Top 4 shopping credit cards in India

Are you big on e-commerce? Want to know which are the best choices among credit cards? You are at the right place.

Today life is unimaginable without credit cards. In India there are about 2.5 crore credit card users and although mobile wallets seem to be the new kid on the block, credit card usage is here to stay.

Though mobile wallets seem to have trumped credit cards as far as the convenience factor is concerned, credit cards still score over them because unlike mobile wallets, credit cards provide the opportunity to its users to build and maintain a good CIBIL score.

All you have to do is make small purchases on your credit card and make full repayments on time to ensure a good CIBIL score.

The biggest lenders in the nation, who realise that credit cards are here to stay, thus offer a bouquet of benefits to those credit card users who use their cards especially for retail shopping.

If you are big on e-commerce and want to know which are the best choices among credit cards, you are at the right place. Here are a bunch of cards that are especially targeted towards the shopper in you.

ICICI Instant Platinum Credit Card

Available instantly against a fixed deposit of a minimum of Rs 20,000 and maintained for 180 days this is a card that comes without any annual fee. Each shopping expedition on this card can help you garner points that can be used to redeem attractive gifts from centres specified by the lender.

In addition to that subscribers can avail of a discount of Rs 200 every month on movie tickets and also get 15 per cent discount at specified leading restaurants as mentioned by the lender.

The only downside of this card is that it charges an overdue interest of 2.49 per cent per month and nearly 30 per cent annually. This is however applicable if you are making part payments or no payments at all.

If you are making regular payments in full, you are not charged any interest.

Citibank Rewards card

Arguably the best shopping credit card in India, Citibank Rewards card comes with no annual fee and gives up activation points upfront for joining. At apparel and department stores you can earn 10x reward points and an additional one reward point for Rs 125 you spend anywhere else. 

Reward points can be redeemed across 600 plus stores and can be used internationally.

If you are looking for cash back deals, Citibank Cash back card may be the perfect answer. Designed for the young urban dweller, this card offers a 5 per cent cash back on all utility bill payments so long as they are made through Citibank BillPay.

It also gives you a 5 per cent cash back on all movie ticket purchases. So movie buffs, this is the card you are looking out for! Over and above that there is a 0.5 per cent cash back on every swipe, no matter what the purchase is.

HDFC Solitaire credit card

Focusing on women shoppers, empowering the divas is HDFC Solitaire Credit Card that gives three reward points on every Rs 150 spent by the ladies. Apart from this, the users of this card get gift vouchers worth Rs 1,000 every six months from Shoppers’ Stop and Rs 250 off on fuel surcharge every billing cycle.

On an amount of Rs 50,000 spent on the card, users are eligible to get a cash back up to Rs 4,000.

The catch in this card however is that if you are not taking this card against a fixed deposit your interest liability is 3.4 per cent monthly and 40.8 per cent annually.

Against a fixed deposit the interest liability is only 1.99 per cent per month and 23.88 per cent annually.

Kotak Silk Inspire credit card

The latest to join the bandwagon for exclusive women oriented cards is Kotak Mahindra Bank which launched the Kotak Silk Inspire Credit card for women.

This card offers five reward points for every Rs 100 purchase on apparels and one reward point on every purchase across other categories. Besides it offers a 2.5 per cent fuel surcharge waiver across all petrol pumps in India and the option to choose between 4 free PVR tickets or 1000 reward points on spends of Rs 125,000 every 6 months.

While these credit cards have been designed especially for the benefits of retail shoppers in India, shopping enthusiasts must keep in mind, that credit cards must be used judiciously.

The thumb rule of using a credit card is never to spend anything on the card that you cannot afford to pay in cash within a matter of 28-30 days (your billing cycle). The moment you exceed this barrier, you are vulnerable and may fall into a debt trap.

Credit card debt is not only the costliest form of credit, it may also bring your CIBIL score crashing down. 

On the other hand, as we mentioned earlier, judicious use of credit card will be your ticket to a good CIBIL score. So use your credit card prudently and enjoy all its benefits!

Photograph: Pedro Ribeiro Simões/Creative Commons

The author is Co-founder and Director Credit Vidya.