SBI Cashback vs HDFC Millennia vs Axis ACE: Which Cashback Card Is Right for You

These three cards sit on nearly every shortlist we see, and they are often compared on the wrong thing: the headline percentage. The right comparison is what each card returns on your own spending. We worked it through for three households below.

The cards in one paragraph each

SBI Cashback pays 5% on any online merchant and 1% offline, credited to the statement. ₹999 fee, waived at ₹2 lakh. No lounge. Cap ₹5,000 cashback a month.

HDFC Millennia pays 5% in CashPoints on ten partner brands (Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Zomato, Uber, Myntra, BookMyShow, Cult.fit, Sony LIV, Tata CLiQ) and 1% on everything else including EMIs. ₹1,000 fee, waived at ₹1 lakh. Four lounge visits a year on ₹1 lakh quarterly spend. CashPoints are worth ₹1 against the statement; the 5% is capped at 1,000 points a month.

Axis ACE pays 5% on bill payments made through Google Pay, 4% on Swiggy, Zomato and Ola, and 1.5% on everything else with no cap on the base rate. ₹499 fee, waived at ₹2 lakh. Four lounge visits a year on ₹50,000 spend in three months.

Household one: the online shopper

₹30,000 a month on the card, of which ₹20,000 is online across many sites and ₹10,000 is offline groceries and fuel.

SBI Cashback: 5% of 20,000 + 1% of 10,000 = ₹1,100 a month, ₹13,200 a year, fee waived. Winner. Millennia: assume half the online spend hits partners: 5% of 10,000 + 1% of 20,000 = ₹700 a month, ₹8,400 a year. ACE: 1.5% on everything = ₹450 a month, ₹5,400 a year.

Household two: the bill payer

₹40,000 a month: ₹12,000 of utilities and mobile bills, ₹8,000 of food delivery, ₹20,000 of mixed offline spend.

ACE: 5% of 12,000 + 4% of 8,000 + 1.5% of 20,000 = ₹1,220 a month, ₹14,640 a year. Winner by a distance. SBI Cashback: utilities are excluded; 5% of 8,000 + 1% of 20,000 = ₹600 a month. Millennia: 5% of 8,000 (Swiggy/Zomato are partners) + 1% of 32,000 = ₹720 a month.

Household three: the Swiggy-and-Uber commuter

₹25,000 a month, of which ₹12,000 is on Millennia's partner brands and the rest is mixed.

Millennia: 5% of 12,000 + 1% of 13,000 = ₹730 a month, ₹8,760 a year, plus lounge visits if the quarterly spend clears ₹1 lakh (it will not at this level). SBI Cashback: most of the partner spend is online, so 5% of roughly 12,000 + 1% of 13,000 = about the same ₹730, with a higher cap and no partner list to track. Tie, with SBI slightly simpler. ACE: 4% of the Swiggy/Zomato/Ola portion plus 1.5% elsewhere, around ₹550.

What the numbers say

If your spending is online and spread across sites, SBI Cashback. If utilities and food delivery are big lines, Axis ACE. Millennia wins only when a large share of spending lands on its ten partners and you also value the lounge visits; for most people it is the third choice despite being the most heavily advertised.

Rates and caps as published by the issuers on 9 November 2026. Run your own numbers in our compare tool; the worked examples above are illustrations, not promises.