HDFC Bank Millennia Credit Card

Overview

Updated On: August 24, 2026 | AB Published by: Amit B | 3 min read

HDFC Bank's Millennia Credit Card is one of India's most popular cashback credit cards. It offers a wide range of preferred cashback partner brands, covering almost all major e-commerce merchants. Additionally, it provides accelerated cashback, through its SmartBuy platform, on travel expenses, including flights, hotels, train bookings, and gift cards for hundreds of popular online and offline brands, making it a comprehensive option for most users. While the card has relatively high joining and renewal fees, it is often offered as first-year free or even lifetime free, depending on the user's profile.

Pros

Most popular e-commerce brands are covered, offering 5% cashback. Travel spending categories such as hotels, flights, trains, and buses are also included under the SmartBuy Portal, providing the same 5% cashback. This makes the card a suitable choice for a large number of credit card users.
Renewal fee waiver criteria is Rs.1 lac spend in a year which is relatively lower if compared with most of the other popular cashback credit cards. Further, this card is often offered lifetime free on request if you have taken other services of HDFC Bank.
Its gives 1% cashback on insurance, jewellery, education spend directly at school/collages, gift cards etc. while most of the popular credit cards have stopped giving any cashback on these categories.

Cons

No airport lounge access, not even spend based access to airpot lounges.
Relatively high joining and renewal fee.
Cashback is not automatically credited in credit card statement. You need to manually redeem the cashback to convert it into real cashback.

Fees & Charges

Joining / Annual Fee ₹ 1,180

Renewal Fee ₹ 1,180

Annual Spend Target for Fee Waiver ₹ 100,000

Minimum Annual Income Required ₹ 420,000

Rewards and Benefits

Reward Rate

5% of partner merchants, 1% of on other spend

Base Reward Rate

1%

Accelerated Reward Rate

5%

Welcome Benefits

On payment of Joining Fee, get 1,000 Cash-point (equivalent to Rs.1,000 real Cashback)

Renewal Benefits

No renewal benefit

Rewards & Cashback Details

HDFC SmartBuy Portal
- 10% Cashback on HDFC SmartBuy: 10% Cashback on spend on Pharmeasy, Jockey and IGP.com through HDFC SmartBuy Portal
- 5% Cashback of HDFC SmartBuy: 5% Cashback on spend on Flights, Hotels, IRCTC Train tickets, RedBus Bus Tickets, Apple products, Zoom Car, Nykaa, Myntra, MakeMyTrip Holiday Packages and gift cards of hundreds of brands through HDFC SmartBuy Portal
- Maximum Cashback on all SmartBuy Spend is Rs.1000 per calendar month.
Partner Brands for Online Spend: 5% Cashback upto Rs.1000 per monthly statement cycle on direct spend on Amazon, BookMyShow, Cult.fit, Flipkart, Myntra, Sony LIV, Swiggy, Tata CLiQ, Uber and Zomato
Swiggy DineOut App: 5% Discount upto Rs.200 per transaction on Payment to Restaurants through Swiggy Dineout App. Applicable twice in a month on transaction value of Rs.2,500. This discount is over and above the Swiggy Dineout discount.
Other Spend: 1% cashback upto Rs.1000 per monthly statement cycle on all other spends (except Fuel, Wallet, EMI, Govt transactions)
Milestone Benefit: Rs1,000 worth gift card on spends of Rs.1,00,000 and above in each calendar quarter. EMI principal payment (not Smart EMI) is also considered for quarterly spend. Card user can choose month gift cards of Pizza Hut, PVR, BigBasket and Book My Show.

Rewards Redemption

CashBack is given in the form of CashPoints, which can be redeemed by you against the statement balance (on request only).
The redemption against the statement balance will be at the rate of 1 CashPoint = ₹1
The minimum CashPoint balance required for redemption against the statement balance is 500 CashPoints.
CashPoints can also be used for redemption against travel benefits like Flight & Hotel bookings and Rewards Catalogue at the SmartBuy Rewards Portal, at a value of 1 CashPoint = ₹0.30.
Unredeemed CashPoints will expire/lapse after 2 year of accumulation.
Flights and Hotels redemption, Credit Card members can redeem up to a maximum of 50% of the booking value through Reward Points. Rest of the transaction amount will have to be paid via the Credit Card limit.
With effect from 1st January 2023, Reward points redemption for flights & hotels bookings are capped per calendar month at 50,000.
With effect from 1st February 2023, Reward points redemption for CashBack redemption are capped per calendar month to 3,000 rewards points
With effect from 1st February 2023, cardmembers can redeem upto 70% of product/Voucher value through Reward points on select vouchers/products and pay the remaining amount via Credit card. Redeem CashPoints at the conversion rate of 1 CashPoint = ₹0.30

Overall, redemption of cashpoint in credit card statement is the most beneficial redemption option.

Additional Benefits

Dining Benefits

Domestic Airport Lounge

International Airport Lounge

Railway Lounge Access

Movie Benefits

Golf Benefits

Lifestyle Benefits Details

No lifestyle benefits

Features & Benefits

Cashback

Utility Bills

Insurance

Education

Gift Cards

Jewellery

Reward Points

Airmiles

Airport Lounge

NPS

Government Payment

Fuel

Rent

Wallet Load

Rewards on EMI

No Cashback / Rewards Categories

No cashback on following

Fuel Spends
Rent payments
Govt Related transactions
EMI transations, Smart EMI / Dial an EMI transaction
Education payments through third party sites and app. However, education payments directly to the educational institutes earn cashback.
Cash Advances
Payment of Outstanding Balances
Payment of card fees and other charges
No cashback on spend after crossing the maximum cashback limits.
Prepaid card/gift Card/ wallet load and / or voucher purchases on partner websites and apps are not eligible for 5% cashback, but get 1% cashback.

Ratings & Reviews

3.8

Overall Rating

Reward Rate

5/5

Lifestyle Benefits

2/5

Ease of Reward Redemption

4/5

Value For Money

4/5

Customer Service

4/5

Detailed Review

The HDFC Millennia Credit Card remains a strong option for those seeking a cashback card, even after recent devaluations. Its accelerated cashback on partner merchants and the SmartBuy platform aligns well with the spending habits of many urban consumers, covering a broad range of typical expenses. This makes it a practical choice for most users. Moreover, the card's quarterly milestone benefits can push the effective cashback rate to 6%-7% in these categories, which is quite attractive.Although the card has a relatively high fee of Rs. 1180, it's often available as a first-year-free or even lifetime-free card, which significantly enhances its value proposition. However, at the standard fee, it may not be the best choice compared to other cards like the HDFC Swiggy Credit Card or the SBI Cashback Credit Card, which offer better benefits at the same or lower fees.

Eligibility & Important Info

Eligibility Criteria

For Salaried

Indian national
Age: Min 21 yrs & Max 40 Yrs,
Income: Net Monthly Income> ₹35,000

For Self Employed

Indian national
Age: Min 21 yrs & Max 40 Yrs
Income: ITR > ₹6.0 Lakhs per annum

Important Links

HDFC SmartBuy Portal for accelerated cashback: http://offers.smartbuy.hdfcbank.com

Add-on Cards

Upto three Add-on credit cards can be applied for free
Mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter and spouse are eligible for Add-on credit card
Add-on credit card holder must have 18 years age or more