PhonePe HDFC Bank Ultimo Credit Card

Best for: Heavy PhonePe users who will max the 10% recharges/bills/travel bucket, UPI-first spenders who also want domestic lounge access

Mid tier — a solid all-rounder for steady monthly spend.

Strongest value if you spend heavily on Utility Bills ( 10% back).

Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.

• 10% Reward Points on PhonePe recharges, bills and travel (points worth ₹1 each)
• 5% on major online brands; 1% on RuPay-on-UPI Scan & Pay
• Up to 8 domestic lounge visits/year on quarterly spend
• ₹1,000 of welcome scratch cards offsets the fee; renewal waived at ₹2 lakh spend

• Rich rates are capped (~2,000 points/month total) and confined to PhonePe and listed online brands
• Ordinary non-UPI offline spends earn nothing
• Domestic lounge access needs ₹75,000 of spend every calendar quarter; no international lounges
• Fuel, rent, insurance, education, wallet loads, gift cards, EMI and government payments earn nothing
• The 1% Scan & Pay rate applies only to QR-code scans, not to other UPI payment modes

Ways to convert what you earn into real value.

🎁 Statement credit / cashback adjustment (₹1/point)

🎁 SmartBuy flight & hotel bookings (₹0.30/point)

🎁 Rewards catalogue

The Ultimo stands out as a strong UPI-focused credit card for cardholders who route substantial household payments, recharges, and online orders through PhonePe. Its 10% category return (up to ₹1,000 monthly) backed by a 1:1 statement credit redemption yields real cash savings rather than diluted reward points. Although monthly caps and the absence of rewards on standard offline swipes narrow its focus, frequent PhonePe users will easily recover the ₹999 annual fee.

Sources & verification

Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the PhonePe HDFC Bank Ultimo Credit Card are taken from HDFC Bank 's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page . Last verified 5 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 HDFC 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.

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 · 6 changes · last change Aug 2026

▲ Revaluation ▼ Devaluation ◆ Neutral / reversed

◆ Welcome Effective 1 Aug 2026

Welcome benefit restructured into five UPI scratch cards

₹499 PhonePe gift voucher on the first UPI transaction, plus ₹50 on each of the next ten (₹999) → Five ₹200 cashback vouchers (scratch cards), one on each of the first five UPI-on-credit-card transactions of ₹100+ in the PhonePe app (₹1,000)

HDFC split the welcome benefit by application date: "For applications submitted on or after 1st Aug'26 — 5 Cashback Vouchers worth ₹200 each (via scratch cards) … limited to first 5 transactions with min ₹100 transaction value only via PhonePe app." The rupee total is unchanged in substance, but the mechanic is not — five qualifying transactions instead of eleven, each ₹100 or more and routed through the PhonePe app. Anyone who applied on or before 31 July 2026 keeps the older gift-voucher structure. Confirmed in HDFC's Ultimo FAQ v2.2 dated 28 July 2026.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Fee Effective 15 May 2026

Dynamic currency conversion markup raised to 1.75%

1% markup → 1.75% markup

HDFC's MITC: "Dynamic currency conversion Markup Fee: With effect from 15th May 2026, a Markup fee of 1.75% will be levied on all transactions carried out in Indian Currency at an international location or at merchants which are located in India but registered overseas." This is separate from, and stacks on top of, the card's ordinary foreign-currency markup. It is the charge you pay for accepting a terminal's offer to bill you in rupees while abroad - always decline that offer and pay in the local currency. It also catches India-based purchases from merchants registered overseas, which is easy to trigger without leaving the country. The PIXEL MITC dates the same change 17 May 2026.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Fee Effective 1 Jul 2025

1% fee added on rent, wallet loads and online gaming

No category surcharge on rent, wallet loads or gaming → 1% on rent (cap Rs 4,999 per transaction); 1% on wallet loads and on online skill-based gaming above Rs 10,000 a calendar month (cap Rs 4,999 a month)

HDFC's MITC: "Rent Pay Transactions: W.e.f. 1st July 2025, 1% fee on transaction amount will be levied on rental transactions... Fee capped at Rs 4999 per transaction"; "Wallet Loading (excl PayZapp) - W.e.f. 1st July 2025, 1% fee will be levied on Wallet loading spends exceeding Rs 10,000 in a calendar month"; "Online Skill based Gaming - W.e.f. 1st July 2025, 1% fee... exceeding Rs 10,000 in a calendar month". These are charges on top of the fact that most HDFC cards already earn zero reward points on the same categories - you pay to spend, and earn nothing for it. PayZapp wallet loads are exempt from the wallet fee.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Fee Effective 1 Jul 2025

1% fee on utilities above Rs 50,000 and on third-party education payments

No surcharge on utility or education payments → 1% on utility spends above Rs 50,000 a calendar month (cap Rs 4,999 a month); 1% on education paid through third-party apps

HDFC's MITC: "Utility Charges: 1% fee will be levied on utility spends exceeding Rs 50,000 per Calendar month for consumer cards... Fee capped at Rs 4999 per month"; "Education Charges: 1% fee... on Education transactions done through third party applications like (but not limited to) CRED, Nobroker, Cheq etc." Paying school or college fees DIRECTLY to the institution is not charged - only routing them through a third-party app is. A 1% fee also applies to fuel transactions above Rs 15,000.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Reward Effective 1 Jul 2025

Insurance reward points capped, online gaming stops earning

Insurance uncapped on most cards; online skill-based gaming earned points → Insurance capped at 2,000 reward points a month (5,000 on Diners Black, 10,000 on Infinia); online skill-based gaming earns nothing

HDFC's MITC: "With effect from 1st July 2025, Reward Points accrued for insurance transactions will have a maximum cap of... 2000 per month for all other credit cards" and "With effect from 1st July 2025, Online Skill-Based gaming transactions will not earn Reward Points/CashPoints on all the cards." Insurance premiums are a common way to hit a milestone quickly, so the cap matters more than its size suggests.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

◆ Launch Effective 26 Jun 2025

PhonePe HDFC Bank Ultimo launched (RuPay co-brand, UPI-linked)

PhonePe's first co-branded card with HDFC Bank debuts on the RuPay network with UPI credit payments: 10% Reward Points on select PhonePe spends — recharges, bills and travel/stays (capped 1,000 points/month), 5% on select online brands (Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Ajio, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato; capped 500/month) and 1% on RuPay-on-UPI Scan & Pay (capped 500/month), with points worth ₹1 each. It adds up to 8 domestic lounge visits a year (2/quarter, gated on ₹75,000 of spend), a ₹999 + GST joining/annual fee waived at ₹2 lakh spend, and a ₹999-equivalent welcome (₹499 voucher on first UPI payment plus ₹50 on the next 10). Applied for only inside the PhonePe app; the Ultimo is the upper tier above the ₹499 PhonePe HDFC Uno.

Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High

↓ 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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Quick summary

Type Mid credit card

Reward rate 1%–10%

Best for Heavy PhonePe users who will max the 10% recharges/bills/travel bucket

Joining fee ₹999

Annual fee ₹999

Reviewed by

Devchandra Sah · Cards tested, miles earned, trips booked — for over a decade

Last verified 5 Aug 2026

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