Axis Olympus vs IDFC FIRST Gaj (2026)
IDFC FIRST Gaj marks foreign spend up 0.0% against Axis Olympus's 1.8% — 1.8pp on every rupee you spend abroad, before either card earns a point on it.
Head to head
| Axis Olympus | Metric | IDFC FIRST Gaj |
|---|---|---|
| #8 — wins this row | Our rank | #15 |
| ₹20,000/yr | Fee — joining · annual (+ GST) | ₹12,500/yr — wins this row |
| None | Fee waiver | ₹10,00,000 spend |
| 1.8% + GST | Forex markup | Nil — 0% markup on foreign currency, DCC and static-currency-conversion transactions — wins this row |
| 3.6%/mo (43.2%/yr) | APR | Dynamic 0.71%–3.85%/mo (8.5%–46.2%/yr); overdue rate 3.99%/mo (47.88%/yr) on MAD non-payment |
| 4.0% — wins this row | Headline earn rate | 3.3% |
| Axis EDGE Miles | Currency | IDFC FIRST Reward Points |
| ₹2.00/pt | House value | ₹0.50/pt † |
| 2,500 EDGE Miles + ₹10,000 Taj/ITC hotel voucher — credited on activation and on EVERY renewal | Welcome benefit | 12,500 RP on joining-fee payment (₹12,500 at the ₹1 travel value) + a 25%-off 5-star hotel voucher worth up to ₹5,000 on ₹1L spent in 60 days — once per customer |
| 732 of 789 — wins this row | Lounge doors opened | 155 of 789 |
† IDFC FIRST Gaj: Gaj redeems the IDFC point at ₹1.00 on flight and hotel bookings in the app's Travel & Shop section — DOUBLE the ₹0.50 house value and 2.5× Ashva's ₹0.40 — and ₹0.25 on vouchers, products or "pay with points". earn.base is scaled UP to that ₹1.00 reality; points can only cover 70% of a booking, and 1.5L a month / 3L a year of them.
Neither issuer publishes an income floor for these two, and the door is the same on both sides: Axis Olympus and IDFC FIRST Gaj are both open to a direct application. How people actually get each one is on its card page.
Gold marks the better side of a row. House value is our ₹-per-point mark for each card's currency — the full valuation index →
Ranking-value face-off
Everyday spend at each card's base rate plus a realistic ~20% at its best accelerator (less for narrow or capped boosters) — milestones, fee waivers and the redemption haircut all at our house ₹/point. That's why the biggest headline rate doesn't automatically win. This is the ranking model, the one that orders the board; each card page prints the earn-rate-only net annual value instead, which reads lower for any card with an accelerator (both models, side by side). Tune it to your own spend in the calculator.
IDFC FIRST Gaj out-earns Axis Olympus at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
How the gap moves with spend
IDFC FIRST Gaj leads at all 20 steps, but not by the same amount: ₹3,397 at ₹0.25L a month, ₹67,932 at ₹5L — the gap fans out with spend, widest at ₹5L (₹67,932).
Axis Olympus draws above the line, IDFC FIRST Gaj below · ₹0.25L to ₹5L a month, step by step
| Monthly spend | Axis Olympus | IDFC FIRST Gaj | In front |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹0.25L | ₹13,800 | ₹17,197 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹3,397 |
| ₹0.5L | ₹27,600 | ₹34,393 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹6,793 |
| ₹0.75L | ₹41,400 | ₹51,590 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹10,190 |
| ₹1L | ₹55,200 | ₹68,786 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹13,586 |
| ₹1.25L | ₹69,000 | ₹85,983 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹16,983 |
| ₹1.5L | ₹82,800 | ₹1,03,180 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹20,380 |
| ₹1.75L | ₹96,600 | ₹1,20,376 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹23,776 |
| ₹2L | ₹1,10,400 | ₹1,37,573 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹27,173 |
| ₹2.25L | ₹1,24,200 | ₹1,54,769 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹30,569 |
| ₹2.5L | ₹1,38,000 | ₹1,71,966 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹33,966 |
| ₹2.75L | ₹1,51,800 | ₹1,89,163 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹37,363 |
| ₹3L | ₹1,65,600 | ₹2,06,359 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹40,759 |
| ₹3.25L | ₹1,79,400 | ₹2,23,556 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹44,156 |
| ₹3.5L | ₹1,93,200 | ₹2,40,752 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹47,552 |
| ₹3.75L | ₹2,07,000 | ₹2,57,949 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹50,949 |
| ₹4L | ₹2,20,800 | ₹2,75,146 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹54,346 |
| ₹4.25L | ₹2,34,600 | ₹2,92,342 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹57,742 |
| ₹4.5L | ₹2,48,400 | ₹3,09,539 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹61,139 |
| ₹4.75L | ₹2,62,200 | ₹3,26,735 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹64,535 |
| ₹5L | ₹2,76,000 | ₹3,43,932 | IDFC FIRST Gaj by ₹67,932 |
Transfer reach
Only Axis Olympus
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Finnair Plus (Avios)
- Qatar Airways Privilege Club (Avios)
Full route maps on each card page, best ₹/point routes on the optimizer →
What to watch out for
Axis Olympus · 4 more →
- Invite-only — built for Citi Prestige migrants and Axis clients spending ~₹30L/yr or earning ₹1.5Cr+
- Zero EDGE Miles on transport & tolls, utilities, insurance, education, government, wallet, rent and fuel — the exclusion list is the standard Axis one
- The 1:4 ratio is the whole engine; the April-2026 EDGE purge (Marriott/Accor gone) still applies — the returned Qatar prices Olympus at 1:2, half the flagship ratio
IDFC FIRST Gaj · 4 more →
- Invite-only for private-banking clients — there is no public route that gets you approved
- Closed loop: zero airline or hotel transfer partners, like every other IDFC card
- The ₹1 is portal-locked and pays at most 70% of a booking; cash out and it's ₹0.25
The call
For the ₹1L/month spender, IDFC FIRST Gaj nets ₹68,786 against ₹55,200 — a ₹13,586 gap. At ₹5L/month, IDFC FIRST Gaj nets ₹3,43,932 against ₹2,76,000 — a ₹67,932 gap. Lounge chasers: Axis Olympus opens 732 of 789 tracked doors to IDFC FIRST Gaj's 155.
Our standing verdicts: Axis Olympus — Keep; IDFC FIRST Gaj — Keep. On our board, Axis Olympus sits at #8 to IDFC FIRST Gaj's #15 — that's the overall call. Your spend pattern can overrule us: run your exact numbers →
Straight answers
Which is better, Axis Olympus or IDFC FIRST Gaj?
Axis Olympus. It sits at #8 on our board to IDFC FIRST Gaj's #15. IDFC FIRST Gaj takes 5 of the 8 rounds we can score. IDFC FIRST Gaj out-earns Axis Olympus at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
Axis Olympus or IDFC FIRST Gaj — which earns more at ₹3L a month?
At ₹3L a month, IDFC FIRST Gaj nets ₹2,06,359 against ₹1,65,600 — a ₹40,759 gap. Those are ranking-value figures: everyday spend at the card's base rate plus a realistic slice at its best accelerator, net of the fee.
Which costs less to hold, Axis Olympus or IDFC FIRST Gaj?
IDFC FIRST Gaj — ₹12,500/yr against ₹20,000/yr. Axis Olympus waives its fee at no spend level — there is no waiver; IDFC FIRST Gaj at ₹10,00,000 of spend.
Which gets you into more airport lounges, Axis Olympus or IDFC FIRST Gaj?
Lounge chasers: Axis Olympus opens 732 of 789 tracked doors to IDFC FIRST Gaj's 155. Visit quotas, guest charges and spend gates are per card — the lounge map carries each one.
How current is this comparison?
Card records last re-verified against their issuers' own documents: Axis Olympus on 2026-08-05, IDFC FIRST Gaj on 2026-07-26. Every figure on this page — the ranking values, the fee rows, the lounge counts, the transfer ratios — is recomputed from those records each time the site builds, so a devaluation changes the call the day we log it.