HSBC Live+ Credit Card: Enjoy 10% cashback on groceries, dining, and food delivery—Is it worth applying?

In the last few years, some credit cards have emerged in the cashback segment. These cards offer cashback ranging from 1% to 25% on various spending categories. Some of these are co-branded credit cards offering a higher cashback for spending on the partner’s platform and lower cashback on other categories. Some are generic cashback credit cards offering a specified percentage of the transaction amount as cashback across most categories.

HSBC Bank offers the HSBC Live+ Credit Card in the cashback segment with 10% cashback in the food category. Let us understand the features, benefits, fees, eligibility criteria for this card and whether you should apply for it.

10% cashback on the food category

Let us start with the USP of the HSBC Live+ Credit Card, which is the 10% cashback on spends in the food category. The 10% cashback is applicable on dining, food delivery, and grocery spends. The maximum cashback is capped at Rs. 1,000 in a billing cycle.

On all other spends in other categories, a 1.5% cashback is applicable, subject to some excluded categories. There is no monthly limit on the amount you can earn as 1.5% cashback in a billing cycle.

As this is a cashback credit card, you don’t have to go through the process of collecting reward points and then redeeming them. The cashback earned in every statement cycle will be credited to your card within 45 days of the card statement date.

Dining discounts

The bank has a Live+ Dining Programme under which Live+ Credit Card holders can get up to a 15% discount on dining at participating restaurants in India and some other Asian countries. The up to 15% dining discount can be clubbed with the 10% cashback, thus giving an overall dining benefit of up to 25%.

Complimentary domestic airport lounge access

The card gives you four complimentary domestic airport lounge visits per year.

Exclusions

Spends on the following categories will not earn any cashback.

1. Fuel
2. Wallet loads
3. Rent and payment of property management fees
4. Education
5. Government transactions
6. Insurance
7. Utilities
8. Jewellery and antique items
9. Gambling
10. Charity

The above list is not exhaustive. New categories may get added to the above list from time to time. For the complete list, visit the HSBC Bank India website. The spends on excluded categories are tracked through the Merchant Category Code (MCC).

Fees

The card has a joining fee of Rs. 999 + taxes. You will get a welcome gift of Rs. 1,000 cashback on spending Rs. 20,000 within the first 30 days of getting the card.

The annual fee is Rs. 999 + taxes. The annual fee is waived if you spend Rs. 2 lakhs in the previous year.

Eligibility

To apply for the HSBC Live+ Credit Card, an individual must:

1. Be an Indian resident
2. Be aged between 18 to 65 years
3. Have a minimum salary income of Rs. 4 lakhs per annum

The card is being given to residents in select cities, which include Chennai, Gurgaon, Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), Pune, Noida, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kochi, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

The HSBC website has not specified the income eligibility criteria for self-employed professionals and business persons.

To apply for the card, the individual has to submit their salary slip, PAN copy, identity proof and address proof. You can apply for the card through the HSBC India website.

Other cashback credit cards

Some banks are offering some other cashback credit cards. The Swiggy HDFC Bank Credit Card offers 10% cashback on Swiggy spends (food delivery, Instamart, Dineout, Genie, etc.), 5% on specified online spends, and 1% on offline spends, subject to some exclusions. The Swiggy card comes close in comparison with the HSBC Live+ Credit Card as the Swiggy card offers 10% cashback on food category spends on Swiggy. However, the 10% cashback is limited to just Swiggy spends, whereas the HSBC Live+ Credit Card gives 10% cashback on Swiggy and other online and offline merchants in the food category.

The other popular cashback credit cards include:

Cashback SBI Card: It gives 5% cashback on online spends and 1% cashback on offline spends, subject to some exclusions. The cashback earned in a statement cycle is credited as statement credit after the statement generation.

Amazon Pay ICICI Credit Card: It gives 5% cashback on Amazon spends and 1% on other spends, subject to some exclusions. The cashback is in the form of Amazon Pay balance and is credited to your Amazon Pay wallet.

Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card: It gives 5% cashback on Flipkart spends, 4% on some merchants, and 1% on other spends, subject to some exclusions. The cashback earned in a statement cycle is credited as statement credit after the statement generation.

Should you apply for the HSBC Live+ Credit Card?

When you apply for any credit card, you need to evaluate whether you are looking for benefits in the form of instant discounts, cashbacks, or reward points. If you are looking for cashback, the HSBC Live+ Credit Card is one of the contenders, as some other cashback credit cards also offer cashbacks in various spending categories.

You need to analyse how much you spend in various categories like food, utility bill payments, fashion, healthcare, entertainment, travel, etc. If you spend a high amount in the food category every month on groceries, dining out, and/or food delivery, you may consider applying for the HSBC Live+ Credit Card.

Gopal Gidwani is a freelance personal finance content writer with 15+ years of experience. He can be reached at LinkedIn.