The HSBC Rupay Cashback Credit Card is the first Rupay credit card from the HSBC Bank. This is likely the first major foreign bank to launch RuPay cards. Let’s dive directly into the HSBC Rupay Cashback credit card and see if it is the right fit for your wallet or the UPI app 😊.
HSBC Rupay Cashback Credit Card
HSBC Rupay Cashback Credit Card Features
Fees
- Joining and annual fee of 499+GST
- Waived off on spending 2lk per year
Reward and Benefits
Welcome/Annual Benefits
- INR 500 cashback on spending 10k within the first 30 days.
- 2 months EazyDiner membership
Reward Points
- 1% cashback on all eligible spends.
- 10% cashback on dining, food delivery and grocery spends
- Monthly cashback capped at INR400 per month.
- Exclusion list: Fuel, wallet, rent, education, government payments, insurance, jewellery and utilities payments.
Forex Charges
- 0% forex markup till 31st Dec 2025
Lounge Access
- 2 domestic lounge visits per quarter
- 2 international lounge visits per year
- No minimum spend criteria/restrictions for lounge visits
Thoughts on the HSBC Rupay Cashback Credit Card
HSBC Rupay Credit Card – Positives
0% forex charges
The HSBC Rupay Cashback Credit Card offers 0% forex charges on all transactions till Dec 2025. While there is no guarantee that the offer will continue, there is a possibility that it will. Furthermore, the T&Cs don’t mention that forex spends won’t earn cashback. Thus, you will get an effective 1% cashback on your forex spends. In case this feature continues, then the HSBC Rupay Cashback credit card can become one of the best zero forex credit card.
1% cashback on all spends, including UPI spends
This credit card offers 1% cashback on all spends, including eligible UPI spends. Much like the HSBC Live+ credit card, cashback gets credited directly to the card statement. In addition, the T&Cs don’t mention any minimum transaction size for the cashback calculation. Thus, it means that even a 10-rupee transaction will be eligible for cashback.
Double dip on Swiggy Instamart
The HSBC Rupay Cashback Credit Card gives 10% cashback on dining, food delivery, and grocery spends. Further, this card has an ongoing offer of 10% off on grocery delivery from Swiggy Instamart. Thus, this results in a 19% savings on your Swiggy Instamart offers.
However, there is a catch here. For the additional 10% discount, you need to order stuff of more than INR 500; the maximum discount is INR 200, and the offer is available only once a month.
Lounge access
The HSBC Rupay Cashback Credit Card offers 2 domestic lounge accesses every quarter and 2 international lounge accesses in a year. The good thing here is that there are no spend requirements for lounge access.
HSBC Rupay Credit Card – Negatives
Monthly cashback is capped at INR400 per month
This could be the biggest drawback of this credit card. The bank can offer an INR 1000 cashback limit like that on HSBC Live+ here too.
Nonetheless, if you plan to use this credit card as a UPI-only credit card, then the 400 cashback is more than enough.
Annual fee waivers at 2lk a year, a bit too high
Here again, the annual-fee waiver at 2lk spends is a bit too high in my opinion. A 1lk limit would have been more appropriate.
Long list of exclusions
Much like other HSBC credit cards, there is a long list of excluded categories. Most prominent ones are fuel, wallet, rent, education, government payments, insurance, jewellery and utilities payment. A detailed list, along with the MCCs, is mentioned here.
Will I apply for this card? Most Likely
Mostly yes. The reason here is simple; to have a 0 forex Rupay credit card. While the offer may not extend beyond 31-Dec-25, it may very well be extended, who knows? A 0 forex Rupay along with a 0 forex Scapia credit card(Apply Now) gets you sorted for foreign visits. Not to mention that Rupay generally runs great forex spends offers, along with 0 forex, is a cherry on top.
Further, the way cashback is calculated for the HSBC Rupay Cashback Credit Card, even an INR 10-20 transaction will get cashback at the end of the month. Unlike most other Rupay credit cards, where spending below 100 or even 200 is not eligible for cashback or rewards.
In addition, if you link the credit cards to any of the UPI apps, like SuperMoney, BHIM or Kiwi, etc., you may end up getting more cashback on these apps too. Thus, sort of a double dip even on the UPI spends.
Overall, a very good entry-level Rupay credit card from HSBC.
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.
can you please confirm based on your usage if this card does really gives cashback on forex and on very low amount UPI transactions (even a 10-rupee transaction will be eligible for cashback)