ICICI vs Bank of Baroda (BOBCARD) Credit Cards: Free for Life Ends at BOBCARD
5 November 2026 · BestCard Editorial Team
BOBCARD changed its terms from 1 September 2026. The Select and Easy cards are no longer lifetime free, and the Premier and Eterna now charge nothing in year one and an annual fee after that. ICICI's Amazon Pay card is still free for life. That detail frames this comparison.
What BOBCARD now charges
The Select is ₹750 a year, waived at ₹70,000 of spend, and earns around 1% on online and dining within a cap. The Premier is ₹1,000, waived at ₹1.2 lakh, with one domestic lounge visit a quarter and 2.5% on travel and dining. The Eterna is ₹2,499, waived at ₹2.5 lakh, with unlimited domestic lounge access, a 2% forex markup and 3.75% on travel, dining and online, each capped at ₹1,250 a month. The Easy RuPay is ₹500, waived at ₹35,000.
Those waiver thresholds are low. ICICI's Coral is ₹500 with a ₹1.5 lakh waiver, and the Amazon Pay card has no fee. BOBCARD leads on easily waived fees for light spenders. ICICI leads on a truly free card.
Fuel
BOBCARD's HPCL ENERGIE is a RuPay card at ₹499 with 6.5% on fuel capped at ₹4,000 a month, plus four domestic lounge visits a year at ₹20,000 quarterly spend. ICICI's HPCL Super Saver is also ₹500 but pays 4% fuel cashback capped at ₹200 a month. For a regular HPCL driver, BOBCARD is the stronger card and the cap is far looser.
Cashback and online shopping
BOBCARD's RuPay Cashback is ₹499 and pays 5% on online spend up to ₹1,500 a month, with 1% elsewhere. It is the closest thing to a general online cashback card in this pairing. ICICI's Amazon Pay pays 5% on Amazon only, with Prime, and 1% elsewhere. If your online shopping is spread across many stores, BOBCARD's card fits better, though it carries a fee. For Amazon-first households, ICICI.
Travel and miles
BOBCARD's Etihad Guest cards are the most distinctive travel products. The standard card is ₹2,500 with 8 domestic and 4 international lounge visits and a 1% forex markup. The Premium is ₹5,000, waived at ₹5 lakh, with 12 domestic and 8 international visits and zero forex. BOBCARD's Scapia version is free for life with zero forex and spend-gated domestic lounge access.
ICICI's Sapphiro is ₹6,500 to join and ₹3,500 a year with a 3.5% forex markup. BOBCARD's Tiara, a RuPay card for women, is ₹2,499 with unlimited domestic lounge access on ₹75,000 of quarterly spend and a 2% forex markup. ICICI's own airline co-brands (Emirates Skywards Rubyx, Sapphiro, Emeralde) range from ₹1,000 to ₹10,000. For international travellers on a modest budget, BOBCARD leads. ICICI's Emeralde and Times Black offer a stronger top end that BOBCARD does not match.
Choosing
An existing Bank of Baroda customer buying petrol at HPCL, or someone who wants a cheap Etihad miles card, will find BOBCARD's products clearly better targeted. A buyer who wants a free card, or a flagship with unlimited global lounge access, should look at ICICI. The BOBCARD fee change is worth reading carefully before you apply for a "free" card, since the first-year waiver is easy to mistake for lifetime free.
Related guides
The ICICI credit cards guide and Bank of Baroda credit cards guide list the full ranges. For another large-bank matchup, see SBI vs ICICI credit cards.
Related reading
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