📅 Annual / renewal fee
Short answer
The annual (or renewal) fee is what you pay to hold the card each year — anywhere from ₹0 to ₹10,000+ depending on the card. It is very often waivable at a yearly spend milestone that is stated once in the welcome kit and never mentioned again.
What it is
A yearly charge for holding the card, sometimes split into a joining fee in year one and a renewal fee thereafter. GST applies.
Why it exists
Fee-bearing cards fund the benefits attached to them — lounge access, higher reward rates, insurance, concierge. Whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on whether you use the benefits, which is a question only you can answer.
How much it is (indicative, as of 2026)
| Card tier | Typical annual fee |
|---|---|
| Entry-level / lifetime free | ₹0 |
| Mid-tier rewards | ₹500 – ₹1,500 |
| Premium travel | ₹3,000 – ₹10,000+ |
The waiver milestone nobody remembers
Most fee-bearing cards waive next year's fee if your spending crosses a threshold — "annual fee waived on ₹1,00,000 of spend in the card year" is a common structure.
Note also that the window is usually your card anniversary year, not the calendar year.
How to make it ₹0
- Note the threshold on day one and calendar a check for month ten of the card year.
- Ask for a waiver. A polite call from a customer who pays in full often works.
- Ask to downgrade rather than close, if the fee cannot be justified — you keep the account age, which protects your credit score.
- Do the arithmetic honestly: fee plus GST, minus rewards you will actually redeem, minus benefits you will genuinely use. If the number is positive and cannot be waived, it is a bad fit — and that is fine to admit.
Before you close a fee-bearing card
Closing your oldest card raises utilisation and shortens credit age. Downgrading to a free variant almost always beats closing. See credit score myths.
All figures on this page are indicative and dated. Rates and fees differ by bank and change over time. Always verify with your bank's official schedule of charges.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get my credit card annual fee waived?
Often, in one of two ways: by crossing the card's published spend threshold in your card year, or by calling and asking. Banks frequently waive or reverse the fee for customers who pay in full and use the card regularly, though it is a goodwill decision rather than an entitlement.
Is it better to close a card than pay its annual fee?
Not usually. Closing shortens your credit age and raises your utilisation. Ask for a waiver first; if that fails, ask to downgrade to a free variant of the same card, which usually keeps the account and its history intact.
Sources
The regulation and official pages this page is checked against. If one of them disagrees with us, it wins.
- Master Direction — Credit Card and Debit Card (Issuance and Conduct) Directions, 2022 — Reserve Bank of India
- FAQs on the Credit Card and Debit Card Master Direction — Reserve Bank of India
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Written and checked by the CardSamajh editorial desk · Last reviewed: · How we check this