IDFC FIRST EA₹N Credit Card
The IDFC FIRST EA₹N is a secured, FD-backed RuPay credit card designed for UPI-first spenders. Because it is issued against a fixed deposit from ₹5,000 (credit limit equal to 100% of the FD), approval does not depend on income or credit history, and the deposit keeps earning interest. On rewards it pays 1% cashback on UPI spends made through the IDFC FIRST app, 0.5% on UPI via third-party apps (GPay, PhonePe, Paytm) and 0.5% on utilities, insurance, wallet loads and other online spends — and, unusually, fuel spends earn cashback too rather than being excluded (only cash withdrawals and EMI transactions earn nothing). That everyday cashback is capped at ₹500 a statement cycle. Travel booked through the in-app FIRST Rewards Gallery is separate and adds a 5% bonus on hotels and 2% on flights over the 0.5% base — 5.5% and 2.5% all-in — paid over and above the usual cashback under its own ₹2,000 per calendar month ceiling, and a District by Zomato offer gives 25% off up to ₹100 a month on movie tickets. Cards issued on or after 16 December 2025 join free and get a 10% welcome cashback up to ₹250 on the first transaction within 15 days, plus 5% cashback up to ₹1,000 on the first EMI conversion. The card is issued virtual-only — a physical card costs ₹199+GST — and a ₹499 annual fee starts in year two, waived on ₹1 lakh of annual spend. The limits are a modest 0.5% base outside app-UPI and a standard 3.5% forex.
Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
Welcome Benefit
~₹250 in vouchers, points or cashback on card activation
2.5% on Travel
5.5% on hotels and 2.5% on flights booked via the app's FIRST Rewards Gallery (0.5% base plus a 5%/2% bonus). The bonus is over and above the usual cashback, under its own ₹2,000 per calendar month ceiling separate from the ₹500/cycle cap, and pays the statement after you travel.
0.5% on Other
1% cashback on UPI spends via the IDFC FIRST app; 0.5% on UPI via third-party apps and on other eligible online spends (fuel included); total cashback capped at ₹500 a statement cycle
Annual Fee Waiver
Fee of ₹499 + 18% GST (₹589 all-in)/yr fully waived when you spend ₹1,00,000/year
Movie Ticket Benefit
25% off up to ₹100 a month on movie tickets via District by Zomato, available when the card was spend-active in the previous month
UPI Linked
Link to PhonePe, GPay or Paytm and earn credit card rewards on UPI payments
Full reward structure
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travel | cashback | 2.5% | ₹2,000 |
| Other | cashback | 0.5% | ₹500 |
| Utility Bills | cashback | 0.5% | ₹500 |
Fees & charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹589 |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | Free |
| Forex markup | 3.5% |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹1,200/yr in total.
movie ticket ~ ₹1,200 /yr
25% off up to ₹100 a month on movie tickets via District by Zomato, available when the card was spend-active in the previous month
Should you get it?
Best for: UPI-first users who cannot qualify for an unsecured card, New-to-credit or credit-rebuilding applicants, People who route most everyday spends through the IDFC FIRST app
Entry tier — great for first-time and lower-spend users.
Strongest value if you spend heavily on Travel ( 2.5% back).
✓ Pros
- 1% cashback on UPI via the IDFC FIRST app — earns on scan-and-pay
- Fuel spends earn cashback — a rarity among Indian credit cards
- FD-backed, so no income proof or credit history needed
- RuPay-on-UPI: pay from a credit line at any UPI QR
- The collateral fixed deposit keeps earning interest
✕ Cons
- The headline 1% only applies to UPI via the IDFC FIRST app — elsewhere it is 0.5%
- Cashback capped at ₹500 a statement cycle
- ₹499 annual fee from year two (waived on ₹1 lakh spend) and a standard 3.5% forex
- Issued virtual-only — a physical card costs ₹199+GST
Eligibility & documents
Age
18 –80 years
Min. income
₹0 /mo
Employment
Salaried · Self-employed · Student
Documents required
- PAN card
- Aadhaar / address proof
- Fixed deposit of ₹5,000 or more (no income proof required)
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
🎁 Cashback is auto-credited to the card statement each cycle
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 headline 1% only applies to UPI via the IDFC FIRST app — third-party UPI and other spends earn 0.5%, and cashback is capped at ₹500 a cycle, so a light spender may not clear year two's ₹499.
The bottom line
What makes the EA₹N interesting is how it converts a simple fixed deposit into a UPI-earning credit card — a sensible way for someone without established credit history to start earning cashback on everyday scan-and-pay spending while quietly building a track record. To get the full 1% rate, transactions need to run through the IDFC app specifically; route them through third-party UPI apps or spend elsewhere and the return drops to 0.5%. There's no cost to acquiring the card itself, so the real question becomes whether your spending clears the ₹1 lakh threshold needed to waive the ₹499 fee that starts in year two.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the IDFC FIRST EA₹N Credit Card are taken from IDFC FIRST Bank 's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page . Last verified 15 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 IDFC FIRST 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 2025 · 5 changes · last change Jun 2026
▲ Revaluation ▼ Devaluation ◆ Neutral / reversed
2026 2 changes — 2 cuts
▼ Reward Effective 18 Jun 2026
Cashback capped at your credit limit per cycle
All eligible spends earned cashback → Only spends up to the credit limit per cycle earn cashback
From 18 June 2026 cashback is earned only on spends up to the assigned credit limit in a billing cycle; spend beyond it — including spend enabled by repaying and re-using the limit within the same cycle — earns nothing. This lands squarely on EA₹N's core use case: the card is FD-backed with a limit as low as ₹5,000, and it is designed for high-frequency small UPI payments, exactly the pattern that involves paying down and re-spending the limit several times a month.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
▼ Benefit Effective 18 Jun 2026
Movie discount gated on staying spend-active
25% off up to ₹100, once a month → Same, but only if you transacted in the previous calendar month
From 18 June 2026 the monthly 25%-off-up-to-₹100 movie discount on District by Zomato requires at least one transaction on the card in the previous calendar month. Marked reconstructed: the launch press release listed the movie offer without a condition, but IDFC's notice words it as "continue enjoying", so we cannot fully rule out that the condition predated the notice.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
2025 3 changes — 1 cut, 1 improvement, 1 neutral
▲ Fee Effective 16 Dec 2025
Joining fee dropped to zero for new cards
₹499 + GST → ₹0
IDFC waived the EA₹N joining fee entirely for new cards issued on or after 16 December 2025 — the bank's own welcome kit shows the ₹499 + GST struck through and replaced with ₹0. The ₹499 + GST annual fee from year two is unchanged and is still waived on ₹1,00,000 of net annual purchases. Combined with the welcome-cashback cut made the same day, a new applicant is better off overall: ₹499 saved against up to ₹250 of forgone launch cashback.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
▼ Welcome Effective 16 Dec 2025
Welcome cashback cut from 100%/₹500 to 10%/₹250
100% cashback, up to ₹500 → 10% cashback, up to ₹250
For new cards issued on or after 16 December 2025 the launch offer was rebuilt: the first transaction within 15 days now earns 10% cashback capped at ₹250, down from 100% capped at ₹500. The cap halved and the rate collapsed — you now need ₹2,500 of spend to reach the ceiling that one small transaction used to hit. Partly offset by a new 5% cashback up to ₹1,000 on the first EMI conversion within 30 days, and by the joining fee going to zero on the same date.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
◆ Launch Effective 20 Jan 2025
IDFC FIRST EA₹N launched with RuPay
IDFC FIRST Bank and NPCI launched the FIRST EA₹N as a fully virtual, FD-backed RuPay credit card built for UPI — pitched as a gateway product for first-time credit users, with the fixed-deposit creation folded into the card application so approval needs no income proof or credit history. Launch terms: 1% cashback on UPI paid through the IDFC FIRST app, 0.5% on UPI via third-party apps and on online, insurance and utility spends, a launch offer of 100% cashback on the first UPI transaction up to ₹500 within 15 days (which the bank framed as paying back the first-year fee), 25% off up to ₹100 on District by Zomato movie tickets, 7.25% p.a. on the collateral FD, roadside assistance worth ₹1,399, ₹25,000 lost-card liability and ₹2 lakh personal accident cover. Joining and annual fee ₹499 + GST.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · 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.
Embed this timeline on your site Free to use. Facts only — dates, changes and before/after values. Please keep the credit line below the frame: it's the only part search engines can see, and it's what we ask for in return.
Source: IDFC FIRST EA₹N Credit Card value timeline — CardAdvisor
“ Cite this timeline Quoting a date or a before/after figure? Copy the HTML version — it credits the record with a working link.
HTML (with link) Plain text Copy
Source: IDFC FIRST EA₹N Credit Card value timeline , CardAdvisor (CC BY 4.0).
Want to know if this beats your current card for your spending?
Apply now → Compare with my profile
Applications are submitted to and decided by IDFC FIRST Bank . CardAdvisor does not issue cards or process applications.
Find your best card
Answer 5 questions. Get a personalised shortlist with ₹ value estimates.
Find my card →
Quick summary
Type Entry credit card
Reward rate 0.5%
Best for UPI-first users who cannot qualify for an unsecured card
Joining fee Free
Annual fee ₹499
Reviewed by
Devchandra Sah · Cards tested, miles earned, trips booked — for over a decade
Last verified 15 Aug 2026
How we research →
Useful links
Rewards calculator
Estimate any card’s annual value
Points valuations
What each point is really worth
Latest card changes
Live fee & reward-rate tracker
Market insights
The Indian card landscape
Card data study 2026
280 cards analysed — August 2026
Frequently asked questions
Check your eligibility for this card
Answer a few quick questions and our team will reach out with matching card offers based on your profile.