WordsA card on someone else's account
Add-on card
A card issued on someone else’s card account, to a person they name, with a relationship the bank accepts. It runs inside the main cardholder’s limit, and RBI’s rules put the whole bill on the main cardholder, not on the add-on holder.
The bank asks the main cardholder, not the add-on holder, for consent on things like activating it. Each bank sets its own terms; HDFC Bank, for example, allows up to three add-ons and charges no fee for them.
Where this comes from
- RBI, Credit Cards and Debit Cards: Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2025Paragraphs 5(1), 11(6) and 18, as updated 1 October 2026
- HDFC Bank, Policy for Issuance and Conduct of Credit CardsAs of 27 April 2026, card product details
- HDFC Bank, Key Fact Statement cum MITC for Credit CardsVersion 4.12, 30 September 2026: Part I, A) iii. (q) and B) i. credit limit
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