IDFC FIRST Mayura vs Standard Chartered Ultimate (2026)
Standard Chartered Ultimate vs IDFC FIRST Mayura: which wins?
₹1,50,977ranking value a year at ₹3L a month, to IDFC FIRST Mayura
Skip the duel — the board, ranked → · nothing to sign up for
Portal multipliers and milestones vs a flat 3.33% with a hard ceiling — upside against the best boring card in India.
Standard Chartered Ultimate wins under ₹0.5L/month; IDFC FIRST Mayura takes over above it.
Every metric, row by row — 12 compared
Head to head
| IDFC FIRST Mayura | Metric | Standard Chartered Ultimate |
|---|---|---|
| #10 — wins this row | Our rank | #17 |
| ₹5,999/yr | Fee — joining · annual (+ GST) | ₹5,000/yr — wins this row |
| None | Fee waiver | None |
| Nil — 0% markup on foreign currency and DCC transactions — wins this row | Forex markup | 2% + GST (Ultimate-specific; 3.5% on other SC cards) |
| Dynamic 0.71%–3.85%/mo (8.5%–46.2%/yr); overdue rate 3.99%/mo (47.88%/yr) on MAD non-payment | APR | 3.75%/mo (45%/yr APR), same rate on cash advances |
| 1.7% | Headline earn rate | 3.3% — wins this row |
| IDFC FIRST Reward Points | Currency | StanC 360° Reward Points |
| ₹0.25/pt † | House value | ₹1.00/pt |
| 12,000 RP — 4,000 on fee payment + 4,000 each on ₹20k in cycles 2 and 3 (once per customer) | Welcome benefit | 6,000 reward points (₹6,000) on fee payment |
| 129 of 793 | Lounge doors opened | 689 of 793 — wins this row |
| ~₹25L+/yr (community) | Income — salaried | ~₹2L+/month (community) |
| ~₹25L+/yr (community) | Income — self-employed | not published |
† IDFC FIRST Mayura: Mayura is one of only two IDFC cards that reach ₹0.50 a point, and only on flight and hotel bookings made through the Travel & Shop section of the FIRST app — its own rewards T&C is explicit that it is "₹0.25 everywhere else", the house value. So the rate below is DOUBLE what these points fetch as vouchers, goods or pay-with-points; earn.base marks them up to the ₹0.50 travel rung and assumes you actually book there. Points cover at most 70% of a booking, redemptions are capped at 1,50,000 points a month, and each one costs ₹99 + GST.
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.
Standard Chartered Ultimate wins under ₹0.5L/month; IDFC FIRST Mayura 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 ₹0.5L a month: Standard Chartered Ultimate is ahead by ₹2,195 at ₹0.25L, IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹58,491 at ₹5L.
IDFC FIRST Mayura pays 2 annual spend milestones, the first at ₹8,00,000 a year, and Standard Chartered Ultimate pays none; IDFC FIRST Mayura runs a 13.3% booster on App hotel bookings, where Standard Chartered Ultimate earns one flat rate.
IDFC FIRST Mayura draws above the line, Standard Chartered Ultimate below · ₹0.25L to ₹5L a month, step by step
| Monthly spend | IDFC FIRST Mayura | Standard Chartered Ultimate | In front |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹0.25L | ₹2,795 | ₹4,990 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹2,195 |
| ₹0.5L | ₹15,584 | ₹14,980 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹604 |
| ₹0.75L | ₹32,123 | ₹24,970 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹7,153 |
| ₹1L | ₹44,912 | ₹34,960 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹9,952 |
| ₹1.25L | ₹61,452 | ₹44,950 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹16,502 |
| ₹1.5L | ₹74,241 | ₹54,940 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹19,301 |
| ₹1.75L | ₹87,031 | ₹64,930 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹22,101 |
| ₹2L | ₹99,819 | ₹74,920 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹24,899 |
| ₹2.25L | ₹1,12,609 | ₹84,910 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹27,699 |
| ₹2.5L | ₹1,25,398 | ₹94,900 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹30,498 |
| ₹2.75L | ₹1,38,188 | ₹1,04,890 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹33,298 |
| ₹3L | ₹1,50,977 | ₹1,14,880 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹36,097 |
| ₹3.25L | ₹1,63,766 | ₹1,24,870 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹38,896 |
| ₹3.5L | ₹1,76,555 | ₹1,34,860 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹41,695 |
| ₹3.75L | ₹1,89,345 | ₹1,44,850 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹44,495 |
| ₹4L | ₹2,02,134 | ₹1,54,840 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹47,294 |
| ₹4.25L | ₹2,14,924 | ₹1,64,830 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹50,094 |
| ₹4.5L | ₹2,27,712 | ₹1,74,820 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹52,892 |
| ₹4.75L | ₹2,40,502 | ₹1,84,810 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹55,692 |
| ₹5L | ₹2,53,291 | ₹1,94,800 | IDFC FIRST Mayura by ₹58,491 |
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
IDFC FIRST Mayura · 1 more →
- Closed loop: no airline/hotel transfer partners at all
- ₹0.25/pt outside app travel bookings — half the value
- Lounge and movie perks need ₹20k spend the previous month
Standard Chartered Ultimate · 2 more →
- No transfer partners — the ceiling is exactly ₹1/point
- Utilities, supermarkets, insurance, rent, govt cut to 2% since Apr 2023
- ₹99 + GST per redemption; points lapse about 3 years after you earn them, in quarterly batches
The call
For the ₹1L/month spender, IDFC FIRST Mayura nets ₹44,912 against ₹34,960 — a ₹9,952 gap. At ₹5L/month, IDFC FIRST Mayura nets ₹2,53,291 against ₹1,94,800 — a ₹58,491 gap. Lounge chasers: Standard Chartered Ultimate opens 689 of 793 tracked doors to IDFC FIRST Mayura's 129.
Our standing verdicts: IDFC FIRST Mayura — Keep; Standard Chartered Ultimate — Keep. IDFC FIRST Mayura takes 5 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, IDFC FIRST Mayura or Standard Chartered Ultimate?
IDFC FIRST Mayura. IDFC FIRST Mayura takes 5 of the 8 rounds we can score. Standard Chartered Ultimate wins under ₹0.5L/month; IDFC FIRST Mayura takes over above it.
IDFC FIRST Mayura or Standard Chartered Ultimate — which earns more at ₹3L a month?
At ₹3L a month, IDFC FIRST Mayura nets ₹1,50,977 against ₹1,14,880 — a ₹36,097 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, IDFC FIRST Mayura or Standard Chartered Ultimate?
Standard Chartered Ultimate — ₹5,000/yr against ₹5,999/yr. IDFC FIRST Mayura waives its fee at no spend level — there is no waiver; Standard Chartered Ultimate at no spend level — there is no waiver.
Which gets you into more airport lounges, IDFC FIRST Mayura or Standard Chartered Ultimate?
Lounge chasers: Standard Chartered Ultimate opens 689 of 793 tracked doors to IDFC FIRST Mayura's 129. 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: IDFC FIRST Mayura on 2026-09-03, Standard Chartered Ultimate on 2026-08-17. 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 IDFC FIRST Bank and Standard Chartered's own documents on · the ranking model, at our house ₹/point
Every document behind this page — 13 of them, each with the day we read it
- official Domestic lounge list — the 48 rooms the four quarterly visits can be spent at, addresses and terminals included
- official Product page + FAQs — (₹5,999 joining and annual, no spend waiver; 0% forex; welcome 4,000+4,000+4,000 RP once per customer; milestone ₹8L → 7,500 RP OR ₹15L → 15,000 RP)
- official Rewards T&C PDF (bonus is ADDITIVE — Base (A) 10 + Bonus (B) 30/15 = Total (A+B) 40/25 RP per ₹150 app hotel/flight)
- official Jun-2026 change notice PDF (18-Jun-2026 app bonus 20%/10% = 30/15 RP per ₹150)
- official Bank-wide MITC (₹5,999/₹5,999 with NO spend waiver; NIL forex; add-on ₹4,000 metal / ₹3,000 plastic joining and ₹2,000 annual; ₹199 cash advance; ₹99 redemption fee; ₹3,500)
- community CardInsider review
- official FIRST Digital RuPay add-on (UPI) page
- official Product page (₹5,000 joining and ₹5,000 renewal fee, 6,000-pt welcome on fee payment, 5 RP/₹150 = ₹1/pt, 4/quarter domestic + 1 PP/month int'l on ₹20k prior-month spend)
- official Revision FAQ — the Apr-2023 cuts only: from 2 Apr 2023 utilities, supermarkets, insurance, property management/rent, schools and government earn 3 RP/₹150 (was 5)
- official Tariffs & charges
- official Rewards-points expiry FAQ — points lapse roughly three years after they are earned and are written off in quarterly batches; exact dates only in the rewards portal
- official Federal Bank migration FAQ — the card relationship (credit limit, reward points, outstanding) transfers after 31 Jul 2026; consent via I Agree / SMS ACCEPT / continued use
- community CardInsider — Visa Infinite variant discontinued