The Best Credit Cards by Kotak Mahindra Bank

The Bottom Line

We recommend the Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards XL Credit Card by Kotak Mahindra Bank if you spend more than ₹20,000 on your card each month. You can earn a net reward yield of 1.4-2.3% on all your spend with this credit card.

The 6E Rewards XL has a non-waiveable annual fee of ₹2,500. However we calculate that even after paying the fee, this card still gives more rewards than any other credit card by Kotak. This holds even if you can get the annual fees on those other credit cards waived.

If you spend between ₹10,000-20,000 on you card in a month, we recommend the Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards Credit Card. You can earn a net reward yield of about 1.1% with this card.

For spends of less than ₹10,000 a month on the card, we recommend the 811 #DreamDifferent Credit Card. This card has no annual fee and can earn you a net reward yield of 0.4% on all your spend.

Table 1: All Our Recommendations

Table 2: Recommended Redemption Methods

Everything we recommend

Who this is for

If you are a Kotak Mahindra Bank customer and you want to get a credit card this guide is for you. We recommend the best credit cards, no matter what your spending level is.

We have friends who have raised maximizing credit card rewards to an art form. However not everyone wants put so much effort tracking deals, discounts, reward caps and spending categories.

Most of us simply want a solution that is easy to manage – good enough, not perfect.

In our guides for other credit card providers (HDFC Bank, SBI Card etc.) we have also recommended card combos that help you supercharge your rewards without a lot of micromanaging.

However, we found that the best credit card from Kotak Mahindra Bank (the Ka-ching 6E Rewards XL) is so much better than all their other cards that it is not possible for you to earn better rewards by combining this card with any other card from Kotak Mahindra Bank.

So we do not recommend any card combos for Kotak Mahindra Bank customers.

How we picked

Kotak Mahindra Bank offers more than 20 credit cards. Each credit card has a different set of rewards and other terms and conditions, which makes it difficult for most of us to figure out which card is best for us.

We cut through this complexity by ranking each card on its Net Reward Yield, which measures the total effective discount you receive in form of rewards, when you charge your expenses to the card.

To calculate the net reward yield of a credit card, we create 5 standardized spending profiles of a typical customer with different income levels. We then simulated the total rewards a customer with each spending profile would get on that card, based on the reward schedule for that card.

Table 3: Standardized Spending Profiles

Our reward calculations attempts to account for different types of rewards (cashback, points, miles etc.), reward caps by spending category, bonuses, fees and differences in realizable value of the rewards depending on how you redeem them (e.g. on Bank website as statement credit vs. for flight bookings).

We prefer cards with higher rewards yields, lower income thresholds and lower fees.

We apply this standardized methodology for every Kotak Mahindra Bank credit card, allowing you to zoom in to the best credit cards for you.

If you’re willing to manage multiple cards, you can supercharge your total rewards compared to using a single card. However, managing multiple credit cards requires some effort.

At a minimum, you need to:

• Sign up for the card
• Set up the monthly credit card bill payments (monthly effort or one-time depending on the banks involved)
• Review your statement periodically
• Remember to claim the reward (in some cases)
• Remember to get the annual fee waived (in many cases)

More work is also required to figure out which card to use where and possibly change the setup on various sites and apps to use a different card.

So while adding more and more cards to the mix can keep increasing the potential benefits (at least for high spenders), we think most people would want to manage another card only if the additional benefit is meaningful and the additional mental load low.

With that in mind we decided to identify sets of 2 credit cards that will work well together for most people i.e. so that you can easily remember which card to use where, meet the minimum spend & other conditions and not lose track of all the admin stuff like paying the bill and getting annual fee waived.

To find the best card combinations, we considered 100’s of card pairs for to figure out the combos that work best with each other to maximize rewards.

In testing a pair of cards, we assumed that only one card will be used for each spending category and it would be the one with the higher rewards in that category.

We think this is reasonable as you only need to know which card to use in which situation and don’t need to keep track of your spending on each card through the month.

We think most people do not want to obsessively track their spend by card and category on a daily basis. So we have tried to avoid a situation where you need to switch from one card to other based on how much you have spent on it during the month, in total or for a specific category. That’s too much work for most people.

As mentioned above, we found that combining multiple cards strategically did not give better rewards with Kotak Mahindra Bank’s cards. We found that most people would do just fine by selecting our top pick in their spending category and using it for all spending.

You can read more about our credit card recommendation methodology here.

The Best Card for Monthly Spend up to ₹10,000

The 811 #DreamDifferent Credit Card is the best entry-level credit card from Kotak Mahindra Bank. It has no annual fee and offers a ₹750 cashback if your annual spend exceeds ₹75,000.

Table 4: Feature Summary – 811 #DreamDifferent

It has relatively low base rewards of 0.25% on all offline spend and 0.50% on all online spend.

We calculate that you can earn a net reward yield of 0.4-1.0% on all your spend with this card, including the ₹750 cashback.

While there are other cards that offer better rewards on your spend, they also charge an annual fee, which may not be waived if you can only spend less than ₹10,000 a month.

With the #DreamDifferent, there is no risk of paying the annual fee no matter how little you spend. We think that makes this the best entry level credit card from Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The Best Card for Monthly Spends of ₹10,000-20,000

If you spend between ₹10,000-20,000 a month on your credit card, the Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards Credit Card is your best bet. Although this card has a non-waiveable annual fee of ₹700, you still earn a net reward yield of 0.75-1.10% on all your spend with this card, which is higher than any other card in this range.

Table 5: Feature Summary – Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards

The Ka-ching 6E Rewards card offers a 3% effective reward on all IndiGo bookings and 2% on all Grocery, Dining and Entertainment spends. All other spends earn 1% reward.

These rewards are earned in the form of 6E Rewards points, which can be used to pay for tickets and upgrades on IndiGo with a value of ₹1 per point.

This card will not work for you if you do not fly on IndiGo Airlines. In that case you should consider the Urbane Gold Credit Card. This card has a low fee of ₹199 which can be waived if you spend more than ₹15,000 in a year.

While the Urbane has a very low 0.30% base reward rate with no special rewards for any specific categories, you can earn 10,000 reward points, worth ₹1,000 if your annual spend exceeds ₹1,00,000. Including this milestone reward, we estimate a net reward yield of about 0.7-1.1% on the Urbane, for monthly spends between ₹10,000-20,000.

Table 6: Feature Summary – Urbane Gold Credit Card

The Best Card for Monthly Spends of ₹20,000+

The Kotak Indigo Ka-ching 6E Rewards XL by Kotak Mahindra Bank is our pick if your monthly spend is more than ₹20,000 each month.

We calculate that you can earn a net reward yield of 2.3% on all your spend with this card. There is no cap on the rewards you can earn with the XL. That makes this is the best card whether you spend ₹20,000 a month or ₹2 lacs a month.

Table 7: Feature Summary – Kotak IndiGo Ka-ching 6E Rewards XL

It does carry a non-waiveable annual fee of ₹2,500, despite which it still offers the highest reward yield of any credit card from Kotak Mahindra Bank.

The 6E Rewards XL offers an effective reward of 6% on IndiGo flight booking, 3% on Groceries, Dining and Entertainment and 2% on all other spends.

These rewards are offered in the form of 6E Rewards points, which can be used to pay for flights tickets and upgrades with IndiGo Airlines with a value of ₹1 per reward point.

If you do not fly IndiGo, then your options are much weaker.

Consider the Zen Signature Credit Card if you spend less than ₹1 lacs a month on your card. This will earn a net reward yield of 1.1-1.3%.

Table 8: Feature Summary – Zen Signature

High spenders (who do not fly IndiGo) may consider the White Credit Card (between ₹1 – 1.5 lacs per month spend) or the White Reserve Credit Card ( > ₹1.5 lacs per month spend) for yields between 1.1-2.2%.

Table 9: Feature Summary – White Credit Card

The White has a non-waiveable annual fee of ₹3,000 and offers only milestone rewards. This means you earn rewards as a lump sum every time you cross a certain spend threshold with the card (see Table 9 above). The rewards are earned in the form of White Pass reward points.

Each White Pass point is worth ₹1 when redeemed for vouchers on kotakbankwhite.com. However if you redeem the White Pass points for cash vouchers, each point is only worth ₹0.70.

We have used the ₹0.70 valuation in calculating the net reward yields for both the White and the White Reserve cards.

The White is only an interesting option if you spend between ₹9-15 lacs a year on your card because of the non-waiveable fee and the relatively low level of rewards it offers on higher spends.

Table 10: Feature Summary – White Reserve Credit Card

The White Reserve card has an annual fee of ₹12,500, which is waived if you spend more than ₹10 lacs in a year. The reward mechanism for the White Reserve is the same as for the White.

Because of its high fee and higher thresholds for earning rewards, the White Reserve only becomes attractive (1.4%+ reward yield) if you spend more than ₹20 lacs in a year. At very high spends of close to ₹1 crs a year, the White Reserve offers similar yield to the 6E Rewards XL.

Table 11: All Kotak Mahindra Bank Credit Cards Ranked by Rewards Yield

Table 12: Key Terms for all KMB Credit Cards