This is for anyone choosing between the two cashback cards most Indian households actually hold, or wondering whether to add the second one. It settles the comparison on the numbers that matter: what each pays on a rupee of online spend, where the caps and exclusions bite, and what the fee does to the answer.
Quick Answer: SBI Cashback pays 5% on all online spend (₹5,000 cap a month) for ₹999 + GST (₹1,179), waived at ₹2 lakh; Amazon Pay ICICI pays 5% on Amazon for Prime members and 1% elsewhere for free. Amazon-only shoppers need only the ICICI card; everyone else earns more with SBI, and most people should hold both.
Head-to-head
| Feature | SBI Cashback | Amazon Pay ICICI |
|---|---|---|
| Joining fee | ₹999 + GST (₹1,179) | ₹0 |
| Annual fee | ₹999 + GST (₹1,179) | ₹0, lifetime free |
| Fee waiver | ₹2 lakh spend in the previous 12 months | Not needed |
| Online spend | 5%, any merchant | 5% on Amazon.in for Prime members, 3% for non-Prime; 2% at Amazon Pay partner merchants; 1% on other online spend |
| Offline spend | 1% | 1% |
| Cashback cap | ₹5,000 per statement cycle, online and offline combined | None published |
| How it pays | Auto-credited to the statement | Credited as Amazon Pay balance |
| Exclusions | EMI, rent, fuel, wallet loads, utilities, insurance, education, jewellery, government | Cash transactions, rent at some merchants, insurance |
| Welcome benefit | None | ₹500 Amazon Prime voucher for new customers (December 2024 onward) and a 3-month Swiggy One membership |
| Lounge access | None | None |
| Forex markup | 3.5% | 1.99% |
| Income bar | ₹25,000 a month or ₹3 lakh ITR | Not published; ICICI eligibility check through the Amazon application flow |
| Credit score | 750+ | 650+ |
| Other benefits | None | 15% off at 2,500+ restaurants through ICICI Culinary Treats |
The structural difference is simple. SBI Cashback pays 5% wherever you shop online but charges a fee and caps the cashback. Amazon Pay ICICI pays 5% in one place, is free, and does not cap. Which one earns more depends entirely on how much of your online spend is on Amazon.
Effective cashback at ₹20,000 and ₹50,000 a month
Two household profiles, each with a share of online spend on Amazon. Offline spend is left out because both cards pay 1% on it.
₹20,000 a month online, ₹2.4 lakh a year:
| Amazon share | SBI Cashback | Amazon Pay ICICI (Prime) | Amazon Pay ICICI (non-Prime) |
|---|---|---|---|
| All on Amazon | ₹12,000 a year, fee waived | ₹12,000 | ₹7,200 |
| Half on Amazon | ₹12,000 | ₹6,000 + ₹1,200 = ₹7,200 | ₹3,600 + ₹1,200 = ₹4,800 |
| Nothing on Amazon | ₹12,000 | ₹2,400 | ₹2,400 |
₹50,000 a month online, ₹6 lakh a year:
| Amazon share | SBI Cashback | Amazon Pay ICICI (Prime) | Amazon Pay ICICI (non-Prime) |
|---|---|---|---|
| All on Amazon | ₹30,000 a year, fee waived | ₹30,000 | ₹18,000 |
| Half on Amazon | ₹30,000 | ₹15,000 + ₹3,000 = ₹18,000 | ₹9,000 + ₹3,000 = ₹12,000 |
| Nothing on Amazon | ₹30,000 | ₹6,000 | ₹6,000 |
At ₹20,000 a month the SBI fee is waived (₹2.4 lakh clears ₹2 lakh), so its ₹12,000 is net. The ICICI card only matches it when every rupee of online spend is on Amazon and you hold Prime. At ₹50,000 a month the same holds; SBI's ₹5,000 monthly cap does not bind until ₹1 lakh of online spend.
Hold both and the arithmetic changes: Amazon purchases on the ICICI card at 5%, everything else online on SBI at 5%, and the SBI fee still waived if the non-Amazon share clears ₹2 lakh a year. For the half-on-Amazon household at ₹50,000 a month, that is ₹15,000 from ICICI and ₹15,000 from SBI, the same ₹30,000 as SBI alone but with ₹3 lakh less spend needed on SBI to keep its fee waived, and the ICICI card's Prime voucher and lower forex markup on top.
The cap, the exclusions and the fine print
SBI's ₹5,000 cap is per statement cycle and counts online and offline cashback together. At 5% online you reach it at ₹1 lakh; if you also put ₹50,000 of offline spend through the card, the ₹500 that earns eats into the same cap. Above the cap, the card earns nothing until the next cycle, so heavy spenders should move overflow to another card.
SBI's exclusion list is the longer of the two: EMI transactions, rent, fuel, wallet loads, utility bills, insurance, education, jewellery and government payments earn nothing. Utilities and education are the ones people miss; paying the electricity bill or school fees online earns zero on this card. Amazon Pay ICICI excludes cash transactions, rent at some merchants and insurance, and pays its 1% on utilities paid through Amazon Pay.
How the cashback arrives differs. SBI credits the statement automatically. ICICI credits Amazon Pay balance, which spends on Amazon.in, at Amazon Pay partner merchants and on bill payments through Amazon Pay, but is not cash in your bank account. For an Amazon-heavy household that is no constraint; for anyone else it is a mild one.
Prime matters on the ICICI card. Non-Prime members earn 3% on Amazon.in rather than 5%, which drops the card below SBI even for pure Amazon spend. At ₹20,000 a month of Amazon spend the 2-point gap is ₹4,800 a year, well above a Prime membership.
Who should get it
Get SBI Cashback if:
- Your online spend is spread across Flipkart, Myntra, Swiggy, Zomato, BigBasket, travel sites and Amazon rather than concentrated on one.
- You spend ₹2 lakh or more a year on the card, so the fee is waived.
- You want cashback as a statement credit rather than as Amazon Pay balance.
Get Amazon Pay ICICI if:
- Most of your online spend is on Amazon.in and you hold Prime.
- You want a lifetime-free card with no fee to track and no cap to watch.
- You spend abroad; the 1.99% forex markup beats SBI's 3.5% by ₹1,510 on every ₹1 lakh.
- Your credit score is between 650 and 750, where SBI's bar is harder to clear.
Hold both if:
- You shop on Amazon and elsewhere. Amazon on ICICI, everything else on SBI, and the two 5% rates cover almost all online retail.
Skip both if:
- Your spend is mostly offline; both cards pay 1% there and a points card with lounge access will serve you better.
- Your spend is mostly bills, rent, fuel or school fees, which neither card rewards.
Break-even
| Card | Annual cost | Online spend to recover the fee at 5% | Spend to waive the fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| SBI Cashback | ₹1,179 | About ₹24,000 in the year | ₹2 lakh, any spend |
| Amazon Pay ICICI | ₹0 | Nothing to recover | Not applicable |
SBI's fee is small enough that two months of typical online spend covers it, and it disappears altogether at ₹2 lakh. The comparison is never really about the fee; it is about where you shop.
Getting the cards and using them well
Amazon Pay ICICI is applied for through the Amazon app or Amazon.in rather than the ICICI site, and ICICI's eligibility check runs inside that flow; a 650+ score and a regular income are enough for most applicants. SBI Cashback is applied for on the SBI Card site or app against a ₹25,000 monthly income or ₹3 lakh ITR and a 750+ score.
Once you hold both, set the ICICI card as the default payment method on Amazon and keep SBI Cashback saved everywhere else. Pay both in full; neither card's cashback survives interest charges. Watch the SBI cap only if your online spend passes ₹1 lakh in a month, and route utility bills, rent and school fees to a card that rewards them, because these two do not.
Common questions
Which is better? SBI for online spend beyond Amazon; ICICI for Amazon-only spend with Prime; both together for most households.
Does SBI cap cashback? ₹5,000 a statement cycle, online and offline combined; ICICI publishes no cap.
What does SBI exclude? EMI, rent, fuel, wallets, utilities, insurance, education, jewellery, government.
Is the SBI fee waived? At ₹2 lakh of annual spend; below that it is ₹1,179.
Should I hold both? Yes if you shop on Amazon and elsewhere; the split keeps both 5% rates working.
Next steps
- SBI Cashback Credit Card
- Amazon Pay ICICI Credit Card
- Best cashback credit cards in India
- All SBI Card products ranked
- All ICICI Bank cards ranked
- SBI credit card hierarchy
Last verified: 2026-09-17 against https://www.icicibank.com/personal-banking/cards/credit-card/amazon-pay-credit-card; SBI Cashback as last verified in April 2026 against https://www.sbicard.com/en/personal/credit-cards/rewards/cashback-sbi-card.page, since sbicard.com did not respond to the September 2026 audit.