HSBC Cashback Credit Card
The HSBC Cashback card was rebranded as HSBC Live+ in July 2024, and this entry is kept as the historical record of that product. As sold, it was built for the person who refuses to run a rewards programme: flat 10% cashback on dining, food delivery and groceries under a single ₹1,000-per-month combined cap, wrapped around a genuinely useful 1.5% unlimited base, auto-credited to the statement with no portal, points or category to activate, with the ₹999 fee waived at ₹2 lakh of annual spend. The Live+ has since been revamped (26 July 2026) with a wider 10% basket and different caps, lounge and forex terms — see the HSBC Live+ page for the current card. Never the single best rate on any one transaction; always fine across all of them.
View HSBC Live+ Credit Card →
Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
10% on Dining
10% on dining and food delivery — ₹1,000/month cap shared with grocery
10% on Groceries
10% on groceries — ₹1,000/month cap shared with dining and food delivery
️ Airport Lounge Access
1 complimentary visits per quarter at domestic and international airport lounges
Annual Fee Waiver
Fee of ₹999 + 18% GST (₹1,179 all-in)/yr fully waived when you spend ₹2,00,000/year
Full reward structure
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dining | cashback | 10% | ₹1,000 |
| Groceries | cashback | 10% | ₹1,000 |
| Other | cashback | 1.5% | — |
Fees & charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹1,179 |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹1,179 |
| Finance charge (APR) | 3.75% p.m. |
| Forex markup | 3.5% |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹4,000/yr in total.
️ lounge access ~ ₹4,000 /yr
4 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits a year
Should you get it?
Best for: Frequent diners who want strong dining cashback, Users wanting simple unlimited cashback at a low fee
Mid tier — a solid all-rounder for steady monthly spend.
Strongest value if you spend heavily on Dining ( 10% back).
Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.
✓ Pros
- 10% cashback on dining (capped ₹1,000 a month)
- 1.5% unlimited cashback on all other spends
- Low ₹999 fee for the cashback on offer
✕ Cons
- Dining cashback is capped at ₹1,000 a month
- Only 4 domestic lounge visits a year — no international lounge access
- 1.5% base rate trails the best flat-cashback cards
Eligibility & documents
Age
21 –60 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.
🎁 Statement credit / cashback adjustment
🎁 Online rewards catalogue (vouchers, merchandise)
🎁 Flight & hotel bookings via the issuer rewards portal
What your Cashback are worth
Realistic value per point by redemption route — the difference is what most people leave on the table.
Statement credit Direct cash adjustment — no conversion
The concern The ₹1,000/month combined cap on the 10% categories caps upside quickly, and HSBC's thin India footprint means fewer offers and slower service than the local giants.
The bottom line
In its time, this was a genuine set-and-forget cashback option, later folded into HSBC Live+, where its terms live on today. Its real appeal was the quietly solid 1.5% uncapped base rather than the more visible 10% rate on delivery and groceries — that accelerated tier ran out after about ₹10,000 of qualifying spend each month, at which point the card behaved like any plain 1.5% cashback product.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the HSBC Cashback Credit Card are taken from HSBC 's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page . Last verified 7 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 HSBC . 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 2019 · 6 changes · last change Jul 2024
▲ Revaluation ▼ Devaluation ◆ Neutral / reversed
2024 1 change — 1 improvement
▲ Benefit Effective 12 Jul 2024
Renamed HSBC Live+; Live+ Dining Programme added
HSBC Cashback → HSBC Live+
HSBC India renamed the Cashback card to HSBC Live+ on 12 July 2024. Core rewards were unchanged (10% on dining/food delivery/groceries capped ₹1,000/cycle + 1.5% unlimited), fee stayed ₹999 waived at ₹2,00,000. The card gained the Live+ Dining Programme (up to 15% off at 200+ restaurants across Asia) and a ₹1,000 cashback welcome offer on ₹20,000 spend within 30 days.
Verification: HSBC India ↗ · Confidence: High
2023 4 changes — 1 cut, 3 improvements
▼ Fee Effective 2023
Annual fee raised to ₹999
₹750 → ₹999
Alongside the September 2023 rewards revamp, the annual membership fee rose from ₹750 to ₹999. Confirmed by archived HSBC pages before (18 Aug 2023) and after (1 Sep 2023) the change.
Verification: HSBC India ↗ · Confidence: High
▲ Lounge Effective 2023
Domestic lounge access added
None → 4 visits/year (1 per quarter)
The September 2023 revamp added 4 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits per year (one per quarter). The pre-revamp Cashback card listed no lounge benefit in its key features.
Verification: HSBC India ↗ · Confidence: High
▲ Fee Effective 2023
Fee-waiver threshold eased to ₹2 lakh
₹3,00,000 → ₹2,00,000
The annual-fee waiver threshold was lowered from ₹3,00,000 to ₹2,00,000 of yearly spend at the September 2023 revamp, making the ₹999 fee easier to offset. Confirmed by archived HSBC pages bracketing the change.
Verification: HSBC India ↗ · Confidence: High
▲ Reward Effective 2023
Reworked into an accelerated-category cashback card
1.5% online + 1% other → 10% dining/grocery/food-delivery + 1.5% unlimited
HSBC replaced the flat online-cashback model with accelerated category cashback: 10% on dining, food delivery and groceries (combined cap ₹1,000 per statement cycle) plus 1.5% unlimited cashback on all other spends. Archived HSBC pages show the old 1.5%-online/1%-other structure on 18 Aug 2023 and the new structure by 1 Sep 2023.
Verification: HSBC India ↗ · Confidence: High
2019 1 change — 1 neutral
◆ Launch Effective 2019
HSBC Cashback Credit Card in market
Ran as an online-focused cashback card: 1.5% cashback on online spends and 1% on all other spends, with a ₹750 annual fee reversed at ₹3,00,000 of yearly spend and no lounge access. 2019 is the earliest archived evidence of the card on hsbc.co.in; the exact launch date is undocumented.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: Reconstructed
↓ Show all 6 changes 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: HSBC Cashback Credit Card value timeline — CardAdvisor
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Quick summary
Type Mid credit card
Reward rate 1.5%–10%
Best for Frequent diners who want strong dining cashback
Joining fee ₹999
Annual fee ₹999
Reviewed by
Devchandra Sah · Cards tested, miles earned, trips booked — for over a decade
Last verified 7 Aug 2026
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