{"id":6318,"date":"2026-03-11T22:37:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T17:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/money\/?p=6318"},"modified":"2026-03-11T22:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T17:07:07","slug":"3-best-credit-card-alternatives-after-airtel-axis-credit-cards-major-devaluation-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tradebrains.in\/money\/3-best-credit-card-alternatives-after-airtel-axis-credit-cards-major-devaluation-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Best Credit Card Alternatives After Airtel Axis Credit Card\u2019s Major Devaluation in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Synopsis: <\/strong>Airtel Axis Credit Card is a well-known card that has just been devalued and altered the manner in which users receive cashback on their airtel and regular expenditure. This article focuses on the changes and points out three powerful replacement credit cards that might prove to be a better value to your spending.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The credit card often changes as the banks increase or decrease the reward structure to maintain the balance between benefits to customers and increasing costs of operations. A devaluation of one of the popular cards, Airtel Axis Bank Credit Card<\/strong>, is recent, and new terms are to be introduced on April 12, 2026<\/strong>. With the recent modifications to its reward system and benefits make many cardholders question its value and seek out other credit cards with the same or even better cashback benefits.<\/p>

\"scapia<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Changes made on Airtel Axis Bank Credit Card<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Feature<\/strong><\/td>Before (Old Structure)<\/strong><\/td>After Devaluation (From April 12, 2026)<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Joining Fee<\/strong><\/td>\u20b9500 + GST<\/td>No change<\/td><\/tr>
Annual Fee<\/strong><\/td>\u20b9500 + GST<\/td>No change<\/td><\/tr>
Fee Waiver<\/strong><\/td>\u20b92 lakh annual spending<\/td>No change<\/td><\/tr>
Airtel Cashback<\/strong><\/td>25% cashback on Airtel Mobile, Broadband, Wi-Fi & DTH via Airtel Thanks app, capped at \u20b9250\/month<\/strong><\/td>25% cashback remains but cap = 2\u00d7 the base cashback earned in that statement cycle<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Utility Bills<\/strong><\/td>10% cashback via Airtel Thanks app, capped at \u20b9250\/month<\/strong><\/td>10% cashback remains but cap = 1\u00d7 the base cashback earned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Food \/ Grocery<\/strong><\/td>10% cashback on Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket<\/strong><\/td>Cashback structure changed; benefits shifted to partner \u201cvalue-back\u201d on Zomato, Blinkit, District Movies<\/strong>,  credits instead of direct cashback<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Base Cashback<\/strong><\/td>1% cashback on all other spends<\/td>No change<\/td><\/tr>
Airport Lounge Access<\/strong><\/td>4 complimentary domestic lounge visits per year<\/td>Removed \/ discontinued<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Fuel Benefit<\/strong><\/td>1% fuel surcharge waiver on \u20b9400-\u20b94000 transactions<\/td>No major change<\/td><\/tr>
Excluded Categories<\/strong><\/td>Fuel, wallet loads, rent, etc. not eligible for cashback<\/td>Mostly unchanged<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Replacement cards<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. SBI Cashback Credit Card<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"SBI<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The SBI Cashback credit card will be the most suitable one to be used by common online shoppers with 5% cashback on online purchases without any merchant restriction and 1% cashback on offline purchases.<\/strong> The cashback is automatically registered to the card statement, which means that it is not required to redeem it manually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The joining and annual fee of the card is \u20b9999 + GST<\/strong> and this fee is not charged provided annual spending is 2 lakh. Maximum cashback is of \u20b95,000<\/strong> cashback earned by cardholders on a monthly statement. There are also such advantages like a 1% fuel surcharge waiver<\/strong> on transactions between \u20b9500 to 3,000 (limited to 100 per statement cycle) and issue add-on cards to family members more than 18 years.<\/p>