AU SPONT Credit Card

The ₹353 test

SPONT costs ₹299 + GST a year, about ₹353. It pays 1% cashback on almost everything, including UPI, so you earn the fee back once you put about ₹35,300 a year on it. That is roughly ₹3,000 a month.

If your card spend is above that, SPONT pays for itself and the rest is profit. If it is below that, a lifetime-free card will do better. AU's record does not state a fee waiver, so assume you pay the ₹299 every year.

1% everywhere, up to ₹500

The cashback covers e-commerce, POS, contactless and UPI payments, with a cap of ₹500 a month. AU lists the 1% separately for these spend types; we read the ₹500 as one shared cap, so confirm with AU. As a shared cap, you reach it at ₹50,000 of spend, which most people on an entry card will never hit. UPI payments also earn coins that never expire, though our data does not give their value.

Here is a normal month: ₹8,000 in small UPI payments at shops and kirana stores, ₹6,000 online and ₹4,000 at POS terminals. That is ₹18,000 of spend and ₹180 back, about ₹2,160 a year against a ₹353 fee.

Reddit users like exactly this: one flat rate with no merchant or app restrictions, which works well for small UPI payments that most category cards ignore. Their main complaint is the flip side. Cards like SBI Cashback or Axis ACE pay 5% in specific categories, so if most of your spend is online shopping or bills, 1% looks thin.

Linking SPONT to UPI

SPONT is a RuPay card, so it works on UPI, but AU lists a few rules that trip people up:

• The mobile number on your UPI app must match the one on your card records.
• UPI on a RuPay credit card works only at domestic merchants.
• When your card is renewed, you need to link it again in your UPI apps.

Lounges at this price

You get 2 railway lounge visits every calendar quarter. You also get 2 domestic airport lounge visits in a quarter where you spend ₹50,000. Some user posts quote a ₹20,000 condition; AU's current record says ₹50,000, about ₹16,700 a month. The fuel surcharge waiver is 1% on fills of ₹400 to ₹5,000, up to ₹100 per cycle.

Monzy's verdict on AU SPONT

SPONT is a good fit if you pay by UPI all day, spend ₹3,000 to ₹50,000 a month, and do not want to track categories. It clears its fee easily and adds railway lounges on top. One recent Reddit user says AU offered SPONT lifetime free as an upgrade from LIT, so if you already hold an AU card, ask before paying.

Look elsewhere if you shop heavily on one platform or pay big utility bills; a 5% category card will earn several times more there. For a broader comparison, see the first credit card guide for India, or compare with the lifetime-free AU LIT.

Credit Card Information Compiled by: Abhijeet Kumar | Reviewed by: Anmol Ratan Sachdeva