SBI vs HDFC vs ICICI balance transfer: how the terms compare

This page sets out what the major Indian card issuers published about their balance transfer products as at 2026-09-03. It is a comparison of published terms, not a ranking and not a recommendation. The banks disclose different things at different levels of detail, and two of them do not publish a rate for this product at all, so the table below has gaps that no amount of research fills.

Published terms as at 2026-09-03

Rows marked “secondary source” come from Indian finance media rather than from the bank’s own page, because the relevant product pages did not return content on 2026-09-03. Those figures should be treated as indicative and checked against the offer letter. Rows marked “not published” mean the bank’s page states no figure, not that no charge exists.

What the table shows about structure

Tenure is the largest point of difference. SBI Card, ICICI Bank and Kotak’s EMI option all sit at 3 to 6 months. Axis Bank runs to 24 and IndusInd Bank is reported to 36. HDFC Bank’s reported 9 to 48 month range is a different product shape entirely: closer to a personal loan drawn on a card than to a short instalment plan. A 48 month tenure at any positive rate accrues considerably more total interest than a 6 month one, while demanding a far smaller monthly payment.

Rate transparency varies. SBI Card and Axis Bank publish specific figures. Kotak publishes both a promotional structure and an annualised plan rate. ICICI Bank publishes no rate at all, and HDFC Bank publishes an EMI table rather than a percentage, so the effective rate has to be inferred (about 1.1% per month) or read from the offer.

Fee structures differ more than fee percentages. A 0.75% fee at SBI Card and a 2% fee at Axis Bank look three times apart, but Axis Bank’s ₹1,500 cap means a ₹3,00,000 transfer attracts 0.5%, below SBI Card’s floor. Kotak’s slab of ₹349 per ₹10,000 has no cap, so it stays at about 3.5% at every size and rounds upward on partial slabs. Rupee minimums of ₹250 to ₹350 dominate the arithmetic on small transfers.

The 0% variant is narrow. Kotak’s 90 day 0% period is the only published zero rate in this set, and the interest is waived only if the total amount due is cleared inside the window. Missing that deadline reinstates interest, and the processing fee of roughly 3.5% is charged either way. It is a repayment deadline with a fee attached rather than a free credit window.

Eligibility rules are broadly the same everywhere. All of these are for balances on another bank’s card, held by the same person as primary cardholder. Transfers between two cards of the same issuer are excluded. Approval depends on the available limit, and the transferred principal is blocked against that limit until it is repaid.

What actually decides the outcome

The published terms narrow the field. They do not settle the question, because four other things move the answer more than the difference between a 1.25% and a 1.5% plan rate.

Tenure fit. The single largest driver is whether the tenure matches what can realistically be repaid. A 6 month plan at a low rate costs less in total interest than a 24 month plan at the same rate, but only if the instalment is affordable every month. A plan that is right on total cost and wrong on monthly cash flow ends in a missed minimum, a late payment charge and a bureau entry. Running the same balance at two tenures in the India calculator shows the trade in rupees.

GST on both sides. 18% is added to the processing fee and to the interest component of every instalment. It also applies to the finance charges on the old card, so the comparison has to be made after tax on both sides. Comparing a post tax plan cost against a pre tax revolving cost understates the case for transferring. The charges and GST guide works through where the tax lands.

The rate being escaped. The saving is the gap between the plan rate and the old card’s revolving rate, not the plan rate in isolation. SBI Card’s MITC states 3.75% per month, or 45% per year, on unsecured cards and 2.75% per month, or 33% per year, on secured variants. Escaping 3.75% per month with a 1.5% plan is a much larger gap than escaping 2.75% with the same plan, and the second case leaves less room for the fee to be recovered.

Discipline about the freed limit. A transfer empties the old card’s limit. If that limit is used again, the result is two balances, one amortising at a plan rate and one revolving at the full rate, which is worse than the starting position. No published term protects against this, and it is the most common way a mathematically sound transfer produces a worse outcome.

The remaining variable is timing. The plan does not stop finance charges on the old card until the payment actually posts there, typically 3 to 7 working days after booking, and the old card’s minimum amount due still falls due in the meantime. The step by step mechanics cover that sequence in full.

Figures on this page are as published on 2026-09-03 and change without notice. The offer letter, not a comparison table, states the terms that apply to any individual transfer.