#1 the call Keep
BOBCARD Etihad Guest Premium
₹70,000
net ₹/yr at ₹1L/mo
5.83% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹5,000 fee
Best of · July 2026
Your first travel card, called.
First card, real rules: fee ₹5,000 or under, no invite, no banking-relationship gate — a card you can actually walk in and get. At a ₹1L-a-month spend, BOBCARD Etihad Guest Premium nets ₹70,000 a year after its fee. That's the call. The rest of the field is below, same spend, same engine.
Computed from the data desk · July 2026 build
The top three
#2 Keep
Axis Atlas
₹53,000
net ₹/yr at ₹1L/mo
4.42% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹5,000 fee
#3 Keep
IndusInd Tiger
₹44,800
net ₹/yr at ₹1L/mo
3.73% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹0 fee
The rest of the field
| # | Card | net ₹/yr at ₹1L/mo | The math |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Amex Platinum Travel | ₹37,000 | 3.08% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹5,000 fee |
| 5 | Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank | ₹36,624 | 3.05% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹3,000 fee |
| 6 | IndusInd Avios Visa Infinite | ₹36,000 | 3.00% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹5,000 fee |
| 7 | HDFC Regalia Gold | ₹35,560 | 2.96% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹2,500 fee |
| 8 | Axis Miles & More World Select | ₹35,500 | 2.96% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹4,500 fee |
| 9 | Standard Chartered Ultimate | ₹34,960 | 2.91% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹5,000 fee |
| 10 | HSBC TravelOne | ₹34,000 | 2.83% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹4,999 fee |
| 11 | IDFC FIRST Ashva | ₹28,789 | 2.40% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹2,999 fee |
| 12 | SBI Card MILES ELITE | ₹27,001 | 2.25% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹4,999 fee |
| 13 | YES Bank Marquee | ₹27,000 | 2.25% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹4,999 fee |
| 14 | SBI Card MILES PRIME | ₹27,000 | 2.25% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹2,999 fee |
| 15 | Amex Membership Rewards Card | ₹24,000 | 2.00% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹4,500 fee |
| 16 | Scapia (Federal Bank) | ₹24,000 | 2.00% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹0 fee |
| 17 | Axis Miles & More World | ₹23,500 | 1.96% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹3,500 fee |
| 18 | Axis Horizon | ₹22,500 | 1.88% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹3,000 fee |
| 19 | RBL World Safari | ₹19,250 | 1.60% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹3,000 fee |
| 20 | AU Ananta | ₹18,500 | 1.54% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹2,000 fee |
| 21 | HDFC Diners Club Privilege | ₹18,000 | 1.50% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹1,000 fee |
| 22 | Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank | ₹18,000 | 1.50% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹1,499 fee |
| 23 | Adani One ICICI Bank Signature | ₹18,000 | 1.50% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹5,000 fee |
| 24 | YES Bank RESERV | ₹18,000 | 1.50% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹2,499 fee |
| 25 | Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Sapphiro | ₹15,700 | 1.31% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹5,000 fee |
| 26 | BOBCARD Eterna | ₹14,000 | 1.17% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹2,499 fee |
| 27 | Amex Gold Charge | ₹13,500 | 1.13% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹4,500 fee |
| 28 | Kotak Privy League Signature | ₹13,500 | 1.13% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹2,500 fee |
| 29 | IDFC FIRST Wealth | ₹12,900 | 1.07% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹0 fee |
| 30 | RBL Icon | ₹12,250 | 1.02% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹5,000 fee |
| 31 | MakeMyTrip ICICI Bank | ₹12,000 | 1.00% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹999 fee |
| 32 | IndusInd Legend | ₹12,000 | 1.00% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹5,000 fee |
| 33 | SBI Card MILES | ₹11,000 | 0.92% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹1,499 fee |
| 34 | ICICI Sapphiro | ₹11,000 | 0.92% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹3,500 fee |
| 35 | ICICI Bank Rubyx | ₹9,750 | 0.81% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹2,000 fee |
| 36 | IRCTC SBI Card Premier | ₹9,600 | 0.80% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹1,499 fee |
| 37 | AU Vetta | ₹8,500 | 0.71% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹2,999 fee |
| 38 | Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip | ₹6,000 | 0.50% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹350 fee |
| 39 | AU Zenith+ | ₹6,000 | 0.50% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹4,999 fee |
| 40 | Axis Bank SELECT | ₹5,800 | 0.48% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹3,000 fee |
| 41 | Federal Bank Celesta | ₹3,000 | 0.25% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹0 fee |
| 42 | OneCard Metal | ₹2,400 | 0.20% effective at ₹1L/mo · ₹0 fee |
Filtered out — and why
- HDFC Infinia Metal — ₹12,500 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- Axis Magnus for Burgundy — ₹30,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- ICICI Emeralde Private Metal — ₹12,499 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- HDFC Diners Club Black Metal — ₹10,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- Axis Magnus (legacy) — ₹12,500 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- HSBC Premier (Metal) — ₹20,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- IDFC FIRST Mayura — ₹5,999 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- Axis Bank Reserve — ₹50,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- ICICI Times Black — ₹20,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- Amex Platinum Charge — ₹66,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- Amex Platinum Reserve — ₹10,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- IDFC FIRST Private — ₹50,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Emeralde — ₹10,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- Kotak White Reserve — ₹12,500 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- AU Zenith — ₹7,999 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
- IndusInd Pinnacle World — ₹15,000 fee — over the ₹5,000 first-card cap
How this is computed
Eligibility is computed, not curated: annual fee ₹5,000 or under, and the card's own fine print mentions no invite or banking-relationship gate. Ranking is net annual value at a ₹1L-a-month spend — real earn tiers, milestones, monthly bonuses and fee waivers at our house ₹/point, the same engine as the calculator. Welcome bonuses and first-year fee offers are excluded: we rank the card you'll hold in year two.
Same engines as the calculator, the optimizer and the lounge map. When the data moves, this page moves — see the tracker.
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