IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card vs ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro (2026)
ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro vs IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card: which wins?
₹25,360ranking value a year at ₹3L a month, to IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card
Skip the duel — the board, ranked → · nothing to sign up for
Same points, and neither card transfers anywhere — the redemption catalogue is the ceiling for both, so this one is decided on earn and fee, nothing else: 0.5% at ₹249 once to join against 0.5% at ₹299/yr.
IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card out-earns ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
Every metric, row by row — 10 compared
Head to head
| IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card | Metric | ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro |
|---|---|---|
| closed | Our rank | closed |
| ₹0/yr · ₹249 joining (one-time) — wins this row | Fee — joining · annual (+ GST) | ₹299/yr |
| None | Fee waiver | ₹50,000 spend |
| not published | Forex markup | not published |
| not published | APR | not published |
| 0.5% | Headline earn rate | 0.5% |
| PAYBACK Points (now Zillion Coins) | Currency | PAYBACK Points (now Zillion Coins) |
| ₹0.25/pt | House value | ₹0.25/pt † |
| — | Welcome benefit | None published — ICICI advertises no joining or first-spend bonus on this card, but the Namma Metro Smart Card chip arrives preloaded with ₹100, billed to the card in the first statement |
| 0 of 793 | Lounge doors opened | 0 of 793 |
† ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro: ICICI priced this card's point itself, which is unusual and worth having: "Each PAYBACK Point is equivalent to ₹0.25 when redeemed for Metro Miles" — the redemption that pushed points back onto the Namma Metro Smart Card chip as fare. That is exactly the ₹0.25 this board marks a PAYBACK Point at, so no haircut is baked into `earn.base`. The floor is high, though: 400 PAYBACK Points before a Metro Miles redemption is allowed, placed by telephone, credited to the chip "within 21 working days". PAYBACK India was bought by BharatPe and rebranded Zillion in May 2023, so the programme this card earned into no longer exists under that name.
Neither issuer publishes an income floor for these two, and the door is the same on both sides: IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card and ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro are both closed to new applications, and only grandfathered holders still have it. 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 →
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.
IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card out-earns ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
How the gap moves with spend — a 20-step sweep from ₹0.25L to ₹5L/month
How the gap moves with spend
IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card leads at all 20 steps, but not by the same amount: ₹2,830 at ₹0.25L a month, ₹9,100 at ₹5L — the gap fans out with spend, widest at ₹5L (₹9,100).
IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card pays 2 annual spend milestones, the first at ₹2,00,000 a year, and ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro pays none; IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card charges ₹249 once at issuance and nothing to renew.
IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card draws above the line, ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro below · ₹0.25L to ₹5L a month, step by step
| Monthly spend | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card | ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro | In front |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹0.25L | ₹4,405 | ₹1,575 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹2,830 |
| ₹0.5L | ₹6,310 | ₹3,150 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹3,160 |
| ₹0.75L | ₹8,215 | ₹4,725 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹3,490 |
| ₹1L | ₹10,120 | ₹6,300 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹3,820 |
| ₹1.25L | ₹12,025 | ₹7,875 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹4,150 |
| ₹1.5L | ₹13,930 | ₹9,450 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹4,480 |
| ₹1.75L | ₹15,835 | ₹11,025 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹4,810 |
| ₹2L | ₹17,740 | ₹12,600 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹5,140 |
| ₹2.25L | ₹19,645 | ₹14,175 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹5,470 |
| ₹2.5L | ₹21,550 | ₹15,750 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹5,800 |
| ₹2.75L | ₹23,455 | ₹17,325 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹6,130 |
| ₹3L | ₹25,360 | ₹18,900 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹6,460 |
| ₹3.25L | ₹27,265 | ₹20,475 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹6,790 |
| ₹3.5L | ₹29,170 | ₹22,050 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹7,120 |
| ₹3.75L | ₹31,075 | ₹23,625 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹7,450 |
| ₹4L | ₹32,980 | ₹25,200 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹7,780 |
| ₹4.25L | ₹34,885 | ₹26,775 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹8,110 |
| ₹4.5L | ₹36,790 | ₹28,350 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹8,440 |
| ₹4.75L | ₹38,695 | ₹29,925 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹8,770 |
| ₹5L | ₹40,600 | ₹31,500 | IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card by ₹9,100 |
Transfer reach — 0 shared live routes
Transfer reach
Both cards earn PAYBACK Points (now Zillion Coins), so the partner list is identical — 0 live transfer routes each. The fight is decided on earn and fees, not 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
IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card · 5 more →
- Discontinued — IndusInd's own page is headed "Payback Credit Card (Discontinued)" and shows it only as a reference for existing cardholders
- PAYBACK is a coalition programme run by another company, not an IndusInd scheme — the points reach no airline and no hotel
- PAYBACK is now Zillion, and payback.in is a dead domain — a balance from this card lives at zillionrewards.in or nowhere
ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro · 4 more →
- WITHDRAWN — the product path now resolves to ICICI's generic credit-card listing rather than to any Unifare content, and the live MITC keeps only an unnamed "ICICI Bank Unifare Credit Card" fee row
- THE CURRENCY HAS BEEN SOLD AND RENAMED: PAYBACK India was acquired by BharatPe and rebranded Zillion in May 2023, so the programme this card earned into no longer trades under the name on the page
- Metro Miles needs 400 PAYBACK Points before you can redeem, is placed by telephone, and credits the chip "within 21 working days"
The call
For the ₹1L/month spender, IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card nets ₹10,120 against ₹6,300 — a ₹3,820 gap. At ₹5L/month, IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card nets ₹40,600 against ₹31,500 — a ₹9,100 gap. Lounge chasers get no tiebreak here: both open 0 of 793 tracked doors.
Our standing verdicts: IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card — Cancel; ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro — Cancel. IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card takes 4 of the 4 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, IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card or ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro?
IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card. IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card takes 4 of the 4 rounds we can score. IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card out-earns ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card or ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro — which earns more at ₹3L a month?
At ₹3L a month, IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card nets ₹25,360 against ₹18,900 — a ₹6,460 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, IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card or ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro?
IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card — ₹0/yr · ₹249 joining (one-time) against ₹299/yr. IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card waives its fee at no spend level — there is no waiver; ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro at ₹50,000 of spend.
Which gets you into more airport lounges, IndusInd PAYBACK Credit Card or ICICI Unifare Bangalore Metro?
Lounge chasers get no tiebreak here: both open 0 of 793 tracked doors.
How current is this comparison?
Both card records were last re-verified against their issuers' own documents on 2026-08-23. 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 IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank's own documents on · the ranking model, at our house ₹/point
Every document behind this page — 5 of them, each with the day we read it
- official IndusInd PAYBACK product page, archived 22 July 2024 — the discontinuation notice, the ₹249 one-time joining fee, the PAYBACK partnership and the coalition-stacking mechanic
- official Zillion programme terms — PAYBACK India under its current name and operator, with the three-year coin expiry and the ban on transferring coins to anyone else
- official ICICI's own Bangalore Metro Credit Card page (29 Jun 2022 capture) — the benefit list, the fee table, the fee-reversal clause and the BMRCL rules
- official ICICI's own benefits page for this card (19 Apr 2015 capture) — the PAYBACK earn rates and the ₹0.25 Metro Miles point value the earn model is built on
- official ICICI's live Unifare path — resolves to the bank's generic credit-card listing with no Unifare content, the sourced basis for availability:closed