HSBC Live+ vs Scapia (Federal Bank) (2026)
Scapia (Federal Bank) vs HSBC Live+: which wins?
₹79,200ranking value a year at ₹3L a month, to Scapia (Federal Bank)
Skip the duel — the board, ranked → · nothing to sign up for
The forex question at the cheap end: Live+ charges 1.99% and pays nothing at all on the foreign swipe, Scapia charges 0% on a lifetime-free card and pays 2% in coins you can only spend inside its own app. Neither one earns a mile, and only one of them costs ₹999.
HSBC Live+ wins under ₹1.25L/month; Scapia (Federal Bank) takes over above it.
Every metric, row by row — 12 compared
Head to head
| HSBC Live+ | Metric | Scapia (Federal Bank) |
|---|---|---|
| #46 | Our rank | #33 — wins this row |
| ₹999/yr | Fee — joining · annual (+ GST) | ₹0 — lifetime free — wins this row |
| ₹2,00,000 spend | Fee waiver | None |
| 1.99% + GST | Forex markup | Nil — 0% markup (official KFS) — wins this row |
| 3.75%/mo (45%/yr), computed from transaction date | APR | 3.75%/mo (45%/yr), from date of transaction; same rate on cash advances (no interest-free period on cash) |
| 1.5% | Headline earn rate | 2.0% — wins this row |
| HSBC Cashback | Currency | Scapia Coins |
| ₹1.00/pt | House value | ₹0.20/pt |
| ₹1,000 cashback for downloading and logging on to the HSBC India app and spending ₹25,000 within 30 days of card issuance, plus a voucher worth ₹750 for Amazon Pay, Zomato or Swiggy on activation with a single transaction of ₹300 or more, and a ₹250 Amazon eGift Voucher for a video-verified online application | Welcome benefit | None — lifetime free with no joining bonus; the 0% forex is the pitch |
| 0 of 793 | Lounge doors opened | 72 of 793 — wins this row |
| ₹6L+/yr; age 18–65 | Income — salaried | not published |
| ₹12L+/yr; age 25–65 | Income — self-employed | not published |
Gold marks the better side of a row. House value is our ₹-per-point mark for each card's currency — the full valuation index →
The ₹ face-off at ₹1L/₹3L/₹5L a month
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.
HSBC Live+ wins under ₹1.25L/month; Scapia (Federal Bank) takes over above it.
Where the lead changes hands — a 20-step sweep from ₹0.25L to ₹5L/month
Where the lead changes hands
The lead changes hands at ₹1.25L a month: HSBC Live+ is ahead by ₹5,550 at ₹0.25L, Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹42,000 at ₹5L.
HSBC Live+ draws above the line, Scapia (Federal Bank) below · ₹0.25L to ₹5L a month, step by step
| Monthly spend | HSBC Live+ | Scapia (Federal Bank) | In front |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹0.25L | ₹12,150 | ₹6,600 | HSBC Live+ by ₹5,550 |
| ₹0.5L | ₹20,700 | ₹13,200 | HSBC Live+ by ₹7,500 |
| ₹0.75L | ₹23,850 | ₹19,800 | HSBC Live+ by ₹4,050 |
| ₹1L | ₹27,000 | ₹26,400 | HSBC Live+ by ₹600 |
| ₹1.25L | ₹30,150 | ₹33,000 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹2,850 |
| ₹1.5L | ₹33,300 | ₹39,600 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹6,300 |
| ₹1.75L | ₹36,450 | ₹46,200 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹9,750 |
| ₹2L | ₹39,600 | ₹52,800 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹13,200 |
| ₹2.25L | ₹42,750 | ₹59,400 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹16,650 |
| ₹2.5L | ₹45,900 | ₹66,000 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹20,100 |
| ₹2.75L | ₹49,500 | ₹72,600 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹23,100 |
| ₹3L | ₹54,000 | ₹79,200 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹25,200 |
| ₹3.25L | ₹58,500 | ₹85,800 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹27,300 |
| ₹3.5L | ₹63,000 | ₹92,400 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹29,400 |
| ₹3.75L | ₹67,500 | ₹99,000 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹31,500 |
| ₹4L | ₹72,000 | ₹1,05,600 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹33,600 |
| ₹4.25L | ₹76,500 | ₹1,12,200 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹35,700 |
| ₹4.5L | ₹81,000 | ₹1,18,800 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹37,800 |
| ₹4.75L | ₹85,500 | ₹1,25,400 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹39,900 |
| ₹5L | ₹90,000 | ₹1,32,000 | Scapia (Federal Bank) by ₹42,000 |
Transfer reach — 0 vs 0 live routes
Transfer reach
Full route maps on each card page, best ₹/point routes on the optimizer →
What to watch out for — 6 points
What to watch out for
HSBC Live+ · 6 more →
- International spends earn NO cashback — HSBC removed it when it cut the markup to 1.99%
- The 10% rate is capped at ₹1,200 a month, and Amazon and Flipkart are explicitly excluded from it — Myntra keeps the 10% only until 31 October 2026, then joins them at 1.5%
- Cashback is 0% on fuel, rent, insurance, education, government, financial institutions, e-wallets, jewellery, hospitals and business-to-business MCCs
Scapia (Federal Bank) · 1 more →
- Coins spend ONLY on Scapia-app travel — no cashback, no transfers, app-dependency risk
- Feb-2026 nerf: lounge bar doubled to ₹20k/month; insurance & utility earn killed
- Zero coins on international spends — abroad it's purely a 0%-forex card
The call
For the ₹1L/month spender, HSBC Live+ nets ₹27,000 against ₹26,400 — a ₹600 gap. At ₹5L/month, Scapia (Federal Bank) nets ₹1,32,000 against ₹90,000 — a ₹42,000 gap. Lounge chasers: Scapia (Federal Bank) opens 72 of 793 tracked doors to HSBC Live+'s 0.
Our standing verdicts: HSBC Live+ — Keep; Scapia (Federal Bank) — Keep. Scapia (Federal Bank) takes 7 of the 8 rounds we can score — that's the overall call. Your spend pattern can overrule us: run your exact numbers →
Common questions — 5 answered
Straight answers
Which is better, HSBC Live+ or Scapia (Federal Bank)?
Scapia (Federal Bank). Scapia (Federal Bank) takes 7 of the 8 rounds we can score. HSBC Live+ wins under ₹1.25L/month; Scapia (Federal Bank) takes over above it.
HSBC Live+ or Scapia (Federal Bank) — which earns more at ₹3L a month?
At ₹3L a month, Scapia (Federal Bank) nets ₹79,200 against ₹54,000 — a ₹25,200 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, HSBC Live+ or Scapia (Federal Bank)?
Scapia (Federal Bank) — ₹0 — lifetime free against ₹999/yr. HSBC Live+ waives its fee at ₹2,00,000 of spend; Scapia (Federal Bank) at no spend level — there is no waiver.
Which gets you into more airport lounges, HSBC Live+ or Scapia (Federal Bank)?
Lounge chasers: Scapia (Federal Bank) opens 72 of 793 tracked doors to HSBC Live+'s 0. 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: HSBC Live+ on 2026-09-03, Scapia (Federal Bank) 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.
Verified against HSBC and Federal Bank's own documents on · the ranking model, at our house ₹/point
Every document behind this page — 10 of them, each with the day we read it
- official Shared Platinum / Live+ tariff sheet — Live+ ₹999 a year, reversed with GST above ₹2,00,000 of eligible spend, and 1.99% on foreign currency where Platinum pays 3.5%
- official Service Guide — 10% cashback capped at ₹1,200/month on dining, groceries, shopping and utilities, MCC-classified; 1.5% unlimited elsewhere; three lounge visits a year
- official Welcome cashback T&C — ₹1,000 for downloading the HSBC India mobile app and transacting ₹25,000 within 30 days of issuance, for cards applied for between 26 July 2026 and 31 December 2026
- official Product page — Visa Infinite, three welcome clauses, 10% at Myntra until 31 October 2026, the international lounge visit now live via Thriwe, and a 1GB global eSIM a year
- official The retired HSBC Cashback Credit Card page — HSBC states there that the Cashback Credit Card is now this card
- official Product page — "Zero joining and annual fees", "Zero forex markup on all international transaction"
- official Key Fact Sheet PDF v11 (30-04-2026) — Nil fees, 0% forex, 3.75%/mo APR, late-fee slabs, cash advance 2.5% min ₹500, rent/wallet/fuel/utility 1% fees
- official Scapia site — redemption scope (flights/hotels/trains/buses), UPI 5%
- community CardInsider — Feb-2026 nerf (₹20k gate, insurance/utility/telecom earn killed 27-Feb-2026, 36-month expiry)
- official Scapia summer release — dual Visa + RuPay cards on one account (Jun-2025)