Choosing the best credit card for insurance payment is no longer a question of which card pays the highest rate. Since 2024 it has been a question of which cards still pay anything at all. Between mid 2025 and April 2026 four major issuers either capped or completely excluded insurance spends from their reward programmes, and most comparison articles still recommend cards that now earn nothing on a premium.
We checked every card on this page against the issuer’s own published terms rather than against marketing copy, and separated the three different things that can go wrong: a card that excludes insurance outright, a card that caps it at a monthly ceiling, and a card that still earns but has quietly reduced the rate. Those are three different problems with three different solutions.
A premium is often the largest single transaction a household puts on a card in a year, which makes getting this right worth real money. Below are eight cards ranked by how they actually treat insurance today, followed by the practical detail nobody else covers: whether premiums count toward your annual fee waiver, how the payment gateway changes your reward, and how to verify your own card before you commit a full annual premium.
Why Most Best Card Lists for Insurance Are Out of Date
The single most useful thing this page can give you is not a ranking. It is the vocabulary to understand what has happened to this category since 2024, because the same three words explain almost every disappointed cardholder we have read about.
Capped, Excluded or Devalued: Three Different Problems
A card that has excluded insurance pays you nothing on a premium, no matter how small. A card that has capped insurance pays you up to a monthly ceiling and nothing beyond it, which means a large annual premium mostly earns nothing while the same amount paid in monthly instalments would earn in full. A card that has been devalued still earns on insurance but at a worse rate than the review you read last year described. The fix is different in each case: switch cards, split the payment, or simply reset your expectations.
What Changed, Issuer by Issuer
HDFC moved to a capped model from July 2025, publishing explicit monthly or daily ceilings on reward points from insurance transactions across several cards, while exempting insurance from the utility fee it introduced at the same time. Kotak went furthest, removing rewards and cashback on insurance entirely across several cards from June 2025 and applying monthly spend thresholds to the rest. SBI has long excluded insurance on its flagship cashback card and widened the exclusion list further in April 2026. Axis redefined its exclusions by spend category name rather than by merchant code in June 2025, which closed the gateway based workarounds people had been using. IDFC took a different route, limiting reward accrual to spends within the credit limit in a billing cycle from June 2026.
Why Nobody Quotes the Terms
Every competing article we read on this subject tells the reader to check with their bank. None of them quotes a single clause. The clauses are public, they are published in the rewards terms document for each card, and they say precisely what happens to an insurance transaction. Reading them takes ten minutes and is the only reliable way to know what your premium will earn.
Best Credit Card for Insurance Payment: Quick Comparison
The column that matters most here is the first one. Everything else is secondary to whether your premium earns at all.
| Credit Card | Best For | Key Benefit | Apply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axis LIC Signature Credit Card | Best Overall for LIC Premium Payments | The only co-branded card that accelerates rewards on LIC premiums | Apply |
| HDFC Pixel Play Credit Card | Best for a Written, Verifiable Insurance Earn Rate | Insurance is capped in the published terms, not excluded | Apply |
| AU Bank Altura Plus Credit Card | Best for Transparency on Insurance Earning | One of the few cards that names insurance as an eligible category | Apply |
| HDFC Millennia Credit Card | Best Everyday Card That Still Earns on Premiums | Insurance is not excluded, so premiums earn the base rate cleanly | Apply |
| BOBCARD Eterna Credit Card | Best Flat Rate for Large Premiums | A dependable base rate on spends where accelerators never apply | Apply |
| IDFC First Power Plus Credit Card | Best for Regular Small Premiums | No blanket insurance exclusion, and useful across everyday spends | Apply |
| Kotak League Platinum Credit Card | Best for Modest Premiums Under the Monthly Threshold | Insurance still earns here, unlike several cards in the same portfolio | Apply |
| SBI Cashback Credit Card | Best Companion Card, Not for Premiums | Insurance is excluded here, so pair it for everything except premiums | Apply |
The 8 Best Credit Cards for Insurance Payment in India
Each card below is assessed on how its own published terms treat an insurance transaction, not on how it is marketed.
1. Axis LIC Signature Credit Card – Best Overall for LIC Premium Payments
This is the one card in India built specifically around insurance, and it is the reason it sits at the top of this list. Where every other card either treats a premium as an ordinary retail spend or excludes it outright, this co-branded card pays reward points on LIC premium payments at double the rate it pays on general spending. If you hold LIC policies and pay premiums annually or half yearly, that difference compounds into a meaningful return over the life of the policy, on a card that costs nothing to hold.
Its exclusion list is worth reading because of what is absent from it. Utilities, telecom, education, rent, wallet loads, government payments, gold, fuel, cash withdrawals and EMI conversions are all excluded from earning, but insurance is not among them. That is unusual in 2026 and it is the practical reason this card beats several far more expensive alternatives for this specific job. Reward points carry a validity window, so redeem rather than hoard them, and remember that a Platinum base variant also exists with a lower earning rate.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Insurance Spends | Earn, and accelerated on LIC premiums |
| Reward Type on Premiums | Reward points at an accelerated rate |
| Insurance Reward Cap | No insurance specific cap published |
| Counts Toward Fee Waiver | Yes, insurance is not an excluded category |
| Standing Instruction Support | Yes, supports recurring premium mandates |
| Best Suited Premium Type | Life insurance, LIC policies in particular |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Accelerated reward points specifically on LIC premiums
- ✓ Lifetime free, so there is no annual cost
- ✓ Insurance is not on the exclusion list
- ✓ Premium spends count toward fee waiver thresholds
👎 Cons
- ✗ The accelerator applies to LIC, not to all insurers
- ✗ Reward points expire if not redeemed in time
- ✗ General spend earning rate is modest
2. HDFC Pixel Play Credit Card – Best for a Written, Verifiable Insurance Earn Rate
What makes this card useful for insurance is not a headline rate but transparency. HDFC publishes an explicit clause stating that CashPoints on insurance spends are capped at a stated monthly ceiling. Insurance does not appear on the excluded merchant category list. That means you know exactly what you are getting before you pay, which is more than can be said for most cards in this category, where readers only discover the treatment of insurance after the statement arrives.
The practical consequence of a monthly rather than annual cap is a strategy no competing article sets out. If you have flexibility over how a premium is billed, splitting a large annual premium into monthly or quarterly instalments through the insurer keeps each payment inside the monthly earning window instead of blowing through it in one transaction. The card is also a genuinely good everyday performer with selectable cashback packs, so it does not become dead weight between premium dates.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Insurance Spends | Earn, subject to a monthly cap stated in the terms |
| Reward Type on Premiums | CashPoints |
| Insurance Reward Cap | Yes, a monthly ceiling is published |
| Counts Toward Fee Waiver | Generally yes as retail spend |
| Standing Instruction Support | Yes |
| Best Suited Premium Type | Health and motor premiums paid monthly or quarterly |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Insurance treatment is stated clearly in the card terms
- ✓ Insurance is not on the excluded category list
- ✓ Selectable cashback packs for everyday spending
- ✓ Monthly cap rewards splitting premiums into instalments
👎 Cons
- ✗ Monthly ceiling limits value on large single premiums
- ✗ Cashback packs need active management
- ✗ Terms have been revised more than once recently
3. AU Bank Altura Plus Credit Card – Best for Transparency on Insurance Earning
Most Indian card terms tell you what does not earn. This one is unusual because it tells you what does, and insurance is on that list by name alongside utility and telecom payments. In a category where the biggest risk to the reader is discovering after the fact that their premium earned nothing, a card that explicitly names insurance as an earning category removes the guesswork. The rate is modest rather than spectacular, but it is certain, and certainty is worth more than an advertised rate that turns out to exclude your spend.
The exclusions are the usual suspects: cash, rent, education, government payments, EMI conversions, fuel and bill payment aggregators. That last one deserves attention, because paying a premium through a third party bill aggregator rather than the insurer own portal can change how the transaction is categorised and cost you the reward. Pay on the insurer website wherever possible. The annual fee is low and waivable on ordinary spending, so the card does not need heavy use to justify itself.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Insurance Spends | Earn, insurance is a named eligible category |
| Reward Type on Premiums | Reward points |
| Insurance Reward Cap | No insurance specific cap published |
| Counts Toward Fee Waiver | Generally yes as retail spend |
| Standing Instruction Support | Yes |
| Best Suited Premium Type | Any premium type, including motor and health |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Insurance is explicitly named as an earning category
- ✓ Low annual fee that is easy to waive
- ✓ Utility and telecom also earn, unusual in 2026
- ✓ Clear, readable terms with few surprises
👎 Cons
- ✗ Earning rate is modest rather than accelerated
- ✗ Bill payment aggregators are excluded
- ✗ Rewards outside the named categories are basic
4. HDFC Millennia Credit Card – Best Everyday Card That Still Earns on Premiums
Millennia is the sensible default for anyone who wants a premium payment to earn something without managing packs, caps or category selections. Its terms state that insurance transactions are not treated as utility transactions, which means the utility style fee that applies elsewhere does not bite, and insurance does not appear on the excluded category list. The result is a clean base rate on the premium, every time, with no conditions to satisfy first.
That base rate is not exciting, and this card will never beat a co-branded insurance card on a LIC premium. What it offers instead is reliability across every insurer and every premium type, which matters when your health, motor and term policies sit with three different companies. It is also one of the most widely held everyday cards in India, so for many readers the honest answer is that the card already in their wallet handles insurance adequately and no new application is needed at all.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Insurance Spends | Earn at the base rate, not excluded |
| Reward Type on Premiums | CashPoints |
| Insurance Reward Cap | No insurance specific cap in the published terms |
| Counts Toward Fee Waiver | Generally yes as retail spend |
| Standing Instruction Support | Yes |
| Best Suited Premium Type | Large annual premiums where accelerators never apply |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Insurance is not on the excluded list
- ✓ No utility style charge applies to premiums
- ✓ Works with any insurer, not just one partner
- ✓ Strong everyday cashback on other categories
👎 Cons
- ✗ Base rate only, no insurance accelerator
- ✗ Accelerated cashback is restricted to a merchant list
- ✗ Large premiums return relatively little
5. BOBCARD Eterna Credit Card – Best Flat Rate for Large Premiums
A large annual premium is exactly the kind of transaction that accelerated reward structures are designed to avoid paying out on. That is why a card with a solid, uncapped base rate can quietly beat a flashier card on this particular job. Eterna excludes fuel and a set of specified merchant categories from its accelerated earning, but insurance is not named among the exclusions, so a premium earns the base rate without hitting an accelerator ceiling.
The card also brings complimentary airport lounge access and a broad accelerated structure across everyday categories, so it works as a primary card rather than something you take out once a year. Two caveats. A revision during 2026 restricted parts of the accelerated rewards and the fuel surcharge waiver to an approved outlet list, so older reviews overstate the card. And as with every card here, paying through a third party aggregator rather than the insurer own gateway can change how the transaction is categorised.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Insurance Spends | Earn at the base rate, insurance is not named as excluded |
| Reward Type on Premiums | Reward points |
| Insurance Reward Cap | Accelerated categories are capped, base rate is not |
| Counts Toward Fee Waiver | Generally yes as retail spend |
| Standing Instruction Support | Yes |
| Best Suited Premium Type | Large annual life and health premiums |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Base rate applies cleanly to large premiums
- ✓ Insurance is not on the named exclusion list
- ✓ Lounge access and broad everyday rewards
- ✓ Works as a single primary card
👎 Cons
- ✗ Parts of the card were devalued during 2026
- ✗ No insurance specific accelerator
- ✗ Annual fee needs regular spending to waive
6. IDFC First Power Plus Credit Card – Best for Regular Small Premiums
IDFC has not applied the blanket insurance exclusion that several competitors introduced during 2025 and 2026, which alone puts this card ahead of a number of better known names for premium payments. It suits a reader who pays several modest premiums through the year rather than one large annual sum, because the earning is steady and there is no category gate to satisfy first. The card also performs well on fuel and everyday spending, so it is not a single purpose choice.
There is one 2026 change that matters here more than anywhere else on this page. From June 2026 reward points on this portfolio are earned only on spends up to the credit limit within a billing cycle. For most people that is irrelevant, but a very large single insurance premium can approach or exceed a modest credit limit, and in that case the portion above the limit earns nothing. If your annual premium is large relative to your limit, either split it into instalments with the insurer or use a card with a higher limit for that payment.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Insurance Spends | Earn, no blanket insurance exclusion published |
| Reward Type on Premiums | Reward points |
| Insurance Reward Cap | Earning is limited to spends within the credit limit each cycle |
| Counts Toward Fee Waiver | Generally yes as retail spend |
| Standing Instruction Support | Yes |
| Best Suited Premium Type | Monthly or quarterly premiums rather than one large annual payment |
👍 Pros
- ✓ No blanket insurance exclusion
- ✓ Steady earning on regular premium payments
- ✓ Strong performance on fuel and everyday spends
- ✓ Fee is realistic to waive with normal use
👎 Cons
- ✗ Rewards only accrue on spends within the credit limit
- ✗ Portfolio was devalued during 2026
- ✗ No insurance specific accelerator
7. Kotak League Platinum Credit Card – Best for Modest Premiums Under the Monthly Threshold
Kotak made one of the hardest cuts in the market with effect from June 2025, removing rewards and cashback on insurance spends entirely across several cards in its range. This card was not one of them. Instead it sits in the threshold capped group, which means insurance continues to earn up to a monthly spend ceiling and stops earning beyond it. Knowing which side of that line your card falls on is the single most useful piece of information a Kotak cardholder can have, and no competing article sets it out.
The practical guidance follows directly from the structure. If your premiums are modest and spread across the year, this card earns on them consistently. If you pay one large annual premium, you will cross the monthly threshold in a single transaction and most of it will earn nothing. In that case pay the premium on a different card from this list and keep this one for the rest of your spending. The card also carries the milestone movie passes that make it a decent all round choice.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Insurance Spends | Earn, but only up to a monthly threshold |
| Reward Type on Premiums | Reward points |
| Insurance Reward Cap | Yes, a monthly spend threshold applies |
| Counts Toward Fee Waiver | Generally yes as retail spend |
| Standing Instruction Support | Yes |
| Best Suited Premium Type | Smaller monthly or quarterly premiums |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Insurance still earns, unlike several sibling cards
- ✓ Predictable monthly threshold structure
- ✓ Milestone movie passes add everyday value
- ✓ Fee is waivable on reasonable spending
👎 Cons
- ✗ Earning stops once the monthly threshold is crossed
- ✗ Poor fit for one large annual premium
- ✗ Several cards in the same family exclude insurance entirely
8. SBI Cashback Credit Card – Best Companion Card, Not for Premiums
This card is on the list precisely because so many readers are told to use it for insurance and should not. Insurance is a long standing excluded category in its terms, sitting alongside fuel, rent, wallet loads, education, jewellery, railways, utilities and EMI conversions. From April 2026 SBI extended those exclusions further and tightened the cashback ceiling per statement cycle. Pay a premium on this card and you will earn nothing at all, which is a genuinely expensive mistake on a large annual policy.
So why include it? Because it remains one of the strongest flat rate online cashback cards in India for everything that is not on the exclusion list, and the right strategy is to hold it alongside a premium friendly card rather than instead of one. Use it for online shopping, travel bookings and general e commerce, and route insurance to one of the cards above. Framing it as a companion rather than a contender is the honest way to use it, and it is the framing every other comparison page gets wrong.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Insurance Spends | Excluded, insurance earns no cashback |
| Reward Type on Premiums | None |
| Insurance Reward Cap | Not applicable, the category is excluded |
| Counts Toward Fee Waiver | Generally counts as spend for the fee waiver |
| Standing Instruction Support | Yes |
| Best Suited Premium Type | None, use another card for premiums |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Excellent flat rate cashback on most online spends
- ✓ No merchant restrictions for general online shopping
- ✓ Premiums still count toward the annual fee waiver
- ✓ Works well as the second card in a two card setup
👎 Cons
- ✗ Insurance spends earn no cashback at all
- ✗ Exclusion list was widened in April 2026
- ✗ Cashback ceiling per statement cycle was tightened
Do Insurance Payments Count Toward Milestones and the Annual Fee Waiver?
This is the question with the highest financial stakes and the least coverage anywhere online, so it deserves a section of its own.
For the annual fee waiver, insurance spends generally do count as eligible retail spend on most cards, including the ones on this page. That makes a large annual premium one of the easiest ways to cross a fee waiver threshold, and it is a legitimate reason to route the premium through a card even when the rewards on it are modest. A premium can effectively pay your card fee for the year.
For milestone rewards, the picture is different and much less consistent. Several Axis premium cards exclude insurance from milestone calculation entirely, even where the same spend counts toward the fee waiver. Other issuers count it in full. Because this varies card by card and has changed more than once, treat it as something to verify rather than assume, and read the most important terms and conditions document for your specific card.
The general rule that emerges is this: use insurance to hit your fee waiver with confidence, but never plan a milestone bonus around a premium unless you have confirmed it in writing for your exact card.
How to Pay Each Type of Premium by Credit Card
LIC premiums. Pay through the LIC customer portal or the LIC digital app, where credit cards are accepted for renewal premiums and the convenience fee is absorbed by LIC rather than charged to you. Credit cards are not accepted for policy loan repayment or loan interest, and acceptance at physical premium collection points is limited.
Health insurance premiums. Most private health insurers accept credit cards directly on their own websites. Paying on the insurer site rather than through a comparison portal or a bill aggregator keeps the transaction categorised as insurance, which is what your card terms refer to.
Motor and term insurance premiums. These behave the same way, but renewals bought through a broker or an aggregator can be processed by that intermediary rather than the insurer, which can change the transaction category on your statement.
Why the gateway matters more than the card. This is the point no competitor makes. Your reward depends on how the transaction is categorised by the payment route, not only on which card you used. The same premium paid on the insurer site and through a third party bill payment platform can produce two different outcomes on the same card, because several issuers exclude bill payment aggregators as a category. Always pay on the insurer own gateway where you have the choice.
Auto Debit and Standing Instructions for Premiums
Setting a premium to renew automatically is convenient, and the rules that govern it changed in your favour. The Reserve Bank raised the ceiling for recurring card mandates that do not require an additional authentication step for each instalment, and insurance premium payments were specifically named among the categories covered by that higher ceiling. In practice that means a routine premium can renew automatically without you approving each debit.
Two safeguards remain in place. You must receive a pre transaction notification before each debit, and you must be able to opt out or cancel the mandate at any time. If a premium is debited without notice, that is worth raising with the issuer.
One practical warning. A standing instruction that fails because your card expired or your limit was full can lapse a policy, and the grace period on a monthly premium is shorter than on an annual one. If you automate, keep the card details current and leave headroom on the limit around renewal dates.
No Cost EMI on Insurance Premiums: What Is Real and What Is Not
Insurer side instalments and card side EMI are different products. An insurer offering monthly or quarterly premium payment is restructuring the policy. Your issuer offering to convert the transaction to EMI is lending you money.
Insurer instalments are rarely free. The cost is usually recovered indirectly, through a higher total premium, a lost upfront discount, or fees and taxes on the arrangement rather than through a visible interest rate.
Card EMI conversion can destroy your rewards. EMI converted transactions are an excluded category on several of the cards discussed on this page. Converting a premium to EMI after paying it can therefore reverse the very rewards that made you choose that card, which is a trap no competing article warns about.
When EMI does make sense. If cash flow rather than rewards is the constraint, an instalment route is a legitimate tool. Just do not tell yourself you are getting both the rewards and the instalments, because on most cards you are not.
How to Verify Your Own Card Before Paying a Large Premium
Read the rewards terms document, not the product page. Every issuer publishes a rewards terms and conditions file for each card. Search it for the word insurance. If it appears in an exclusion list, stop there.
Run a small test transaction. If you have a small premium due, pay it first and wait for the statement. The transaction description and the points posted will tell you exactly how your issuer categorises insurance for your card.
Check the statement category, not just the points total. A premium categorised as a bill payment or a utility rather than insurance will behave differently, and that is usually a gateway problem rather than a card problem.
Confirm before automating. Verify the treatment once, then set the standing instruction. Automating first and checking later is how people discover a year of premiums earned nothing.
Other Cards Worth Knowing About
We can only help you apply for the cards above, and you deserve to know what else exists in this space.
Among premium cards, the HDFC Infinia and Diners Club Black, the ICICI Emeralde Private Metal, the Tata Neu Infinity HDFC and the Standard Chartered Smart card are the names that appear repeatedly in specialist discussions of insurance payments. Most are invite only or carry high income requirements, and several now apply monthly caps on insurance earning rather than paying uncapped. IDFC also issues LIC co-branded cards in Classic and Select variants that are worth a direct look if LIC is your main insurer.
None of that changes our recommendations above, which are the strongest options we can actually help you apply for. But if you pay very large premiums, it is worth knowing the premium segment exists.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which credit cards still earn full reward points on insurance premium payments in India?
Fewer than most guides suggest. The Axis LIC Signature card is the strongest case because it pays an accelerated rate specifically on LIC premiums and does not list insurance among its exclusions. The AU Altura Plus card names insurance as an eligible earning category outright. HDFC Millennia and BOBCARD Eterna earn their base rate on premiums without an insurance specific exclusion. HDFC Pixel Play earns but with a published monthly ceiling. At the other end, SBI Cashback excludes insurance entirely, and several Kotak cards removed insurance earning completely in June 2025.
Do insurance payments count toward my credit card annual fee waiver or milestone spends?
Usually yes for the annual fee waiver, and it is one of the easiest ways to cross a spend threshold, because a premium is large and predictable. Milestone rewards are a different matter. Several Axis premium cards exclude insurance from milestone calculation even where the spend counts for the fee waiver, and treatment varies card by card. The safest approach is to read the most important terms and conditions document for your specific card rather than assume, because issuers changed this repeatedly during 2025 and 2026.
Can I pay my LIC premium with a credit card, and is there a convenience fee?
Yes, LIC accepts credit cards for renewal premiums through its customer portal and its digital app, and the convenience fee on that route is absorbed by LIC rather than passed to you. That makes the insurer own portal the best place to pay from a cost point of view as well as a rewards point of view. Note that credit cards are not accepted for LIC policy loan or loan interest repayment, and acceptance at physical premium points is limited.
Why did I get no reward points on my insurance premium payment?
There are three likely reasons. Your card may exclude insurance as a category, which is now true of several popular cashback cards. Your card may cap insurance earning at a monthly ceiling that a single large premium blew straight through. Or the payment may have been categorised differently because you paid through a third party aggregator rather than the insurer own gateway, so the transaction never registered as an insurance payment at all. Check your statement to see how the transaction was categorised before contacting the issuer.
Is it better to pay an insurance premium in full by credit card or convert it to EMI?
Paying in full is usually better if your card earns on insurance. Converting to EMI turns the payment into a loan: the insurer is paid immediately, your issuer carries the balance, and your available credit limit is blocked for the term. More importantly, EMI converted transactions are an excluded category on several of the cards discussed here, so converting can wipe out the very rewards that made you pay by card in the first place. Insurer side instalment options are a separate product and generally carry an implicit loading in the premium.
Final Verdict
If your premiums are mainly LIC policies, the Axis LIC Signature card is the clearest answer on this page. It is the only card in the market that accelerates rewards on insurance specifically, it is lifetime free, and insurance is absent from its exclusion list. Nothing else here comes close for that job.
If your premiums are spread across health, motor and term policies with different insurers, choose reliability over a headline rate. The AU Altura Plus card names insurance as an eligible category outright, and HDFC Millennia earns its base rate on any insurer without conditions. For very large annual premiums, a flat base rate card such as BOBCARD Eterna will usually return more than a capped card that stops earning partway through the payment.
And whatever you do, do not pay a premium on a card that excludes the category. Check the terms, run a small test payment if you can, and pay on the insurer own gateway rather than through an aggregator. Those three habits are worth more than any difference between the cards on this list.