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All HDFC credit cards have fuel surcharge waiver across pumps. But minimum amount is 250 for platinum card and 500 for Regalia card

I was recently offered an upgrade to the Regalia Credit Card as 'lifetime free' by my personal banker at HDFC. I declined to upgrade/sign for the card until I got the offer sent by a formal email.

The thing is - the bank may not charge you initially, but may begin charging you a year later. By then, the sales executive who would have offered the card for free, would no longer be in the system.
Hence, a formal written offer should always be insisted upon, to cover one's bases in the event of an eventual charge by the bank.

^^I think you should accept the offer for Regalia card. Even I have one , although I have been upgraded n number of times to get the Regalia. Mine is too a lifetime free card (I started with silver) , But never in the last 10 years I got any written communication for the same. Although it is there in the system that mine is a lifetime free card.

What's the maximum cash back about? I usually give my driver cash to fill fuel, I could lend him my card everytime and I trust him enough provided I do not have to pay any fuel surcharge and will get point for these transactions?

I recently swiped ICICI - rubyx card for the fuel purchase and the fuel surcharge has been reversed; however the tax part is not reversed. Is this normal? If there is no surcharge why pay the tax? How about experience with other cards?

Yes, both my previous platinum as well as the current Allmiles card do not return the tax amount.

What I like about the Citibank Indian Oil card is that it only charges you for the fuel you fill. The fuel surcharge and service tax is never charged, it is reversed instantly at the PoS terminal and you pay only for the fuel. I guess Citibank is able to give waiver on service tax because they never charge you the fuel surcharge in the first place.

A major limitation of this card is that it works only on Citibank POS terminals at bigger Indian Oil petrol pumps. Not a problem for me as I regularly fill at an Indian Oil CoCo pump nearby and I was also able to get this waiver on Indian Oil pumps on highways and major cities in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. On long distance trips, I also keep some cash handy in case the Indian Oil pump doesn't have a Citibank PoS terminal.

This is illegal, and you should raise it with ICICI Bank and escalate it beyond if your money is not refunded fully to you.

The bank gets ST credit for the service charge it refunds to you; and if they are not passing that credit back to you they are technically still charging you for the service but not paying any tax on it.

Thank you for the recommendation.
I have applied for the Regalia a couple of days ago after I received a written assurance from HDFC Bank regarding the free nature of the card, plus the fact that the card upgrade application form had the Annual Fees mentioned as 'free' mentioned clearly (I retained a copy of the application form for my records).

How would you rate the benefits being offered on the Regalia?

I don't seem to be drawn towards the Regalia for the points & rewards scheme, but more so for the Free Access to Airport Lounges & the dining discounts.

I have the Standard Chartered Manhattan Card, which offers quite good reward points, and a decent enough rewards catalogue.

HDFC stopped giving rewards points on all its credit cards for fuel transactions w.e.f.15th april, 2016

Do visit the HDFC regalia website. You can directly to booking for flights,movies and hotels from there. Also you can convert reward points to vouchers while booking from that site and get good Rupees discount.

Everytime HDFC upgrades my card (I started with Silver), they send a letter by post saying its a lifetime free card. So dont worry you'll also receive this letter after receiving the card.

When I got a Titanium card which had fuel waiver, HDFC used to reverse only the SC and not the ST. After a tele call with their CC, they started reversing both. After every fuel transaction, I get reversal in two parts now.

Regalia is awesome when it comes to booking flights - especially domestic. But the best part is swiping it abroad makes using this card to be cheaper than converting INR to any currency.

I did briefly visit the Regalia website once before going ahead with the card. The deals on movie tickets did look sweet.
I didn't look at the deals on flights & hotels then; will do now. Thanks!

I haven't received it yet. Guessing its a matter of time, and I should have it soon.


Can you please elaborate on how the international usage works out cheaper?

There is a difference between the exchange price and the buying price for currency notes. This is usually close to 4% (+/- 0.5 - 1). Now the Regalia charges 2% mark up fee on the day’s exchange rate plus tax. This makes it cheaper when used abroad at POS instead of cash. While this difference may look negligible, a quick math will show you the how much you can save.

A Euro retails for Rs 74.81 today. When you want to buy Euros from India, you'll pay Rs 78.43* per Euro and if you want to sell the Euros, you'll get Rs 72.68* per Euro. Rates can vary according to the vendor and the demand/supply. *The rates I've mentioned above are according to HDFC forex prices today AM.

If you shop for 1000 euros at a merchant abroad,

Scenario 1 - Paying by cash
Buying 1000 euros from a forex vendor in India would cost you around Rs 78430 @ Rs 78.43/euro

Scenario – 2 Paying by card
Swiping your card will cost you (1000*74.81) + 2% + 15% on the 2% = 74810 + 1496.2 + 224.43 = Rs 76530.63

There is a saving of close to Rs 1900 when paying by card. This number may increase/decrease according to the country of use. When I used this card in Sri Lanka recently (after running out of cash, on the last leg), I saved close to Rs 2000 (compared to INR to LKR currency exchange prices) on purchases worth INR 15000 odd. Made me realise, I should have swiped my card on all days.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. That's a savings of over 2%.
Seems like Regalia is a really good card for all-round spendings.

I'm sure there's more benefits to it, than I have learnt of so far.