Federal Bank Signet Credit Card
Among Federal Bank's own-branded cards, the Signet sits at the entry level and is the easiest of the three to qualify for. There's no cost to holding it today: although Federal's Schedule of Charges still lists a ₹750 joining fee and ₹750 annual fee, those apply only to customers who were onboarded before 3rd April 2023, and the card's own page confirms outright that there is no membership fee and no joining fee for anyone applying now. Uniquely among Federal's proprietary cards, Signet is issued on all three networks — Visa, Mastercard and RuPay — with the RuPay version linkable to a UPI ID, so it doubles as a card you can use for routine scan-and-pay transactions. Where it falls short is rewards: the standard earn rate of 1 Reward Point per ₹200 is the lowest across Federal's range, even with a 3x multiplier on electronics and apparel and a 2x multiplier on entertainment. Since Federal officially prices each point at 25 paisa, that base rate translates to just 0.125% back — modest enough that this card functions less as an earner and more as a free pass to lounge access and the occasional voucher. One more route in: it's available against a fixed deposit, giving applicants without a credit history a way to get their first card.
Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
Welcome Benefit
~₹200 in vouchers, points or cashback on card activation
0.38% on Online Shopping
3x — 3 Reward Points per ₹200, limited to the electronics and apparel merchant categories rather than all online shopping.
0.25% on OTT & Entertainment
2x — 2 Reward Points per ₹200 on the entertainment merchant category. Federal defines this by merchant category, so it is broader than streaming subscriptions alone.
️ Airport Lounge Access
1 complimentary visits per quarter at domestic and international airport lounges
Lifetime Free
No annual fee — ever. Keep this card long-term without any recurring cost.
Movie Ticket Benefit
₹100 off the second INOX ticket, once a quarter — you must buy two tickets in one transaction and the discount is capped at ₹100. Federal markets it as buy-one-get-one; its own terms cap it at ₹100.
Milestone Bonus
~₹150 in bonus rewards on hitting annual spend milestones
UPI Linked
Link to PhonePe, GPay or Paytm and earn credit card rewards on UPI payments
Full reward structure
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Shopping | reward points | 0.38% | — |
| OTT & Entertainment | reward points | 0.25% | — |
| Other | reward points | 0.13% | — |
| Insurance | reward points | 0.13% | ₹63 |
Fees & charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | Lifetime free |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | Free |
| Finance charge (APR) | 3.75% p.m. |
| Forex markup | 3.5% |
| Cash advance fee | 2.5% (min ₹500) |
| Add-on card fee | ₹100 |
| Rent payment fee | 1% |
| Reward redemption fee | ₹99 |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹3,550/yr in total.
️ lounge access ~ ₹3,000 /yr
Spend ₹20,000+ in a qualifying cycle (21st to 20th, not the calendar quarter) to unlock 1 domestic lounge visit the next quarter — the lowest bar of the three Federal cards. Primary cardholder only; cash and ATM spend do not count; unused visits do not carry forward.
movie ticket ~ ₹400 /yr
₹100 off the second INOX ticket, once a quarter — you must buy two tickets in one transaction and the discount is capped at ₹100. Federal markets it as buy-one-get-one; its own terms cap it at ₹100.
milestone bonus ~ ₹150 /yr
Swiggy voucher worth ₹150 for spending ₹20,000 in a quarter (₹80,000 a year to qualify every quarter). Federal's two T&C pages disagree on frequency — one says once a calendar quarter the other once a financial year — so we value it at one voucher a year until that is resolved.
Should you get it?
Best for: First-time cardholder building a credit history, Someone wanting a free RuPay card linked to UPI, Applicant with no credit file, via the fixed-deposit route, A free card to pair with a stronger everyday earner
Entry tier — great for first-time and lower-spend users.
Strongest value if you spend heavily on Online Shopping ( 0.38% back).
Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.
✓ Pros
- Lifetime free for anyone onboarded from April 2023 — no joining fee, no annual fee, no spend condition
- The only Federal own-brand card with a RuPay rail, so it can be linked to UPI
- Lowest lounge bar of the three — ₹20,000 in a quarter unlocks a domestic visit
- Amazon Pay voucher worth ₹200 on ₹3,000 of spend in the first 30 days
- Can be issued against a fixed deposit — a viable first card with no credit history
✕ Cons
- The weakest earn rate of any Federal card — 1 point per ₹200, worth about 0.125%
- ₹99 redemption fee per request means small point balances are uneconomic to ever redeem
- Points cash out at only 10 paisa each, well below the official 25 paisa valuation
- Only 1 domestic lounge visit a quarter, and only if you spend ₹20,000 that quarter
- 3.5% forex markup — poor for foreign spends
- Federal does not publish the value of the Swiggy milestone voucher
Eligibility & documents
Age
21 –65 years
Min. income
₹25,000 /mo
Employment
Salaried · Self-employed · Student
Documents required
- PAN card
- Aadhaar / valid address proof
- Latest 3 months bank statement
- Income proof — salary slips (salaried) or ITR (self-employed)
- Recent passport-size photograph
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
🎁 Federal Rewards catalogue: Redeem points for merchandise, movie tickets and gift vouchers via the Federal Rewards site or the Fedmobile app. (₹0.25/point official valuation)
🎁 Cash to card account: Redeem points as a credit against your card outstanding. (₹0.10/point — well below the official valuation)
🎁 Partner stores: Redeem in-store at Federal Rewards partner outlets. (Variable)
What your Federal Reward Points are worth
Realistic value per point by redemption route — the difference is what most people leave on the table.
Statement credit BEST Standard redemption
Gift voucher catalogue BEST Brand & e-gift vouchers
Airline transfer (Air India / KrisFlyer) Two partners, and every route loses money — which is the useful thing to know. Air India: Celesta 6:1 (⇒ ₹0.17/pt), Imperio 7:1 (⇒ ₹0.14/pt) — one of the rare cases where the more premium card gets the WORSE ratio. KrisFlyer: Celesta 7:1, Imperio 9:1, other eligible cards 13:1, i.e. roughly ₹700 / ₹1,350 / ₹2,600 of spend per single KrisFlyer mile. All of these sit below Federal's own ₹0.25 catalogue rate, so transferring destroys value rather than creating it. Points are an enterprise-wide pool across credit, debit and netbanking, which is why the ratio attaches to card tier.
✈ Transfer partners ✈ Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer ( 13:1 ) Value your balance: Federal Reward Points ✈ Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer ( 13:1 ) ₹ 800 vs. typical redemption ₹ 2,500 Direct transfers from this card only, ranked by what a point is worth in the destination programme . Full calculator, every currency → The concern At a 0.125% base and a ₹99 fee per redemption request, you could spend for years and still not accumulate enough points to redeem economically — the rewards are effectively a rounding error.
The bottom line
Because Signet carries no fee at all, the real question isn't cost — it's whether the benefits are worth the wallet space. On that front, there's a reasonable case: a domestic lounge visit each quarter for ₹20,000 of spend costs nothing extra, the RuPay variant makes the card genuinely functional for UPI payments, and the fixed-deposit route offers a practical way in for first-time applicants. Rewards are a different story — at a 0.125% base rate, a ₹99 fee attached to every redemption, and a cash-out rate of just 10 paisa a point, the programme barely registers as an earning tool. Treat Signet as a no-cost lounge pass and UPI card, and look elsewhere for a card that actually rewards your spending.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the Federal Bank Signet Credit Card are taken from Federal Bank 's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page . Last verified 8 Aug 2026 . Reviewed by Devchandra Sah . Always confirm current details on the issuer's site before applying. How we research →
Independence. CardAdvisor is an independent editorial publication. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or authorised to act for Federal Bank . All issuer names, product names, and payment-network marks are the property of their respective owners and appear here for identification and comparison only. Card faces shown on this site are our own original illustrations — we do not display or host issuer card artwork or logos.
Value timeline
Every real-world change to this card's rewards, fees and benefits we've tracked — newest first, each linked to its source.
Tracking since 2021 · 3 changes · last change Apr 2023
▲ Revaluation ▼ Devaluation ◆ Neutral / reversed
2023 1 change — 1 improvement
▲ Fee Effective 3 Apr 2023
Signet becomes Lifetime Free for new applicants
₹750 joining + ₹750 annual membership fee → ₹0 — no joining fee, no annual fee
Federal Bank waived the joining and annual membership fee on all its credit cards for customers onboarded on or after 3 April 2023, making the Signet lifetime free for anyone applying since. The legacy ₹750 joining and ₹750 annual fee, still printed in Federal's Schedule of Charges, now binds only customers onboarded before that date. # (note stripped below)
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High
2021 2 changes — 2 neutral
◆ Network Effective 27 Sept 2021
RuPay rail added — Signet becomes a three-network card
Visa (and Mastercard) only → Visa, Mastercard and RuPay — the RuPay variant is UPI-linkable
Federal Bank, with NPCI, launched the RuPay Signet Contactless Credit Card a few weeks after the Visa range, making Signet the only Federal own-brand card issued across all three rails. The RuPay variant can be linked to a UPI ID for scan-and-pay, while rewards, fees and lounge access stay the same across networks.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High
◆ Launch Effective 3 Sept 2021
Federal Bank launches the Signet as part of its first own-brand card range
Signet launched on Visa as Federal Bank's entry-tier own-brand card
Federal Bank launched its first independent credit-card range in association with Visa — Celesta, Imperio and Signet — with the Signet positioned as the entry rung aimed at young, early-career professionals. It carried a 3-2-1 reward structure (3x on electronics and apparel, 2x on entertainment, 1x on everything else) and a quarterly domestic-lounge benefit on ₹20,000 of spend.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High
Each change links to the issuer's own document — bank T&C, MITC, notice, press release or product page — where one is public. Where the bank published nothing, it's marked CardAdvisor Research and verified against the card's current terms. Independent of the live terms shown above. This timeline is one card's slice of our market-wide change record across every tracked card.
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Source: Federal Bank Signet Credit Card value timeline — CardAdvisor
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Quick summary
Type Entry credit card
Reward rate 0.13%–0.38%
Best for First-time cardholder building a credit history
Joining fee Free
Annual fee Lifetime free
Reviewed by
Devchandra Sah · Cards tested, miles earned, trips booked — for over a decade
Last verified 8 Aug 2026
How we research →
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280 cards analysed — August 2026
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