Federal Bank ValueMax Card: ₹499 Fuel Card, Weak Elsewhere

Updated as of 23 Oct 2026. Fees and reward rates from Federal Bank’s Most Important Terms and Conditions (dated 7 Sep 2026). Federal Bank hasn’t announced a launch date or opened applications yet.

Federal Bank has quietly added a new card, ValueMax, to its card terms. It costs ₹499 a year and is built around fuel. It may also be the card some Standard Chartered customers land on when Federal Bank takes over part of StanChart’s card book. Here’s what it pays, and who should bother.

The card in one table

Joining fee	₹499 (no spend waiver)
Annual fee	₹499, waived if you spend ₹1.5 lakh in the year
Fuel	40 points per ₹200
Utilities and dining	16 points per ₹200
Everything else	4 points per ₹200
No points on	Cash, wallet loads, government, rent, insurance, quasi-cash
Point value	₹0.25 in the rewards catalogue; ₹0.10 as statement credit
Redemption fee	Nil on ValueMax (₹99 on other Federal cards)
Fuel surcharge waiver	Not on ValueMax
Forex markup	3.5%
Lounge access	None listed

What you actually get back

Spend	Catalogue value (₹0.25/pt)	As cash (₹0.10/pt)
Fuel	5%	2%
Utilities and dining	2%	0.8%
Everything else	0.5%	0.2%

Fuel looks great at 5%, but there’s no 1% fuel surcharge waiver, so you lose about a fifth of that at the pump. Call it 4% on fuel if you redeem from the catalogue, and about 1% if you take cash. Everything outside fuel, dining and bills earns 0.5% at best, which is poor even for a ₹499 card.

The Standard Chartered angle

Federal Bank’s board approved buying a select part of Standard Chartered India’s retail credit card book on 30 April 2026, reported at about 1.1 lakh accounts. Federal Bank hasn’t said which StanChart cards move, or what they move to. ValueMax is a likely landing card for some of them, but that isn’t confirmed. If you hold a StanChart card, wait for the bank’s letter before you change anything, and check whether your new card keeps your lounge visits and reward rate.

Should you get it?

You are…	What to do
Spending ₹5,000+ a month on fuel and happy to redeem from a catalogue	✅ Worth a look at launch: about ₹2,400 a year back on fuel
Wanting one everyday card	❌ 0.5% on general spends is too low
Spending abroad	❌ 3.5% forex, no lounges
A Standard Chartered cardholder	⚠️ Wait for Federal Bank’s migration letter

For everyday spends, pick a card that pays more than 0.5% using our Trip Spend Planner. Check which merchant category your petrol pump uses with our MCC Lookup.

DealUni take: a fuel card, and only a decent one if you redeem from the catalogue. Everyone else can skip it. Petrol bhariye toh theek, baaki kharche ke liye nahi. (Fine for petrol, not for anything else.)

Sources: Federal Bank MITC (7 Sep 2026); The Statesman: Federal Bank to acquire StanChart card portfolio. Checked 23 Oct 2026.