Shopping Credit Cards Explained: Co-Brand Coins, Partner Lists and Caps
A shopping card pays more where a bank or a retail partner wants your business, either at a list of sites or inside one brand's own world, such as Tata Neu, Reliance, Amazon or Flipkart. The extra value is real only if most of your spending lands with that partner and you will use the reward currency, so the maths starts with your share of partner spend.
In short
A shopping or co-brand card is worth it when a large share of your spend goes to its partners and you will use its currency, because outside the partner it usually earns between 0.25% and 1.5%.
Best for
- Families who already buy groceries, electronics or clothes from one group, such as Tata or Reliance
- Online shoppers whose spending is concentrated on one or two sites
- People who will actually redeem NeuCoins or partner vouchers
Skip it if
- Your spending is spread across many shops, where a flat cashback card is simpler
- You want cash in your bank rather than store credit or vouchers
Highlights
- Under RBI rules the bank, not the partner, is liable for advertised co-brand cashback
- Tata Neu Infinity HDFC pays 5% as NeuCoins on Tata brands
- Reliance SBI Card PRIME pays 20 points per ₹100 on AJIO and JioMart
- Flipkart Axis caps Flipkart, Myntra and Cleartrip separately at ₹4,000 a quarter
- Terms checked on 5 November 2026
The cards on this page
| Card | Fees | Headline reward | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card ICICI Bank | Nil joining and annual | 5% value on amazon.in purchases, Amazon Prime members | Cashback, Online shopping, Lifetime free |
| Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card Axis Bank | ₹500 + GST joining and annual | 7.5% value on myntra | Cashback, Online shopping |
| Tata Neu Plus HDFC Bank Credit Card HDFC Bank | ₹499 + GST joining and annual | 5% value on selected categories on the Tata Neu app or website | Online shopping, Reward points, UPI payments (RuPay) |
| Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank Credit Card HDFC Bank | ₹1,499 + GST joining and annual | 5% value on non-EMI spends on partner Tata brands | Online shopping, Reward points, UPI payments (RuPay) |
| Tata Neu Infinity SBI Card SBI Card | ₹1,499 + GST joining and annual | 5% value on non-EMI spends on Tata Neu app/website and partner Tata brands | Online shopping, Reward points, Travel |
| Reliance SBI Card PRIME SBI Card | ₹2,999 + GST joining and annual | 5% value on AJIO and JioMart online stores | Online shopping, Reward points, Premium |
| PhonePe SBI Card SELECT BLACK SBI Card | ₹1,499 + GST joining and annual | 10% value on phonePe app spends on recharges, utilities, bill payments, travel | Reward points, UPI payments (RuPay), Online shopping |
| SimplyCLICK SBI Card SBI Card | ₹499 + GST joining and annual | 2.5% value on online spends with exclusive partners: Apollo 24x7, BookMyShow... | Online shopping, Reward points, First card |
| Zen Signature Credit Card Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) | ₹1,500 + GST joining and annual | Shopping: apparel, lifestyle goods, departmental stores and jewellery: 10 Zen... | Online shopping, Reward points |
| Flipkart SBI Card SBI Card | ₹500 + GST joining and annual | 7.5% value on myntra | Cashback, Online shopping, First card |
| Swiggy Ornge HDFC Bank Credit Card HDFC Bank | ₹500 + GST joining and annual | 5% value on swiggy app and eligible online merchants and MCCs: Amazon, Flipkart... | Cashback, Online shopping, Dining and food delivery |
| Cookies Credit Card RBL Bank | ₹100 + GST joining, Not published by the bank annual | 10% value on zomato, Myntra and Uber | Online shopping, Cashback, Dining and food delivery |
| BOBCARD EASY BOBCARD | ₹500 + GST joining and annual | 1% value on departmental stores and movies | First card, Reward points, Online shopping |
What a shopping card is
A shopping card pays a higher rate where somebody wants your business. Sometimes that somebody is the bank itself, with a list of partner sites or shop types which it reward more. More often it is a retail partner, and the card is a co-brand: Amazon Pay ICICI, Flipkart Axis Bank, the Tata Neu cards from HDFC Bank and SBI Card, Reliance SBI Card PRIME or PhonePe SBI Card SELECT BLACK. Outside the partner, the same card usually pay much less.
Bank-run partner cards
Here the bank choose the list. SBI SimplyCLICK gives 10 points per ₹100 at eleven partners such as Myntra, Swiggy and BookMyShow, and 5 points on other online spends. Kotak Zen Signature rewards whole categories by MCC, paying double points on apparel, lifestyle, department stores and jewellery. The partner list can change at any time, as SimplyCLICK's own history of adding and dropping brands in 2025 and 2026 show.
Co-brand cards and the RBI's rules
A co-brand card needs no separate RBI approval, but the RBI's 2025 Directions set firm limits. The card must say it is co-branded and carry the issuing bank's brand prominently. The partner can only market and distribute it and cannot see your transaction data. The bank is liable for the partner's acts and for paying the advertised cashback and offers on time, and the revenue it share with the partner must be disclosed on its website.
The currency you are paid in
- Statement cashback: Flipkart Axis Bank and Flipkart SBI Card credit rupees to the card.
- Store balance: Amazon Pay ICICI pays Amazon Pay balance, under Amazon Gift Card terms.
- Coins: one NeuCoin is ₹1 on Tata Neu and Tata brands. From 25 November 2026 HDFC's Tata Neu cardholders must claim them in the Tata Neu app within 12 months, while SBI moves them to your NeuPass account within 7 working days of the statement.
- Vouchers only: Reliance SBI Card PRIME points can be redeemed only for Reliance Retail vouchers, at 4 points to ₹1.
- Points: PhonePe SBI SELECT BLACK points are worth ₹1 each, SimplyCLICK points ₹0.25 as statement credit.
How the card knows you shopped with the partner
It is not always about the brand name only. PhonePe SBI SELECT BLACK identify its PhonePe spends from PhonePe's own merchant and terminal lists. The extra 5% NeuPass NeuCoins on HDFC's Tata Neu cards count only on the Tata Neu app or website, and only from the primary cardholder's account since 15 January 2025. Reliance PRIME pays 10 points per ₹100 at Reliance stores but only 2 when you pay there by UPI on the RuPay card.
How to work out what a shopping card is worth
Start with your partner share
The value of a co-brand card is a blend: the share of spend that goes to the partner times the partner rate, plus the rest times the base rate. On Flipkart Axis Bank, if 30% of your spend is on Flipkart at 5% and 70% elsewhere at 1%, the blend is 1.5% plus 0.7%, so 2.2%. Raise Flipkart's share to 60% and it become 3% plus 0.4%, or 3.4%. The partner rate matters less than how much of your life actually happen on the partner's site.
Example 1: Tata Neu Infinity against Tata Neu Plus, both from HDFC Bank
A family spend ₹20,000 a month, ₹2,40,000 a year: ₹6,000 on BigBasket and ₹4,000 at Croma, both Tata brands, and ₹10,000 elsewhere.
| Budget line | Tata Neu Infinity HDFC | Tata Neu Plus HDFC |
|---|---|---|
| Tata brands, ₹10,000 a month | 5%, 500 NeuCoins | 2%, 200 NeuCoins |
| Other spends, ₹10,000 a month | 1.5%, 150 NeuCoins | 1%, 100 NeuCoins |
| A year | ₹7,800 | ₹3,600 |
| Fee at ₹2.4 lakh a year | ₹1,768.82, not waived | Waived |
| Left after fee | ₹6,031.18 | ₹3,600 |
Infinity's ₹1,499 plus 18% GST is ₹1,768.82 and its waiver needs ₹3 lakh a year, which this family miss. It still comes out ₹2,431.18 ahead of Plus, whose ₹499 fee is waived at ₹1 lakh. The BigBasket NeuCoins, 300 a month on Infinity, sit well under the 2,000 monthly grocery limit. In year one both cards also give a welcome NeuCoin amount equal to their fee.
Example 2: Reliance SBI Card PRIME and its ₹3 lakh line
Take for example a shopper having ₹8,000 a month on AJIO and JioMart at 20 points per ₹100, ₹4,000 at other Reliance stores at 10 points and ₹8,000 elsewhere at 2 points. That is 1,600, 400 and 160 points, 2,160 in all, worth ₹540 in vouchers at ₹0.25 a point, so ₹6,480 a year. Yearly spend of ₹2,40,000 falls short of ₹3 lakh, so the ₹2,999 plus GST renewal fee, ₹3,538.82, is charged and ₹2,941.18 remain.
Spend ₹60,000 more in the year, ₹5,000 a month, and you cross ₹3 lakh: the fee is reversed and ₹8,750 of Reliance vouchers arrive. That is ₹12,288.82 of extra value (₹3,538.82 plus ₹8,750) for the extra spend, before its own points. On this card the line at ₹3 lakh matter more than the earn rate.
Example 3: a points cap on a category card
Kotak Zen Signature pays 10 Zen Points per ₹150 on apparel and department stores, worth ₹0.25 each in the catalogue, which is about 1.67%. All its points stop at 6,500 per statement cycle, which at that rate takes ₹97,500 of shopping (6,500 divided by 10, times ₹150). Few people hits it, so the 7,500 bonus points at ₹3 lakh a year, worth ₹1,875, matter more.
Fees and charges that matter on shopping cards
Higher fees for bigger ecosystems
Entry co-brands cost ₹499 to ₹500 a year, such as Tata Neu Plus and the Flipkart cards, while ecosystem cards cost more: ₹1,499 for Tata Neu Infinity and PhonePe SBI SELECT BLACK, ₹1,500 for Kotak Zen Signature and ₹2,999 for Reliance SBI Card PRIME, all plus GST. Among these, waivers run from ₹1 lakh on Tata Neu Plus to ₹3.5 lakh on the Flipkart cards.
Welcome benefits that refund year one
Several cards hands the first fee back in kind. HDFC's Tata Neu Infinity gives 1,499 NeuCoins and Tata Neu Plus 499, Reliance PRIME a ₹3,000 voucher plus discount vouchers, PhonePe SELECT BLACK a ₹1,500 e-gift card and SimplyCLICK a ₹500 Amazon Pay gift card. HDFC does not give the NeuCoin welcome on lifetime-free or first-year-free cards.
Rewards you can only spend in one place
NeuCoins work only in the Tata world, Reliance points only as Reliance Retail vouchers, and Amazon Pay balance only on Amazon. If you would not shop there anyway, that value are not worth much to you.
Fair-usage limits and exclusions
Partner rates have ceilings even when no cap is advertised about. HDFC's Tata Neu cards set monthly spend limits per brand, for example ₹3,00,000 at Croma on Plus, and cap grocery NeuCoins. Gift cards, wallet loads and EMI are excluded on most of these cards, and since 17 November 2025 HDFC gives no NeuCoins on the monthly billing of EMI principal.
Interest, forex and the usual fees
Interest is 3.75% a month on nearly all of these cards, which is 45% a year, and up to 3.99% on RBL Cookies. Forex markup is 3.5% on most of them, but 2% on HDFC's Tata Neu Infinity, 1.99% on SBI's and 1.99% on Amazon Pay ICICI. Rent, wallet and large utility payments attract the bank's usual 1% fees, and shopping cards rarely reward them anyway.
Shopping and co-brand cards in our data
One line each on what makes each card a shopping card. For how plain cashback mechanics work, see our cashback cards explained guide.
- Amazon Pay ICICI Bank: 5% on Amazon for Prime members, 3% for others, paid as Amazon Pay balance, no fee.
- Flipkart Axis Bank: 7.5% Myntra and 5% Flipkart and Cleartrip, each with its own ₹4,000 statement-quarter cap.
- Tata Neu Plus HDFC Bank: 2% on Tata brands as NeuCoins, ₹499 a year waived at ₹1 lakh.
- Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank: 5% on Tata brands and 1.5% elsewhere, with lounge vouchers on ₹50,000 of quarterly spend.
- Tata Neu Infinity SBI Card: 5% on Tata Neu and partner brands, NeuCoins moved to NeuPass automatically.
- Reliance SBI Card PRIME: 20 points per ₹100 on AJIO and JioMart, paid only as Reliance Retail vouchers.
- PhonePe SBI Card SELECT BLACK: 10% back as points on PhonePe bill payments and recharges, within monthly caps.
- SimplyCLICK SBI Card: 10 points per ₹100 at eleven partner sites and ₹2,000 travel vouchers at ₹1 lakh and ₹2 lakh of online spend.
- Kotak Zen Signature: double points on apparel, lifestyle, department stores and jewellery, capped at 6,500 points a cycle.
The same family also takes in Flipkart SBI Card, which mirrors the Axis rates with a calendar-quarter limit, Swiggy Ornge HDFC, with 5% on Swiggy and a list of shopping sites up to ₹1,500 a cycle, RBL Cookies, at ₹100 a month with 10% on Zomato, Myntra and Uber up to ₹300 per brand, and BOBCARD EASY, with 5X points at department stores.
How to compare two shopping cards
- List the partners you already use every month, not the ones the card advertises.
- Estimate your partner share and blend the rates, as in the maths tab.
- Ask whether you will spend the currency. NeuCoins, Reliance vouchers and Amazon Pay balance is only worth face value if you shop there anyway.
- Check the cap and its clock: per merchant or shared, monthly, per cycle or quarterly.
- Test the waiver against your yearly spend, because ₹3 lakh and ₹3.5 lakh targets are out of reach for many households.
- Read what happens outside the partner, since that is most of your bill.
A worked comparison: a Myntra shopper
Someone spends ₹15,000 a month, ₹5,000 of it on Myntra and ₹10,000 in shops. On Flipkart Axis Bank, Myntra at 7.5% earns ₹375 a month, which is ₹1,125 a quarter against a ₹4,000 cap, and the shops at 1% earn ₹100. That is ₹475 a month, ₹5,700 a year, and since ₹1,80,000 misses the ₹3.5 lakh waiver, the ₹590 fee leaves ₹5,110.
On SimplyCLICK, Myntra is a 10X partner, 500 points, and shops earns 1 point per ₹100, 100 points. 600 points at ₹0.25 is ₹150 a month, ₹1,800 a year, with the fee waived at ₹1 lakh. Online spend of ₹60,000 a year don't reach the ₹1 lakh voucher line. The co-brand wins by ₹3,310 here, but nearly all of the gap come from Myntra's 7.5%, so check again if your shopping moves to other sites.
Mistakes shoppers make with these cards
- Buying gift cards or vouchers to chase the rate. Flipkart Axis excludes gift cards on Flipkart and Myntra, and the Tata Neu cards exclude voucher purchases.
- Shopping through the wrong door. SimplyCLICK gives no 10X on Cleartrip or Yatra bookings made through affiliate channels, and HDFC's extra NeuPass NeuCoins need the Tata Neu app.
- Forgetting to claim. From 25 November 2026 HDFC's NeuCoins are no longer auto-credited and lapse if not claimed within 12 months.
- Counting launch offers as the card. Flipkart SBI's 12% Cleartrip offer ended on 30 June 2026, and the card's own Cleartrip rate is 5%.
- Converting big buys to EMI. Merchant EMI and Flexipay are excluded on SBI's shopping cards, and Amazon Pay ICICI take back points on converted purchases.
- Switching card variants with points pending. SBI forfeits Tata Neu NeuCoins not yet transferred if you move on a non-Tata Neu card.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Partner rates are high, such as 7.5% on Myntra with Flipkart Axis and 5% on Tata brands with Tata Neu Infinity
- Co-brand cashback is the bank's legal responsibility under RBI rules
- Welcome benefits often refund the first-year fee, such as 1,499 NeuCoins on Tata Neu Infinity HDFC
- Some add lounge access, like 8 domestic visits a year on Tata Neu Infinity SBI with ₹75,000 of quarterly spend
- Milestone vouchers add value at ₹1 lakh to ₹3 lakh of yearly spend
Cons
- Outside the partner most shopping cards earn only 0.25% to 1.5%
- Rewards may be store credit or vouchers, such as Reliance Retail vouchers only
- Fees on ecosystem cards run up to ₹2,999 a year before GST
- Waivers often need ₹3 lakh to ₹3.5 lakh of yearly spend
- Partner lists and caps change often, as Flipkart Axis showed in June 2025
Frequently asked questions
What is a co-brand shopping credit card?
Are NeuCoins as good as cash?
Do shopping cards give rewards on gift cards and EMI?
Is a shopping card worth its annual fee?
What changed for shopping cards in 2025 and 2026?
Who protects me if a co-brand offer is not paid?
Related
- Cashback Credit Cards Explained: How Caps, Cycles and Exclusions Work
- Best Online Shopping Credit Cards in India 2026: Any Site or One Store
- Best Amazon and Flipkart Credit Cards in India 2026: 5% Caps Compared
- Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank vs SBI Card: Same Name, Different Rules
- Credit Cards in India 2026: Choose by Spend, Know the Costs and Rules
Sources
- ICICI Bank Limited: Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC), Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card; Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC), credit cards
- Axis Bank: Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC), PDF dated 8 October 2026; Key Fact Sheet (schedule of charges), last updated 8 October 2026
- Business Today: New rules for Axis Bank credit cards valid from December 20
- HDFC Bank: Part I Key Fact Statement cum Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC), English, Version 4.18
- SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd: Most Important Terms & Conditions (PDF 'MITC- Common-30OCT26', Ver FY 27, 16)
- Kotak Mahindra Bank: Key Fact Statement - Zen Signature Credit Card (version KFSZS12032026)
- RBL Bank: Schedule of Charges (RBL-CC-SOC-V2-04-06-2026)
- BOBCARD Limited: Key Fact Statement (KFS), dated 17 Jul 2026
Last verified: 5 November 2026
Written by Anjali Bhargawa, 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.