YES Bank Marquee vs Standard Chartered Ultimate (2026)
Standard Chartered Ultimate vs YES Bank Marquee: which wins?
₹1,14,880ranking value a year at ₹3L a month, to Standard Chartered Ultimate
Skip the duel — the board, ranked → · nothing to sign up for
Two flat engines with no transfer route worth using: 4.5% online that settles in portal travel vs 3.33% everywhere at a fixed ₹1 — the ceiling is the whole fight.
YES Bank Marquee wins under ₹0.75L/month; Standard Chartered Ultimate takes over above it.
Every metric, row by row — 12 compared
Head to head
| YES Bank Marquee | Metric | Standard Chartered Ultimate |
|---|---|---|
| #30 | Our rank | #17 — wins this row |
| ₹9,999 joining, then ₹4,999/yr | Fee — joining · annual (+ GST) | ₹5,000/yr — wins this row |
| ₹10,00,000 spend | Fee waiver | None |
| 1% + GST (DCC on INR-billed international transactions also 1%) — wins this row | Forex markup | 2% + GST (Ultimate-specific; 3.5% on other SC cards) |
| 2.99%/mo (35.88%/yr) — the YES Private/Prime/Marquee/Reserv premium tier (V18 MITC); other YES cards pay 3.99%/mo | APR | 3.75%/mo (45%/yr APR), same rate on cash advances |
| 2.3% | Headline earn rate | 3.3% — wins this row |
| YES Rewardz (YES CC Rewardz) | Currency | StanC 360° Reward Points |
| ₹0.25/pt | House value | ₹1.00/pt |
| 40,000 YES Rewardz points (₹10,000) on the ₹9,999 joining fee; 20,000 more each renewal | Welcome benefit | 6,000 reward points (₹6,000) on fee payment |
| 72 of 793 | Lounge doors opened | 689 of 793 — wins this row |
| ~₹3L+/month (community) | Income — salaried | ~₹2L+/month (community) |
| ~ITR ₹24L+/yr (community) | 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.
YES Bank Marquee wins under ₹0.75L/month; Standard Chartered Ultimate 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 ₹0.75L a month: YES Bank Marquee is ahead by ₹3,111 at ₹0.25L, Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹32,800 at ₹5L.
YES Bank Marquee pays a renewal bonus whatever you spend, and Standard Chartered Ultimate pays nothing to stay; YES Bank Marquee runs a 4.5% booster on Online spends, where Standard Chartered Ultimate earns one flat rate.
YES Bank Marquee draws above the line, Standard Chartered Ultimate below · ₹0.25L to ₹5L a month, step by step
| Monthly spend | YES Bank Marquee | Standard Chartered Ultimate | In front |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹0.25L | ₹8,101 | ₹4,990 | YES Bank Marquee by ₹3,111 |
| ₹0.5L | ₹16,201 | ₹14,980 | YES Bank Marquee by ₹1,221 |
| ₹0.75L | ₹24,301 | ₹24,970 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹669 |
| ₹1L | ₹32,400 | ₹34,960 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹2,560 |
| ₹1.25L | ₹40,500 | ₹44,950 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹4,450 |
| ₹1.5L | ₹48,600 | ₹54,940 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹6,340 |
| ₹1.75L | ₹56,700 | ₹64,930 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹8,230 |
| ₹2L | ₹64,800 | ₹74,920 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹10,120 |
| ₹2.25L | ₹72,900 | ₹84,910 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹12,010 |
| ₹2.5L | ₹81,000 | ₹94,900 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹13,900 |
| ₹2.75L | ₹89,100 | ₹1,04,890 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹15,790 |
| ₹3L | ₹97,200 | ₹1,14,880 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹17,680 |
| ₹3.25L | ₹1,05,300 | ₹1,24,870 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹19,570 |
| ₹3.5L | ₹1,13,400 | ₹1,34,860 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹21,460 |
| ₹3.75L | ₹1,21,500 | ₹1,44,850 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹23,350 |
| ₹4L | ₹1,29,600 | ₹1,54,840 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹25,240 |
| ₹4.25L | ₹1,37,700 | ₹1,64,830 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹27,130 |
| ₹4.5L | ₹1,45,800 | ₹1,74,820 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹29,020 |
| ₹4.75L | ₹1,53,900 | ₹1,84,810 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹30,910 |
| ₹5L | ₹1,62,000 | ₹1,94,800 | Standard Chartered Ultimate by ₹32,800 |
Transfer reach — 1 vs 0 live routes
Transfer reach
0 shared routes · 1 only YES Bank Marquee · 0 only Standard Chartered Ultimate — the full partner lists
Only YES Bank Marquee
- Air India Maharaja Club
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
YES Bank Marquee · 3 more →
- ₹0.25/point only on YES Rewardz flights/hotels, capped at 70% of invoice — the lone Maharaja route (15:1, ≈₹0.07/pt) is a decoy; statement credit pays ₹0.10
- Offline spends earn half (2.25%); utilities/cable just 1.25%, capped 1,250 RP/cycle
- Fuel, rent, wallet and government earn zero since 1-Apr-2025 — and 15-Jun-2026 zeroed insurance, education, railways, toll and ferry too
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, Standard Chartered Ultimate nets ₹34,960 against ₹32,400 — a ₹2,560 gap. At ₹5L/month, Standard Chartered Ultimate nets ₹1,94,800 against ₹1,62,000 — a ₹32,800 gap. Lounge chasers: Standard Chartered Ultimate opens 689 of 793 tracked doors to YES Bank Marquee's 72.
Our standing verdicts: YES Bank Marquee — Keep; Standard Chartered Ultimate — Keep. Standard Chartered Ultimate 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, YES Bank Marquee or Standard Chartered Ultimate?
Standard Chartered Ultimate. Standard Chartered Ultimate takes 7 of the 8 rounds we can score. YES Bank Marquee wins under ₹0.75L/month; Standard Chartered Ultimate takes over above it.
YES Bank Marquee or Standard Chartered Ultimate — which earns more at ₹3L a month?
At ₹3L a month, Standard Chartered Ultimate nets ₹1,14,880 against ₹97,200 — a ₹17,680 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, YES Bank Marquee or Standard Chartered Ultimate?
Standard Chartered Ultimate — ₹5,000/yr against ₹9,999 joining, then ₹4,999/yr. YES Bank Marquee waives its fee at ₹10,00,000 of spend; Standard Chartered Ultimate at no spend level — there is no waiver.
Which gets you into more airport lounges, YES Bank Marquee or Standard Chartered Ultimate?
Lounge chasers: Standard Chartered Ultimate opens 689 of 793 tracked doors to YES Bank Marquee's 72. 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: YES Bank Marquee on 2026-08-09, 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 YES Bank and Standard Chartered's own documents on · the ranking model, at our house ₹/point
Every document behind this page — 12 of them, each with the day we read it
- official Product page (₹9,999 joining / ₹4,999 renewal waived at ₹10L; 36/18/10 RP/₹200; 15-Jun-2026 zeroed insurance/education/railways/toll/ferry)
- official MITC PDF — 1% forex + 1% DCC; ₹100+GST redemption fee on Marquee/Reserv w.e.f; 15-Jun-2026 plus ₹99+GST per flight booking with points
- community CardInsider review
- community CardInsider — Maharaja transfer ratios
- community CardMaven review — Visa & Mastercard variants
- community CardExpert — YES First Preferred upgrade route with joining-fee waiver; online cap 1,00,000 RP/cycle then throttles to uncapped offline base
- 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