | ₹3,000 | ₹11,000 | ₹25,000 |
| Fuel, insurance and foreign spends | ₹2,000 | ₹3,000 | ₹8,000 |
| Cashback at 10% | ₹700 | ₹1,200 (capped) | ₹1,200 (capped) |
| Cashback at 1.5% | ₹45 | ₹165 | ₹375 |
| Cashback a month | ₹745 | ₹1,365 | ₹1,575 |
| Cashback a year | ₹8,940 | ₹16,380 | ₹18,900 |
| Annual fee with GST | ₹1,178.82 | Reversed | Reversed |
Light, ₹12,000 a month. ₹7,000 of food, groceries and bills earn ₹700 and ₹3,000 of other spends earn ₹45, so ₹745 a month or ₹8,940 a year. A year of spend is ₹1,44,000 (₹12,000 x 12), short of ₹2,00,000, so the fee stay and you keep ₹7,761.18 (₹8,940 minus ₹1,178.82).
Typical, ₹30,000 a month. The ₹16,000 in the 10% group (₹14,000 plus ₹2,000 of shopping) would give ₹1,600, but the cap holds it at ₹1,200, and ₹11,000 at 1.5% adds ₹165: ₹1,365 a month, ₹16,380 a year. Eligible spend of ₹27,000 a month is ₹3,24,000 a year, so the annual fee is reversed.
Heavy, ₹60,000 a month. ₹27,000 in the 10% group still gives only ₹1,200, and ₹25,000 at 1.5% adds ₹375: ₹1,575 a month, ₹18,900 a year, fee reversed. Doubling spend from the typical case adds just ₹210 a month (₹1,575 minus ₹1,365), the cap is doing all the work against you. If ₹5,000 is spent abroad, the markup costs another ₹99.50 (₹5,000 x 1.99%) plus GST.
HSBC Live+: higher-reward categories
| Category | Rate | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Dining, food delivery, grocery, shopping and utility spends | 10% cashback, about 10% value | 10% cashback capped at Rs 1,200 a month, ₹1,200, month |
HSBC Live+: how rewards work
| Earned as | Cashback |
|---|---|
| Base rate | 1.5% unlimited cashback on most other spends (exclusions apply). About 1.5% value back |
| Minimum spend rules | Not published by the bank |
| No rewards on |
|
| Lower rewards on |
|
| Value of a point |
|
| Redemption fee | None (automatic credit) |
| Expiry | Not applicable |
| Welcome benefits |
|
| Milestone benefits | None published |
| Lounge access | Domestic: 2 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year, limited to 1 visit every 6 months International: 1 complimentary international lounge visit a year (from 1 September 2026) Condition: No spend condition stated |
| Fuel surcharge waiver | No fuel surcharge waiver (KFS: NA); fuel earns no cashback |
| Insurance cover | Not listed on the card page |
Who can apply for HSBC Live+
- Age: 18 to 65 if salaried, 25 to 65 if self-employed.
- Income: ₹6,00,000 a year if salaried (₹50,000 a month), ₹12,00,000 a year if self-employed.
- City: you must be a Indian resident in Chennai, Gurgaon, Delhi NCR, Pune, Noida, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Amritsar, Baroda, Indore, Lucknow, Nagpur, Surat or Trivandrum.
Documents and applying
HSBC asks for your latest salary slip if salaried, plus proof of residence, identity proof and PAN. The Live+ page says salary slip "or" the KYC set while the TravelOne page say "and", so keep all four ready. Apply online with video KYC, by phone or at a branch; online video KYC applications get a ₹250 Amazon eGift voucher from 1 January 2026 to 31 March 2027.
What HSBC looks at
Meeting these rules only make you eligible to apply. Under the RBI's 2025 card Directions, HSBC must look at what you can repay from your own means, and add up the limits other lenders have given you, before it fixes yours. On Experian's 300 to 900 scale, above 750 is generally considered good. The decision is HSBC's, and a refusal must come with the specific reasons in writing.
HSBC Live+: eligibility and documents
| Age (salaried) | 18 to 65 years |
|---|---|
| Age (self-employed) | 25 to 65 years |
| Income (salaried) | Minimum Rs 6,00,000 a year |
| Income (self-employed) | Minimum Rs 12,00,000 a year |
| Other conditions | Indian resident living in one of: Chennai, Gurgaon, Delhi NCR, Pune, Noida, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Amritsar, Baroda, Indore, Lucknow, Nagpur, Surat or Trivandrum. minIncomeMonthly is the annual salaried figure divided by 12. |
| Documents |
|
| How to apply | Online on hsbc.bank.in with video KYC (an Rs 250 Amazon eGift voucher is offered for online applications completed with video KYC, 1 Jan 2026 to 31 Mar 2027), by phone, or at a branch. Premier card only for HSBC Premier banking customers via branch or 1800 120 4722. |
| Card customer care | 1800 267 3456 / 1800 121 2208 (personal banking and credit cards, toll free, 6.30 am to 8.30 pm); Premier 1800 266 3456 / 1800 120 4722 (24x7) |
These are the bank's published conditions. Meeting them does not guarantee a card: approval and the credit limit are the bank's decision.
Who gains most from Live+, and who should skip it
The biggest winner is someone whose dining, delivery, grocery and bill payments come to about ₹10,000 to ₹12,000 a month. At that level nearly every rupee in the 10% group earns the full 10%, and once yearly spend crosses ₹2,00,000 the fee goes away. For that budget it beats the flat-rate cashback cards in the next tab, provided you can live with the city list.
The trade-offs are real though. If most of your shopping happen on Amazon and Flipkart, you are on 1.5% there, and a card built for those sites will do better. Fuel, rent, wallet loads and insurance earn nothing. Travellers get a fair 1.99% markup and a few lounge visits but zero cashback on the foreign spend itself, which make it a so-so travel card.
Skip it if you are self-employed below ₹12,00,000 a year, live outside the 21 cities, or often carry a balance, since 45% a year in interest cancels any cashback. And if your category spend is already well above ₹12,000, putting the overflow on a second card is more better than pushing everything through Live+.
Pros
- 10% cashback on dining, food delivery, grocery, shopping and utility bills, up to ₹1,200 a month
- Utility bills earn the full 10%, while SBI CASHBACK and Kotak Cashback+ exclude them
- Cashback credited within 45 days of the statement, with no redemption fee and no expiry
- Annual fee of ₹999 plus GST reversed when yearly spend is more than ₹2,00,000
- 1.99% forex markup and 3 lounge visits a year, against 3.5% and none on SBI CASHBACK
- Free add-on cards whose spend counts towards the fee reversal
Cons
- The 10% rate stops at ₹1,200 a month, so category spend above ₹12,000 earns nothing extra
- Amazon, Flipkart and Myntra purchases earn only 1.5%
- No cashback on fuel, rent, wallet loads, insurance, education or foreign spends
- Only for residents of 21 listed cities, with a ₹12,00,000 income floor for the self-employed
- Domestic lounge visits are limited to 1 every 6 months
- No insurance cover listed, and the cap period is not defined beyond "a month"
How Live+ stacks up against other cashback cards
SBI Card CASHBACK
The CASHBACK SBI Card pays 5% online with no merchant restriction and 1% offline, each capped at ₹2,000 per statement cycle. Its fee is ₹999, reversed at ₹2,00,000, same like Live+. It wins for heavy online shoppers, Amazon and Flipkart included, but utility bills earn nothing, forex is 3.5% and no lounge is listed.
Kotak Cashback+
The Kotak Cashback+ Credit Card pays 5% on online food delivery, grocery and entertainment and 3% on fuel inside a shared 750-point (₹750) cap per billing cycle, and 0.5% elsewhere, for a ₹750 fee waived at ₹2 lakh. It pays on fuel, which Live+ does not, but its cap is lower and its base rate are a third of Live+'s 1.5%.
Standard Chartered Smart
The Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card costs ₹499 plus GST, reversed at ₹1,20,000 a year, and pays 2% online up to ₹1,000 and 1% offline up to ₹500 per statement cycle. It suits a lighter spender, though its cashback you have to redeem on a portal from a ₹2,500 balance.
Which one to pick
Pick Live+ if food, groceries and bills are your biggest spends and you live in an HSBC city, SBI CASHBACK if you mostly buy online across all sites, Kotak Cashback+ if fuel is a big line, and Smart for modest spends and a fee about half of Live+'s. Frequent flyers should look at HSBC's TravelOne. The card finder and our credit cards hub cover the rest.
HSBC Live+ against similar cards
| Term | HSBC Live+ Credit Card This card | CASHBACK SBI Card | Kotak Cashback+ Credit Card | Smart Credit Card |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank | HSBC India | SBI Card | Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) | Standard Chartered |
| Joining fee | ₹999 + GST | ₹999 + GST | ₹750 + GST | ₹499 + GST |
| Annual fee and waiver | ₹999 + GST. Annual fee, including GST, fully reversed if total eligible spend across primary and add-on cards in the anniversary year exceeds Rs 2,00,000 | ₹999 + GST. Renewal Fee is reversed if annual spends for last year >= Rs. 2,00,000. | ₹750 + GST. Annual fee waived on minimum retail spend of ₹2 lakh in a year | ₹499 + GST. Renewal fee reversed for spends of Rs 1,20,000 or more in the preceding year. First-year fee of Rs 499 + GST waived as a special offer for new SC credit card customers. |
| Base reward | 1.5% unlimited cashback on most other spends (exclusions apply) (about 1.5% value) | 1% cashback on offline (POS at merchant outlets) spends, max Rs (about 1% value) | Unlimited 0.5% cashback on other eligible spends (about 0.5% value) | 1% cashback on other (offline) spends, up to Rs 500 per statement cycle (about 1% value) |
| Best category | Dining, food delivery, grocery, shopping and utility spends: about 10% value | Online spends: about 5% value | Online food delivery and online grocery: about 5% value | Online spends: about 2% value |
| Lounges | Domestic: 2 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year, limited to 1 visit every 6 months International: 1 complimentary international lounge visit a year (from 1 September 2026) | Domestic: None listed on card page International: None listed on card page | Not published by the bank | Domestic: None listed International: None listed |
| Forex markup | 1.99% of the amount | 3.5% of the amount | 3.5% of the amount | 3.5% of the amount |
| Network | Visa | Visa | Visa, RuPay | Visa |
| Published minimum income | ₹50,000 a month | Stable income; SBI Card says the specific minimum varies by card and does not... | Not published by the bank | Stable monthly income (no figure published) |
| Status | Taking applications | Taking applications | Taking applications | Taking applications |
Frequently asked questions
What is the HSBC Live+ annual fee, and how do I get it waived?
How much cashback can I earn on HSBC Live+ in a month?
Who is eligible for the HSBC Live+ Credit Card?
Does HSBC Live+ give lounge access and a low forex markup?
What changed on HSBC Live+ in July 2026?
Do Amazon and Flipkart purchases get 10% cashback on HSBC Live+?
Related
- HSBC India Credit Cards 2026: Live+, TravelOne, Premier and RuPay
- CASHBACK SBI Card Review: 5% Online Cashback and the 2026 Caps
- Kotak Cashback+ Credit Card Review: 5% Cashback Under a ₹750 Cap
- Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card Review: 2% Online, ₹499 Fee
- Credit Cards in India 2026: Choose by Spend, Know the Costs and Rules
Sources
- The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, India (HSBC India): HSBC Credit Card Key Fact Statement; Important Terms and Conditions - HSBC Platinum Credit Card and HSBC Live+ Credit Card; HSBC Live+ Credit Card; HSBC Live+ Credit Card (footnote); Contact HSBC
Last verified: 5 November 2026
Written by Rashmi Mandana, reviewed by BankCreds Financial Experts
BankCreds does not sell cards or take applications. Fees and rewards change; the bank's own terms on the day you apply are what count, and approval is the bank's decision.