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AU Zenith+ vs IDFC FIRST Wealth

Verified 26 sources

Your monthly spend

IDFC FIRST Wealth beats AU Zenith+ by ₹5,400 a year at ₹30,000 a month: ₹1,200 against −₹4,200, after fees

IDFC FIRST Wealth beats AU Zenith+ by ₹800 a year at ₹75,000 a month: ₹2,900 against ₹2,100, after fees

AU Zenith+ beats IDFC FIRST Wealth by ₹8,800 a year at ₹1.5 lakh a month: ₹14,700 against ₹5,900, after fees

AU Zenith+ beats IDFC FIRST Wealth by ₹7,200 a year at ₹3 lakh a month: ₹19,000 against ₹11,800, after fees

AU Zenith+ beats IDFC FIRST Wealth by ₹4,900 a year at ₹5 lakh a month: ₹24,600 against ₹19,700, after fees

AU Zenith+ credit card

AU Small Finance Bank

AU Zenith+

Our verdict: Cancel

IDFC FIRST Wealth credit card

IDFC FIRST Bank

IDFC FIRST Wealth

Our verdict: Keep

IDFC FIRST Wealth vs AU Zenith+: which should you pick?

AU's ₹4,999 card against IDFC's free Visa Infinite, and the fee is most of the argument. Zenith+ pays 1 AU point per ₹100 and 2 on dining, travel and international spends, about 0.25% to 0.5% at the ₹0.25 house value, plus a Taj Epicure membership on ₹12,00,000 of spend in a card year; Wealth pays IDFC points worth about 0.4% on everyday spend and 10X on dining, travel and international. Wealth wins under ₹1L a month; Zenith+ takes over from ₹1L. The Zenith+ fee is waived on ₹8,00,000 of spend a year, and Wealth never charges one. Forex is 0.99% against IDFC's NIL. Zenith+ opens 16 domestic lounge visits a year and 16 Priority Pass visits abroad; Wealth one of each a quarter on ₹20,000 of the previous month's spend, plus four railway visits.

Below ₹1 lakh a month IDFC FIRST Wealth is the better card; from ₹1 lakh up, AU Zenith+ takes over, and by ₹5 lakh a month it is ₹4,900 a year ahead. At ₹75,000 a month the gap is mostly what each card earns on your spend: IDFC FIRST Wealth returns ₹2,900 a year in rewards to AU Zenith+'s ₹2,100. Pick AU Zenith+ instead if airport lounges matter more to you than the money: it gets you into 696 of the lounges we track to IDFC FIRST Wealth's 131.

AU Zenith+ pays one annual spend milestone, at ₹12,00,000 a year, and IDFC FIRST Wealth pays none.

AU Zenith+ review IDFC FIRST Wealth review

Side by side

AU Zenith+ and IDFC FIRST Wealth, fact by fact
FactAU Zenith+IDFC FIRST Wealth
Can you get itOpen to applyOpen to apply
Fee (joining · annual, + GST)₹4,999/yr₹0 — lifetime free✓ Better
Fee waiverSpend ₹8,00,000 a yearNone
Reward rate on everyday spend0.3%0.4%✓ Better
PointsAU Reward PointsIDFC FIRST Reward Points
Our value per point₹0.25₹0.25 †
Transfer partnersNoneNone
Lounges it gets you into696 of 792✓ Better131 of 792
Forex markup0.99% + GSTNil✓ Better
Welcome benefitLuxury gift vouchers or reward points worth ₹5,000 on activation₹500 gift voucher from a choice of top brands on ₹5,000 spent within 30 days of card generation, plus 5% cashback capped at ₹1,000 on a first EMI transaction — IDFC bills the pair as ₹1,500; a nudge, not a bonus

✓ Better marks the side that wins a row; rows that compare unlike things are not scored. IDFC FIRST Wealth is ahead on 7 of the 11 rows we can call.

More facts 8 rows
Rank, verdict, lounge visits and fine print
FactAU Zenith+IDFC FIRST Wealth
Our rank#265#207✓ Better
Our verdictCancelKeep
Lounge visits in India16/year (4 per calendar quarter) at AU's own 51-room premium list — 50 of which we hold; the 51st, BLR T1's 080 Domestic Lounge VIP, is a room we do not carry1/quarter + 4 railway/quarter, at the 46 rooms on IDFC's own 48-row EliteAssist list that this map carries
Lounge visits abroad16/year (4 per calendar quarter) on Priority Pass, outside India; every Priority Pass visit made WITHIN India is chargeable at US$35 + taxes1/quarter
Forex, in the bank’s words0.99% + GST — the lowest non-zero forex tier across AU's lineup (au-ixigo charges 0%)Nil — bank-wide MITC dated 9 Sep 2026 prints NIL on foreign-currency and DCC/SCC transactions
Interest (APR)1.99%/mo (23.88%/yr) — Zenith+'s own tier, below AU's 3.75%/mo retail standardDynamic 0.71%–3.85%/mo (8.5%–46.2%/yr); overdue rate 3.99%/mo (47.88%/yr) on MAD non-payment
Income needed (salaried)₹2.5L+/month net — AU's own Zenith+ product page ("Eligibility Monthly Net Income of ₹2.5 Lakh")₹36L+/yr (official eligibility)
Income needed (self-employed)not published₹36L+/yr (official eligibility)

† IDFC FIRST Wealth: Wealth redeems the IDFC point at a flat ₹0.25 — the house value exactly. Its app-travel perk is 20%/10% BONUS points (hotels/flights), not a higher per-point value like Mayura's ₹0.50. That bonus is ADDITIVE, not a multiplier: IDFC's own rewards T&C tables Base Earn (A) "Up to 5% Reward Points" + Bonus (B) "20% Reward Points" = Total (A+B) "Up to 25% Reward Points", and the product-page FAQ states it in absolute points — "Hotel bookings via the IDFC FIRST Mobile App earn 40 bonus points per ₹200 spent". More points, never dearer ones.

Our value per point is what we think a point is worth when you use it well; every currency's figure and its reasoning is on points values.

What each is worth to you

A year of rewards and bonuses, after the fee
Monthly spendAU Zenith+IDFC FIRST Wealth
At ₹30,000 a month−₹4,200₹1,200✓ Better
At ₹75,000 a month₹2,100₹2,900✓ Better
At ₹1.5 lakh a month₹14,700✓ Better₹5,900
At ₹3 lakh a month₹19,000✓ Better₹11,800
At ₹5 lakh a month₹24,600✓ Better₹19,700
Pays for itself from₹71,000 a month, by waiving its feeThe first rupee✓ Better

On an everyday mix of spending (groceries, bills, travel, fuel and the rest), using each card's own rules for each kind of spend. The same figures as each card's own page.

Every spend from ₹25,000 to ₹5 lakh 20 steps
AU Zenith+ and IDFC FIRST Wealth at each ₹25,000 step
Monthly spendAU Zenith+IDFC FIRST WealthAhead
₹25,000−₹4,300₹1,000✓ BetterIDFC FIRST Wealth by ₹5,300
₹50,000−₹3,600₹2,000✓ BetterIDFC FIRST Wealth by ₹5,600
₹75,000₹2,100₹2,900✓ BetterIDFC FIRST Wealth by ₹800
₹1 lakh₹5,800✓ Better₹3,900AU Zenith+ by ₹1,900
₹1.25 lakh₹14,000✓ Better₹4,900AU Zenith+ by ₹9,100
₹1.5 lakh₹14,700✓ Better₹5,900AU Zenith+ by ₹8,800
₹1.75 lakh₹15,400✓ Better₹6,900AU Zenith+ by ₹8,500
₹2 lakh₹16,100✓ Better₹7,900AU Zenith+ by ₹8,200
₹2.25 lakh₹16,800✓ Better₹8,800AU Zenith+ by ₹8,000
₹2.5 lakh₹17,600✓ Better₹9,800AU Zenith+ by ₹7,800
₹2.75 lakh₹18,300✓ Better₹10,800AU Zenith+ by ₹7,500
₹3 lakh₹19,000✓ Better₹11,800AU Zenith+ by ₹7,200
₹3.25 lakh₹19,700✓ Better₹12,800AU Zenith+ by ₹6,900
₹3.5 lakh₹20,400✓ Better₹13,800AU Zenith+ by ₹6,600
₹3.75 lakh₹21,100✓ Better₹14,700AU Zenith+ by ₹6,400
₹4 lakh₹21,800✓ Better₹15,700AU Zenith+ by ₹6,100
₹4.25 lakh₹22,500✓ Better₹16,700AU Zenith+ by ₹5,800
₹4.5 lakh₹23,200✓ Better₹17,700AU Zenith+ by ₹5,500
₹4.75 lakh₹23,900✓ Better₹18,700AU Zenith+ by ₹5,200
₹5 lakh₹24,600✓ Better₹19,700AU Zenith+ by ₹4,900
How we work out the yearly value

We put each card through the same everyday mix of spending, apply that card's own rules for each kind of spend (some earn nothing on fuel or bills), add its milestone and renewal bonuses at our value per point, and take off the fee unless that spend waives it. Bonus categories that need you to shop a certain way are not counted. Your own mix will differ: try your numbers in the calculator, or read how we value cards.

Before you choose

Transfer partners 0 and 0

AU Zenith+'s AU Reward Points cannot be moved to any airline or hotel; IDFC FIRST Wealth's IDFC FIRST Reward Points cannot be moved to any.

Every partner and ratio is on each card's page; the best value for your points is on the transfer optimizer.

Watch out 6 points

AU Zenith+

  • 0.25% base earn at AU's honest ₹0.25 point; even dining/travel is only 0.5%
  • The Maharaja 3:2 (₹0.67/pt) that made Zenith+ the one AU card worth transferring from is gone — Air India ended its AU partnership on 31-Jan-2026. Every redemption is now the ₹99 + GST closed catalogue, and points expire in 24 months
  • ₹4,999 fee, waived only at ₹8L spend; the milestone pays ₹250 at ₹75k/month, and utility, insurance, transport, rent, education/govt, fuel, cash and EMI spends don't count toward it

3 more on its page

IDFC FIRST Wealth

  • Points redeem at ₹0.25 flat — no ₹0.50 app-travel value; app travel pays bonus points instead
  • Base earn is 0.375%; only dining, travel and international spends reach 1.25%
  • Points now expire 24 months after they're credited — the 18-Jun-2026 revision ended the never-expire promise

4 more on its page

Common questions 5 answered

Which is better, AU Zenith+ or IDFC FIRST Wealth?

Below ₹1 lakh a month IDFC FIRST Wealth is the better card; from ₹1 lakh up, AU Zenith+ takes over, and by ₹5 lakh a month it is ₹4,900 a year ahead. At ₹75,000 a month the gap is mostly what each card earns on your spend: IDFC FIRST Wealth returns ₹2,900 a year in rewards to AU Zenith+'s ₹2,100. Pick AU Zenith+ instead if airport lounges matter more to you than the money: it gets you into 696 of the lounges we track to IDFC FIRST Wealth's 131.

AU Zenith+ or IDFC FIRST Wealth: which is worth more at ₹3 lakh a month?

AU Zenith+ beats IDFC FIRST Wealth by ₹7,200 a year at ₹3 lakh a month. Both figures are a year's rewards and bonuses on an everyday spending mix, after the fee.

Which costs less to get, AU Zenith+ or IDFC FIRST Wealth?

IDFC FIRST Wealth: ₹0 — lifetime free against ₹4,999/yr. AU Zenith+ waives its fee if you spend ₹8,00,000 a year; IDFC FIRST Wealth has no fee waiver.

Which gets you into more airport lounges, AU Zenith+ or IDFC FIRST Wealth?

AU Zenith+: 696 of the 792 lounges we track, against 131 for IDFC FIRST Wealth. Visit limits and guest charges differ by card; each card's page lists them.

How current is this comparison?

AU Zenith+ was last checked against its bank's own documents on 5 Oct 2026, IDFC FIRST Wealth on 26 Oct 2026. Every figure here is worked out again from those records each time the site is built, so a change to either card shows up the day we log it.

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Sources

AU Zenith+ was last checked against its bank's own documents on 5 Oct 2026, IDFC FIRST Wealth on 26 Oct 2026. Every fact above comes from these 26 documents; the banks' own are marked official. A fact a bank does not publish shows as "not published", never as zero.

The documents 26 sources
  1. Official Product page — ₹4,999 fee / ₹8L second-year waiver, 0.99% forex, 2/1 earn with the 1,000-RP cycle cap on utility-insurance-rent-govt read
  2. Official Schedule of Charges / KFS v1.9 (30-Sep-2026) — 0.99% forex, ₹4,999 fee, 1.99%/mo (23.88% p.a.) APR tier, zero cash-withdrawal fee on Zenith+, ₹1,000/mo fuel-waiver cap read
  3. Community CardInsider review (19-May-2026) read
  4. Official Air India — AU conversion table: Zenith+ 1.5:1 (= 3:2), all other listed AU cards 6:1; min transfer 1.5 RP, multiples of 1.5; Partner page live since Jun-2025 read
  5. Official Air India — Maharaja Club partner index (AU Small Finance Bank no longer listed; the AU transfer route is closed) read
  6. Community CardInsider — AU/YES/IndusInd join Maharaja Club (Zenith+ 3:2, other AU cards 6:1; published 22-Jul-2025, not Jun-2026 as we previously dated it) read
  7. Community TechnoFino — LIT/Vetta/Zenith/Zenith+ RuPay-variant launch (BINs) read
  8. Community CardInsider — AU RuPay card list (Zenith+ on RuPay) read
  9. Community TechnoFino — application docs (statements/payslips/Anumati) + reported eligibility bars read
  10. Community TechnoFino — fee waivers via corporate employee-benefit tie-ups read
  11. Official AU Usage T&C (w.e.f. 10-Apr-2026) — Zenith+ is exempt from the ₹50,000 spend gate and sent to its own lounge list, not the 50-room standard one read
  12. Official AU's cited lounge list for Zenith+ — the URL AU prints renders "No data found."; the list it meant is one hyphen away and holds 51 rooms read
  13. Official Air India — Maharaja Club updates: the AU Bank partnership ended on 31 January 2026; no earning or converting with AU after that date read
  14. Official IDFC cardholder notice, 13 September 2026 — withdraws the 9 September cut: reward points continue on international transactions "as applicable for the respective cards" read
  15. Official IDFC cardholder notice, 9 September 2026 — announced international earn would stop on 26 October 2026; withdrawn by the bank's 13 September notice, so it never took effect read
  16. Official Bank-wide MITC (reissued 9 Sep 2026) — Wealth Nil joining/annual; forex NIL bank-wide ("Markup Charges on Foreign currency transactions and Dynamic & Static Currency Conversion Transactions** — NIL") read
  17. Official Domestic lounge list — the 48 rooms the quarterly visit can be spent at, addresses and terminals included read
  18. Official Product page + FAQs (lifetime free, Visa Infinite; the page body now says Zero Forex Markup, matching the MITC's NIL, though one FAQ line still reads 1.5%; income ₹36L+) read
  19. Official Rewards T&C PDF (10 RP/₹200 on dining/travel/international, 3 RP/₹200 other incl. rent/government/wallet/education) read
  20. Official Superseded rewards T&C, archived 13-Feb-2026 (the pre-Jun-2026 construct — 10 RP/₹200 on incremental spends above ₹20,000 a cycle; Table 2.3 Base Earn (A) "Up to 5%" + Bonus) read
  21. Official 18-Jun-2026 change notice PDF ("Earlier, 10X rewards were only unlocked after spending ₹20,000 in a billing cycle" — now from the first eligible dining/travel/international) read
  22. Official Jan-2026 change notice PDF — (base ₹150→₹200; 1.5% forex; FASTag past ₹10k and railway past ₹25k a cycle draw a 1% fee; lounge/golf 1+1+1 per quarter on a ₹20k previous-month) read
  23. Community CardInsider review read
  24. Official FIRST Digital RuPay add-on (UPI) page read
  25. Community TechnoFino — Select→Wealth customer-care upgrade route read
  26. Community CardMaven — upgrade SR ("without limit enhancement"), low-limit approvals, LTF carries read

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