The Swiggy HDFC Credit Card has done rare revaluation in times of constant devaluation. Starting 21st June 2024, the cashback earned on the Swiggy HDFC credit card will be adjusted against the statement outstanding and not credited into the Swiggy wallet i.e. the cashback will now be for real. This change makes the Swiggy HDFC credit card a formidable cashback credit card and probably even better than many other cashback credit cards. So, should you apply for one right away? Read to find out…
Swiggy HDFC Credit Card
Apply Swiggy HDFC Credit Card Now
Fees
- Joining and Annual fees of 500+ taxes.
- Annual fee waived on spending 200,000 or more in an anniversary year
Rewards and Benefits:
- Reward Points:
- 10% cashback on Swiggy orders, capped at 1500 per month (i.e. max orders of 15,000 per month). Includes food delivery, Instamart, Genie and Dineout. Excludes transactions on Swiggy Money wallet, Swiggy Liquor, Swiggy Minis etc
- 5% cashback on online spending, capped at 1500 per month. Mostly includes shopping merchants such as Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Ajio, Online Pharmacies, Ola, Uber etc.
- 1% cash on all other spends, capped at 500 per month
- Exclusions – No cashbacks on following spends – Wallet, Rent, government payments, fuel, jewellery, EMI etc.
- Cashback will be credited to your card statement starting 21st June 2024.
- Welcome Benefit: 3 months complimentary Swiggy One Membership
- No renewal benefits.
- No lounge access.
Thoughts on the Swiggy HDFC Credit Card
Since its launch in 2023, the Swiggy HDFC credit card has been a decent entry-level credit card. There was only one sore point for me; that the cashback was in the form of Swiggy wallet money. This makes one compulsorily spend on Swiggy. However, with the changes starting from 21st June 2024, the cashback amount will be credited directly to the card statement and will be adjusted against the outstanding. This will lead to real savings for the cardholders. Kudos to the HDFC Bank team!
How to apply the Swiggy HDFC credit card?
One question that most people have, is whether one can own multiple HDFC credit cards. The answer is, Yes. HDFC is now issuing new credit cards to an existing cardholder too. The Swiggy HDFC credit card is my third credit card with the HDFC Bank. The other 2 are HDFC Diners Black Metal(Apply Now) and the Tata HDFC Neu Infinity(Apply Now).
You can apply for the Swiggy HDFC credit card using any of the below 2 ways:
- Click here to apply directly on HDFC Bank’s website.
- Check the Swiggy app. In the app click the profile button at the top left. There you should be able to see the option to apply for the Swiggy HDFC credit card. you can apply from here if there is an offer for you.
Positives of the Swiggy HDFC Credit Card
10% cashback on Swiggy applicable on Instamart too: The good thing is about the Swiggy HDFC credit card is the 10% cashback offer also extends to Instamart. That means that one can order groceries from Swiggy and get 10% cashback over and above any offer on the platform. That’s nice.
5% on many online merchants: This is a la SBI Cashback credit card(Apply Now). The Swiggy HDFC credit card also offers 5% cashback on many online merchants subject to a monthly cap of 1500. These merchants include any website that falls under the below MCCs
However, the problem is that neither the websites nor the credit card statement tell us what the MCC is for the merchant. One can only make educated guesses about the same. Nonetheless, HDFC Bank has mentioned that Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho and Ajio are included for 5% cashback.
Separate capping for Swiggy and Online merchants: The Swiggy HDFC credit card has a separate 1,500-per-month capping for Swiggy and online merchants. This means, theoretically, one can order food/groceries worth 15000 from Swiggy, also shop for 30,000 on Flipkart/Amazon, and get a total 3000 cashback.
Cashback directly in your card statement: This is the major change brought by the HDFC Bank. The cashback earned will now be credited directly to your card statement. Thus, the cashback is real money leading to real savings. Below is the communication that HDFC Bank has sent to the cardholders.
Negatives of the Swiggy HDFC Credit Card
Swiggy One membership: The Swiggy HDFC credit card only offers a 3-month complimentary Swiggy One membership as a welcome benefit. This means, that next year on renewal you won’t get this membership again. This is disappointing. At the least, they should offer a 1-year Swiggy One membership at say 50% discount to the cardholders.
No lounge access: There is no lounge access with this card.
Comparison of the Swiggy HDFC credit card with other credit cards
Given that the Swiggy HDFC credit card is an entry-level cashback credit card, I have compared it to 5 other popular cashback/quasi-cashback credit cards. They are Axis Airtel(Apply Now), SBI Cashback(Apply Now), HDFC Tata Neu Infinity(Apply Now), Axis Ace(Apply Now) and Amex MRCC(Apply Now) credit cards.
Below is the dynamic Excel sheet to calculate the reward rate based on your spending pattern. Based on sample spending you would notice that most credit cards offer around 2% cashback. Basically, very difficult to choose between most credit cards.
The USP of Axis Airtel credit card(Apply Now) is 25% on Airtel bills, 10% on utility bills and 10% cashback on Swiggy/Zomato/Bigbasket. Prima facie the Axis Airtel seems more rewarding than the Siwggy HDFC credit card for online ordering, however, the monthly cap is at 500 against 1500 for the Swiggy HDFC credit card. Also do note that the Axis Airtel credit card does not give accelerated cashback on Instamart and Genie orders, unlike the Swiggy HDFC credit card.
Further, the Amex MRCC credit card(Apply Now) is a versatile card that tends to give to mediocre reward rate on spends, but the milestone benefits on 4*1500 transactions and the monthly 20k spends, sort of give this card an edge. In addition, do not forget that the MR points can be converted into statement credit, airmiles, hotel loyalty points or Amazon vouchers depending on your requirements. Further, it is worth mentioning that fuel spends on MRCC are counted towards the monthly spending threshold of 20k.
Another worthy mention here is the HDFC Tata Neu Infinity credit card(Apply Now). This is the only card on the Rupay platform in this comparison. This means that you can link the HDFC Tata Neu credit card to your UPI handle and pay for many transactions that otherwise don’t fetch you reward points and will also clutter your bank statement. Further, you can buy nearly everything you need from the Tata Neu app where you get an additional 5% reward rate. Thus, this is one card that you should hold.
Do try out the dynamic calculator and share in the comment section, which card gives you the maximum benefits for your spending pattern. I would love to read your comments.
Conclusion
The Swiggy HDFC credit card is an overall decent credit card and sort of gives a good reward rate of close to 2%. With the cashback now being credited directly into the card statement it has become an even more formidable cashback credit card. I did apply for the card, but it was more of an impulse rather than any use case that I see.
If you order regularly from Swiggy and other online websites and this forms bulk of your purchases then dont think twice and apply for the Swiggy HDFC credit card. However, if your spends are more spread out including travel, taxi, insurance etc. I believe that if you have the Amex MRCC(Apply Now), HDFC Tata Neu(Apply Now) and the SBI Cashback (Apply Now) credit card you would end up getting much higher rewards than the Swiggy HDFC credit card in overall usage.
Do share your thoughts, views and feedback in the comments section below. I love reading them.
Photo by Rowan Freeman on Unsplash The article was published/updated on 1st June 2024.
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.
