Zenith Credit Card

Is AU Zenith still worth it after the cuts?

Only if you got it free. That is the short answer from Reddit, and the numbers back it up. Users in eight threads say AU removed quarterly milestone vouchers and Taj Epicure from the base Zenith card and cut its dining and grocery rates. A December 2025 thread is titled "Major Devaluation Announced for AU ZENITH CREDIT CARD holder". What is left costs ₹7,999 + GST a year.

This page is the base AU Zenith. It is not the AU Zenith+, the metal card that costs less (₹4,999), charges 0.99% forex and gives more lounge visits. Most of the positive Reddit posts you will find are about Zenith+.

The 100-point ceiling on every swipe

Zenith earns per ₹100 in three tiers:

• 5 points on standalone-restaurant dining, international spends, groceries and departmental stores.
• 3 points on other categories.
• 1 point on insurance, utility and telecom.

The catch is a cap of 100 points per transaction. At 5 points per ₹100, you hit it on a ₹2,000 swipe. A ₹10,000 grocery run earns 100 points, not 500. There is also a 1,000-point bonus when you spend ₹50,000 of retail in a statement cycle.

A month that works with the cap: ₹15,000 of dining and groceries in ₹1,500 bills earns 750 points, and ₹20,000 elsewhere in bills under ₹3,300 earns 600 (at 3 points per ₹100, the 100-point cap bites at about ₹3,333). That is 1,350 points. AU does not state a rupee value per point in our data, and users say redemption values fell, with Amazon Pay vouchers removed from the portal. So we cannot give you an honest percentage. Check the AU rewards catalogue before you count points as money.

Two waivers, both steep

The first-year fee is waived if you spend ₹1.25 lakh within 90 days of getting the card. From year two, the fee is waived on ₹5 lakh of retail spend in the previous anniversary year. Both work out to about ₹41,700 a month. Below that, budget for about ₹9,439 a year with GST.

You get 2 domestic and 2 international lounge visits a quarter, and a 1% fuel surcharge waiver on fills of ₹400 to ₹5,000, capped at ₹1,000.

Do not take it abroad

Our older record showed a 1.99% forex markup. AU's page says 3.49%, close to the standard 3.5%. The 5 points on international spends do not make up for that. If foreign spending matters to you, Zenith+ at 0.99% is the AU card to look at.

Corporate LTF offers and agent promises

Five threads say employees of some companies get base Zenith lifetime free through corporate tie-ups, and that is when users say it is worth holding, mostly for lounge visits and movie offers. A June 2026 thread describes an agent pitching it as lifetime free under a corporate employee scheme, and the user says they were duped. Get any waiver in writing from AU before you activate.

Keep it, skip it, or switch to Zenith+?

Hold it if AU gave it to you lifetime free, in writing. Use it for dining and grocery bills under ₹2,000 and for the lounge visits.

Do not pay ₹7,999 for it. Zenith+ costs less and does more for travellers, and a card like SBI Card PRIME covers dining and groceries for a lower fee.

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