IDFC FIRST Gaj Credit Card
Gaj is IDFC FIRST Bank's invitation-only flagship, offered only to long-standing Private Banking customers — you cannot apply for it directly. It is a Visa Infinite metal card built around travel: a genuine 0% forex markup, 4 domestic (1 guest) + 4 international lounge visits per quarter, up to 24 golf rounds a year, and reward points worth ₹1 each on flight & hotel bookings through the IDFC FIRST app (₹0.25 elsewhere). Base earn is 5 reward points per ₹150 (~0.83% at ₹0.25, up to ~3.3% on travel redemption), 3 per ₹150 on international spends and 1 per ₹150 on rent/utility/insurance/ government/wallet/railway/FASTag/education, with accelerated 45-bonus-points/₹150 on hotels and 20-bonus/₹150 on flights (capped 15,000 bonus points a month). It ships with a complimentary, no-fee FIRST Digital RuPay companion that earns 1 point per ₹150 on UPI, and a 12,500-point welcome. The ₹12,500 fee is waived on ₹10 lakh of eligible spend in the prior card-anniversary year.
✦ How to get this card →
Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
Welcome Benefit
~₹3,125 in vouchers, points or cashback on card activation
16.67% on Travel
Includes: Flight & hotel bookings made through the IDFC FIRST Bank mobile app — the hotel leg earns 50 RP per ₹150 total, flights 25 RP per ₹150; a single 15,000 bonus-point monthly cap is shared across both legs, so this row uses the conservative flight-leg encoding; points worth ₹1 each on travel
0.83% on Other
5 RP per ₹150 on everyday spends (~0.83% at ₹0.25, up to ~3.3% on in-app travel where points are worth ₹1); 1 RP per ₹150 on rent/utility/insurance/government/wallet/railway/FASTag/education
️ Airport Lounge Access
4 domestic (incl. 1 guest) and 4 international lounge visits every quarter (16 + 16 a year)
Zero Forex Markup
Use abroad without extra charge — swipe internationally like you do domestically.
Annual Fee Waiver
Fee of ₹12,500 + 18% GST (₹14,750 all-in)/yr fully waived when you spend ₹10,00,000/year
Golf Privileges
Up to 24 complimentary golf rounds or lessons a year (spend-activated)
Full reward structure
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travel | reward points | 16.67% | ₹15,000 |
| Other | reward points | 0.83% | — |
| International | reward points | 0.5% | — |
Fees & charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹14,750 |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹14,750 |
| Forex markup | 0% |
| Reward redemption fee | ₹99 |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹80,800/yr in total.
️ lounge access ~ ₹60,000 /yr
4 domestic (incl. 1 guest) and 4 international lounge visits every quarter (16 + 16 a year)
golf ~ ₹20,000 /yr
Up to 24 complimentary golf rounds or lessons a year (spend-activated)
fuel waiver ~ ₹800 /yr
1% fuel-surcharge waiver on fuel transactions between ₹200 and ₹5,000, capped at ₹300 per statement cycle
Should you get it?
Best for: IDFC Private Banking clients who receive the invitation, Heavy travel spenders chasing ₹1-per-point in-app redemption
Super Premium tier — built for high spenders who want top-end perks.
Strongest value if you spend heavily on Travel ( 16.67% back).
Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.
✓ Pros
- Genuine 0% forex markup on a Visa Infinite metal card
- Reward points worth ₹1 each on in-app flight & hotel bookings
- 16 domestic and 16 international lounge visits a year
- 4 railway lounge visits a quarter (on ₹20,000 of spend in the previous month)
- CFAR trip-cancellation cover up to ₹50,000 twice a year
- One-time welcome extra — a 25%-off 5-star hotel voucher capped at ₹5,000, on ₹1 lakh of spend within 60 days of card generation (limited-period offer, once per customer)
- Bundled FIRST Digital RuPay companion earns points on UPI
✕ Cons
- Invitation-only — cannot be applied for, offered only to IDFC Private Banking clients
- The ₹12,500 fee needs ₹10 lakh of eligible annual spend to waive
- Everyday non-travel redemption is only ₹0.25 per point
Eligibility
IDFC publishes no eligibility criteria for this card — no minimum income, no age band, no credit-score floor, and no document checklist. That is not an oversight on our part: the card is issued strictly by invitation, there is no public application form, and so there is nothing to qualify for in the usual sense. Any specific salary figure you see quoted for it elsewhere has been inferred by a third party, not stated by the bank.
What actually decides an invitation is the relationship behind it — balances held with the bank, spend on an existing card, and the banking segment you sit in. We set those signals out in how to get an invitation above, labelled for what they are: observed patterns, not published criteria.
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
🎁 Book flights and hotels on the IDFC FIRST app for ₹1 per point
🎁 Redeem for statement credit and vouchers at ₹0.25 per point
What your IDFC Reward Points are worth
Realistic value per point by redemption route — the difference is what most people leave on the table.
Statement credit BEST Never-expiring points
Gift voucher catalogue BEST Brand & e-gift vouchers
The concern You cannot apply for Gaj — it is invitation-only for IDFC Private Banking clients — and the ₹12,500 fee only makes sense for heavy travel spenders who reach the ₹10 lakh waiver.
The bottom line
For the small group of people who can actually get it, Gaj holds up as a genuinely capable ultra-premium travel card — zero forex markup, points that convert at a full ₹1 on in-app travel bookings, ample lounge and golf privileges, and a companion RuPay card that earns on UPI spending. Access is the catch: it's extended only by invitation to IDFC Private Banking customers, putting it out of reach for most people reading this. But among those who do qualify and who put serious money through travel spending, the numbers work in their favour, and clearing the ₹10 lakh spend needed to waive the fee is a realistic bar at that income level.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the IDFC FIRST Gaj 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 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 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 · 2 changes · last change Jun 2026
▲ Revaluation ▼ Devaluation ◆ Neutral / reversed
2026 1 change — 1 cut
▼ Reward Effective 18 Jun 2026
Earning capped at the credit limit per billing cycle
All eligible spend earned points → Only spend up to the assigned credit limit per cycle earns
From 18 June 2026 reward points accrue only on spends up to the assigned credit limit within a billing cycle; additional spend beyond it earns nothing. Gaj was six months old and this is its first documented trim — a narrow one, aimed at repay-and-respend cycling rather than at ordinary use, and the rest of the proposition (1 RP = ₹1 on in-app travel, never-expiring points, zero forex) was reaffirmed in the same notice.
Verification: IDFC FIRST Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
2025 1 change — 1 neutral
◆ Launch Effective 29 Dec 2025
IDFC FIRST unveils Gaj, its invitation-only flagship
IDFC FIRST Bank launched Gaj — the twin-elephant metal card completing its Ashva-Mayura-Gaj trilogy — as an invitation-only product for select Private Banking customers with established relationship depth; there is no public application. Joining and annual fee ₹12,500 + GST, waived on ₹10 lakh of annual spend, with a 12,500-point invitation benefit that offsets the joining fee outright. Built around a simple 1 RP = ₹1 redemption on flights and hotels booked in the IDFC FIRST app, zero forex mark-up, 4 domestic (including 1 guest) plus 4 international lounge visits per quarter, up to 2 golf rounds or lessons a month, a ₹50,000 trip-cancellation cover and a complimentary FIRST Digital RuPay companion for UPI.
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.
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Quick summary
Type Super Premium credit card
Reward rate 0.83%
Best for IDFC Private Banking clients who receive the invitation
Joining fee ₹12,500
Annual fee ₹12,500
Reviewed by
Devchandra Sah · Cards tested, miles earned, trips booked — for over a decade
Last verified 7 Aug 2026
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280 cards analysed — August 2026
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