Fuel expenses are one of the most inelastic spends of our monthly budget. Thus makes sense to figure out ways to reduce this expense. This is where the best fuel credit cards come into the picture. With the correct fuel credit card, you can save as much as 7% on the fuel spends. Here are the best fuel credit cards for the year 2024.
Best Fuel Credit Cards
Criteria for the Best Fuel Credit Cards
Simple and straightforward, credit card should give cashback or reward points on fuel spends. If that’s not the case then the fuel spends should be considered in the monthly or quarterly or annual milestone spends resulting in reward points for achieving the milestone.
Best Fuel Credit Cards – HPCL
Amex Membership Rewards Card (MRCC)
- Fees: First year free; 1500+GST from second year onwards. Fee waiver at annual spends of 150000
- Reward rate on fuel: Upto 4%
- Ideal Spends: Upto 20k a month
- Min/max transaction size: Max transaction of 5000
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: 0% upto 5000; 1% above that.
Read the detailed review of Amex Membership Rewards Card (MRCC) here.
Amex MRCC is a very versatile credit card. Although, Amex MRCC doesn’t give reward points for fuel spends, the fuel spends are counted towards the 4*1500 transactions and the monthly 20k spends. A way to think of this is assume you spend 20k on fuel a month. Thus you will 2000 reward points valued at least 800, which is 4% reward rate on 20k spends, making it one of the best fuel credit cards in India. Further, since the Amex MRCC has a good reward rate on other spends too, you can use this credit card as your primary credit card provided your spending is around 20k a month.
The challenge is finding out HPCL pumps that accept Amex cards. Physical acceptance of Amex credit cards has always been a sore point especially at petrol pumps.
Amex Platinum Travel Credit Card
- Fees: First year free; 5000+GST from second year onwards.
- Reward rate on fuel: Upto 7%
- Ideal Spends: Annual spends of upto 4lks. Translates into monthly spends of ~33k.
- Min/max transaction size: Max transaction of 5000
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: 0% upto 5000; 1% above that.
Read the detailed review of Amex Platinum Travel here.
Amex Platinum Travel credit card is one of my favorite credit cards even better than Amex MRCC. Not only the reward rate is better the structure of the card is much better and simple. Spend 4lk in a year and you get guaranteed 40k reward points (valued at at-least 16k) as bonus, plus a 10k Taj Voucher. If used smartly along with offers that Amex throws up time to time the reward can be much higher.
Coming to fuel spends, like MRCC, Amex Plat Travel doesn’t give reward points for fuel spends, but they are considered for milestone benefits. Thus if you were to spend 4lk on fuel in a year, you will end up with 40k reward points, valued at 16k and a 10k Taj voucher. Benefits worth 26k, a 6.5% reward rate, making it probably the best fuel credit card in India.
Drawback as mentioned earlier, finding a HPCL bunk that accepts Amex is a task in the cities.
BoB HPCL Energie
- Fees: Joining/Annual Fee at 500+ GST; Fee waived at annual spends of 50k
- Reward rate on fuel: 4%; Max 1000 reward points in a month i.e. INR250
- Ideal Spends: Optimum spends at 6250 on fuel every month
- Min/max transaction size: NA
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: Fuel can be of any amount, but fuel surcharge waiver applicable only on transaction size of 400-5000. Fuel surcharge waiver of 1% capped at 100 per month.
BoB HPCL Energie is a good fuel credit card with 4% reward rate on fuel spends of upto 6250. This spend level is quite good for many of us. However, this card is marketed as 5% savings on fuel purchase, which is a misnomer. The bank is including 1% fuel surcharge waiver also as savings. I believe most cards offer 1% fuel surcharge waiver thus that’s not the USP of this card.
Further, benefits of this card include, 1.7% reward rate on utility and groceries capped at 250 per month i.e. monthly spends of ~15000, which is quite okay. Another good thing is that BoB HPCL Energie is available in Rupay variant, thus you can use this card on UPI too. However, do note that 4% reward rate on fuel is not applicable if the payment is done via UPI. You only get 0.3% reward rate on UPI spends.
Nonetheless, with 4% reward rate on fuel spends of upto 6250, BoB HPCL Energie is definitely one of the best fuel credit cards in India.
ICICI HPCL Super Saver Fuel Credit Card
Apply ICICI HPCL Saver Card Now!
- Fees: Joining/Annual Fee at 500+ GST; Fee waived at annual spends of 1.5lk
- Reward rate on fuel: 4%; Capped at 200 per month.
- Ideal Spends: Optimum spends at 5000 on fuel every month
- Min/max transaction size: NA
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: 1% fuel surcharge applicable only on fuel purchase of under 4000.
ICICI HPCL Super Saver fuel credit card pales in comparison with the BoB HPCL Energie fuel credit card. Simply because of the higher fuel spend limit on the BoB variant. Nonetheless, ICICI HPCL Super Saver scores on 5% cashback utilities and departmental stores. However, here too the capping is low at 100 per month i.e. max spend of 2000.
IDFC HPCL First Power
- Fees: Joining/Annual fee of 199+ GST; Fee waiver at annual spends of 50000
- Reward rate on fuel: 3.5%; capped at 175 per month
- Ideal Spends: Ideal for fuel spends of upto 5000
- Min/max transaction size: Minimum 150 to be eligible to earn reward points.
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: No fuel surcharge waiver, the card now offers 3.5% reward rate against earlier 2.5% instead of fuel waiver surcharge
IDFC HPCL First Power fuel credit card has taken BoB Energie marketing ploy to next level. The bank markets this credit card as 5% fuel credit card. The 5% calculations is as follows, 3.5% reward points and 1.5% reward rate of HP Pay app. The 1.5% reward rate of HP Pay app is that app feature and nothing to do with IDFC HPCL First Power fuel credit card.
Other benefits of the IDFC HPCL First Power fuel credit card include 2.5% reward rate on FastTag recharge on the IDFC Bank app capped at 50/month and 2.5% on groceries and utilities payment, capped at 100 per month i.e. max spends of 4000 per month. Overall, I find the IDFC HPCL First Power a very mediocre fuel credit card.
IDFC HPCL First Power+ Fuel Credit Card
- Fees: 499+ GST; Annual fee waived on spending 1.5lk in a year
- Reward rate on fuel: 5%; capped at 600 per month
- Ideal Spends: Fuel spends of up to 10000
- Min/max transaction size: Minimum 150 to be eligible to earn reward points.
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: No fuel surcharge waiver.
IDFC HPCL Power+ fuel credit card is an higher variant of the IDFC HPCL First Power. Like the IDFC HPCL First Power, even this credit card markets a 6.5% reward rate on fuel spends, but in reality gives only 4%. However, on the positive side the 4% reward rate is applicable on spends of upto 10k a month. I believe this is quite good a limit. Further, this credit card gives 5% on FASTag recharge capped at 50/ month and 5% on groceries and utilities capped at 100/month.
The reward rate of 4% on fuel spends is in-line with other credit cards however the spends limit of 10k per month on fuel is very good and makes the IDFC HPCL Power+ one of the best fuel credit cards.
Union Uni Carbon Credit Card
- Fees: 499+ GST; Annual fee waived on spending 1lk in a year
- Reward rate on fuel: 4%; capped at 150 per month
- Ideal Spends: Fuel spends of up to 3750
- Min/max transaction size: Minimum 500 to be eligible reward points.
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: 1% fuel surcharge waiver capped at 100 per month and applicable on fuel transaction value of 200
The Union Uni Carbon fuel credit card is a very underwhelming credit card with fuel spends capped at 3750/ month and minimum transaction size of 500 at the pump. Although, this credit card has milestone rewards feature and even if you consider the milestone benefits the reward comes at 1.2%, which remains very underwhelming.
Best Fuel Credit Cards – BPCL
SBI BPCL Fuel Credit Card
- Fees: Annual/Joining fee at 500+ GST; Fee waived on 50k annual spends
- Reward rate on fuel: 3.25%; Capped at 325/month
- Ideal Spends: 10000 per month
- Min/max transaction size: Max transaction of 4000.
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: 1% fuel surcharge waiver. Capped at 100/month
SBI BPCL is one of the oldest fuel credit card and offers 3.25% reward rate on fuel spending. The good thing is that the 3.25% reward rate is available for spends of up to 10000, which is ample I believe. Further, the credit card offers 1.25% reward rate on Groceries, Departmental Stores, Movies & Dining (capped at 1250 per month).
SBI BPCL Octane Fuel Credit Card
- Fees: Joining/Renewal fee at 1499+GST; Waived on spending 2lk in a year.
- Reward rate on fuel: 6.25%;
- Ideal Spends: 10000 per month
- Min/max transaction size: Max transaction of 4000.
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: 1% fuel surcharge waiver. Capped at 100/month
SBI BPCL Octane fuel credit card gives a whopping 6.25% reward rate on fuel spends of up to 10000. SBI BPCL Octane fuel credit card also gives 2.5% reward rate on dining, groceries and departmental stores, which is decent. Further, on spending 3lk in a year you get vouchers worth 2000 from Aditya Birla/Yatra/Bata. This pushes up the overall reward rate a bit.
Best Fuel Credit Cards – Indian Oil
Axis Bank Indian Oil Rupay Credit Card
Apply Axis Bank Indian Oil Card Now!
- Fees: Annual/Joining fee: 500+ GST; Fee waived on spending 350000 in a year.
- Reward rate on fuel: 4%. Capped at 200/ month.
- Ideal Spends: 5000 per month
- Min/max transaction size: Between 100-5000.
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: 1% fuel surcharge waiver on transaction of 200-5000; capped at 50/month
Axis Bank Indian Oil fuel credit card is sort of a replacement for Citibank Indian Oil credit card. On paper the 4% reward rate is quite good. But as one goes into the details the credit card appears to be more mediocre. Firstly, the 4% reward rate holds only for spends of upto 5000 per month. Secondly, to get the fuel surcharge waiver one has to spend minimum 200 thru this card, higher than many credit cards discussed here. And lastly, fuel surcharge waiver is capped at just 50/month, nearly every other card discussed here offers at least 2x of that amount as the monthly capping.
HDFC Bank Indian Oil Fuel Credit Card
- Fees: Annual/Joining fee: 500+ GST; Fee waived on spending 50000 in a year.
- Reward rate on fuel: 3.2%
- Ideal Spends: 4500 in a month
- Min/max transaction size: Minimum 150. But to get fuel surcharge waiver you need to do a transaction of minimum 400.
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: Capped at 250/month. Minimum transaction of 400.
HDFC Bank Indian Oil fuel credit card is a very mediocre credit card. The reward at 3.2% is low compared to most other fuel credit cards. Ideal spends of 4500 is also among the lowest as the compared to many other credit cards. Further the redemption process is a pain. HDFC Bank gives Fuel Points. These Fuel Points will be converted into IndianOil XTRAREWARDS at 1FP = 0.32 XTRAREWARD ratio. Then you use these XTRAREWARDS at the bunk to pay for your petrol/diesel. The whole process seems very cumbersome to be honest. By the way, HDFC Bank Indian Oil fuel credit card also gives 3.2% on groceries and bill payments, capped at 96/month.
Kotak Bank Indian Oil Fuel Credit Card
- Fees: Annual/Joining fee: 449+ GST; Fee waived on spending 50000 in a year.
- Reward rate on fuel: 4% on fuel spends; Capped at 300/ month
- Ideal Spends: Upto 7500 per month.
- Min/max transaction size: 150 as minimum transaction size. Max at 5000.
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: 1% fuel surcharge waiver on transactions between INR 100 to INR 5000 with maximum surcharge waiver of INR 100 per statement cycle only at IndianOil outlets.
The Kotak Bank Indian Oil credit card is a decent fuel credit card in the Indian Oil co-branded space. It offers better reward rate than the HDFC Bank card and has higher spend limit than the Axis Indian Oil card. Further, the reward program is a breeze compared to HDFC card. Not to forget that this fuel credit card also has the lowest fee among the other Indian Oil credit cards.
Best Fuel Credit Cards – All Bunks
SC Super Value Titanium credit card
- Fees: Joining/Annual fee of 750+ GST; Waived on annual spends of 90000.
- Reward rate on fuel: 4%; Capped at 200 per month
- Ideal Spends: Upto 5000 per month
- Min/max transaction size: All transaction under 2000 are eligible.
- Fuel surcharge waiver condition: on transaction under 2000.
USP of the SC Super Value Titanium fuel credit card is that this works are petrol pumps and you are not tied down to a single brand. However, the reward rate of 4% and spends cap of 5000 is not that great, considering that SC issues cards only in large cities and to affluent customers where the spend cap of 5k may be an issue. Further, this credit card offers 5% cashback on utility bills capped at 100, i.e. you can pay bills of upto 2k, with a minimum transaction size of 750. Similarly, it offers a 5% reward rate on telephone bills too with a cap of 200 per month.
Few other worthy mentions
Here are a few other credit cards that may not be fuel credit cards per se but deserve a mention. Reason being on a blended basis they end up giving decent reward rate on your fuel spends.
Amex Gold Card
If you have the Amex Gold Card as LTF then all you need to do is use the 1000*6 transaction feature a month on nearest HPCL fuel bunk 😊. Amex Gold Card gives reward points on fuel spends, plus you will get 1000 bonus reward points. Overall, ~8% reward rate on fuel spends, the best among all the fuel credit cards. The annual fee on this card is high and is a downer.
HDFC Diners Black Metal
The new HDFC Diners Black Metal doesn’t give reward points on fuel spends. However, the fuel spends are counted towards the quarterly spend milestone of 4lk where you will get 10000 bonus reward points. Resulting in a cool 2.5% reward rate.
Vistara Credit Cards
Most Vistara credit cards except Axis Vistara Infinite offer reward points on fuel spends. However, the reward rate is quite low. The benefit of using Vistara credit cards for fuel spends is that the fuel spends are counted towards milestone benefits. Thus those Premium Economy and Business Class vouchers can become a reality sooner if you use Vistara credit cards as your fuel credit card. However, the availability on those vouchers remains a challenge and do factor that in when splurging on your Vistara credit cards.
Dynamic Reward Calculator
Below is my new dynamic reward calculator that allows you to input your monthly fuel spends and see which fuel credit card suits your need. Further, the calculator has Auto and Manual modes. In the Auto mode, you can get the top-ranking cards based on your spending or just switch to Manual and compare the cards that you wish.
Do share your views and feedback on the calculator.
How to select the Best Fuel Credit Card?
Now that we have discussed around 20 credit cards including the worthy mentions one, the prime question comes up, how to select the best fuel credit card?
The framework of selecting the best fuel credit card will consist of few factors. Firstly, make note of your monthly fuel spends. Secondly, whether are you able to meet the spend milestone of your premium credit card and lastly, make note of fuel outlet near your house or on your daily commute route. Will discuss the first and second points here.
Monthly spends for 5000-6000: If your fuel spends, are in the range of 5-6k per month. Then any of the above fuel credit card would work for you. Select the one that is accepted on your nearby fuel outlet.
Monthly spend of around 10k: For monthly fuel expenses of around 10K, SBI BPCL Octane, SBI BPCL and IDFC HPCL First Power+ credit cards give you the best reward rate. Further, you can consider Amex credit cards too at these spending levels provided the fuel outlet near you accepts Amex.
Monthly spend of 10K and above: Once your fuel spends inch upwards of 10K; the optimum way would be to use multiple credit cards. You should also consider your existing credit cards where the annual fee waiver requirement is high. If by putting your monthly fuel spends of say 15k on those cards can save you the annual fees, the savings would be much higher than a specific fuel credit card.
Conclusion
Below is the snapshot of reward rate of the fuel credit cards discussed:
From the above list, I would personally recommend Amex credit cards, SBI BPCL Octane and IDFC HPCL First Power+. Further, I also suggest that evaluate your premium credit cards such as Diners Black and Vistara credit cards, they may also provide good value for on your fuel spends.
Which fuel credit cards do you use for fuel bills? Do share. Would love to read about them.
Photo by Juan Carballo Diaz on Unsplash
The Best Fuel Credit Cards in India article was published/updated on 6th April 2024.
The information/data mentioned here is true to the knowledge of the author. E&OE.
Disclaimer
In the interest of full disclosure, Credit Cardz may earn a referral bonus for anyone that’s approved through some of the links in this post. However, opinions and views expressed here are of the author's alone and not those of the bank, credit card issuer, or anyone else and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
I was spending close to 6.5K via Axis IOCL at IOCL bunks in multiple transactions, but never got 1000 RP with them. Let’s say you have done 2 transactions of 3001INR, they would give 980RP instead of 1000RP, as they considering 3000INR for first 3001INR transaction and 1999INR for the next 3001INR. Based points for the second transaction are also not given, though they are worthless as it’s just 1RP/100 i.e just .2%. Again as with Axis shitty support this was confirmed verbally, but when I asked that they put it in writing no response so far. Axis makes such a simple product complex, would suggest to avoid unless you would need a Axis card for any e-comm sales.
Axis IOCL is devalued like ,
1.Spend based annual fee reversal increased from 50k to 3.5L from 20th April 2024 so reward rate will be 3%.
https://www.axisbank.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/credit-cards/indian-oil-axis-bank-credit-card.pdf
2. Surcharge charged at iocl bunks is minimum 10 Rs or or 1% like 10rs will be surcharged at bunk for 400rs spent but axis will waive off only 4Rs instead of 10rs so minimum spend has to be 1000 for optimum 1% surcharge waiver.
Axis bank IOCL card is devalued like
1.From 20th April 2024 , annual spend waiver condition is increased from 50k to 3L so reward rate will 3%.
2.Surcharged at iocl bunks minimum 10rs or 1% but axis will waive off only 1% for below 1000 spent so more than 1000 has to be spend for optimum surcharge waiver.