Best credit card for small business startup
Companies across the globe use credit cards as a commonly preferred tool for making business payments. Not only do credit cards offer an easier alternative to cash payments but they also come with a host of features, perks, and benefits that help businesses save a lot of money and resources.
For small businesses and startups in particular, the line of credit and accompanying benefits that credit cards provide can be a massive help.
However, with a multitude of options available in the market choosing the best business credit cards for startup companies can be a challenging task. You need to carefully weigh your options and choose the best credit card for small business startup that suits your business requirements.
Business credit cards are a far more convenient method of payment than checks or cash. You won’t have to carry around any checkbooks or wads of cash if you use credit cards. Moreover, controlling expenses is also much easier with business credit cards.
Having a business credit card at your disposal can greatly improve the flexibility that you can exercise when spending. In cases of emergencies when you run out of cash funds and have to make a payment you can simply avail of the credit line offered by your business credit card.
The more you use a credit card and the way you pay the credit you have availed back helps build a good credit score for your business. Having a good credit score will help you a lot in the future if you are to apply for any loans or funding.
Having a dedicated credit card for business use helps business owners keep their personal finances separate from business finances. This becomes particularly important during tax time when you have to consolidate all your business expenses for tax calculation.
The credit line offered by business credit cards also helps boost the amount of capital that a business has access to. Businesses should always work with a balance of equity and debt, business credit cards ensure and improve the access businesses have to debt financing.
Business credit cards are useful tools when it comes to cash flow management. When you use business credit cards to make payments your transactions are logged and recorded instantaneously. This gives you real-time updates on the outflow of funds from your organization.
When it comes to getting a card for your business, Volopay corporate cards is the first choice for startups.Here’s why:
• Card security: Volopay cards are secured by bank-grade security and cloud storage facilities.
• In-built spend controls: Volopay cards come with in-built spend controls that let you control and track every single penny spent by your company.
• Superior support: Volopay provides 24*7, on-hand customer support to its clients.
• Ease of applying: The application process for obtaining Volopay corporate cards is extremely simple and straightforward.
• Spend analytics and real-time tracking: Volopay cards come linked with a spend management software that tracks spending in real-time and gives in-depth spend analytics.
• No hidden charges: There are no hidden or unexpected costs or charges when using Volopay cards.
• Unified dashboard: With Volopay you get a comprehensive, unified dashboard that lets you manage and track all your corporate cards from one place.
The State Bank of India is arguably the most well-known and commonly used bank in the Indian subcontinent. Its business credit card offering, the SBI Platinum Corporate Card, has been designed to fit the day-to-day needs of Indian businesses.
This card is one of the best credit card for small business startups, especially because there is no joining or annual fee required to use this card. This makes the SBI Platinum Corporate Card an extremely budget-friendly option, particularly for growing and small businesses.
This card offers features such as spend analysis, multi-layer spend controls, insurance cover on both fraud and travel, emergency card replacement, 24*7 support services, emergency cash disbursement, priority airport lounge pass program, chip and pin security, Visa lounge access program, global acceptance, EMV cards, expense management and a host of offers on purchases.
The HDFC Business MoneyBack Credit Card is a great option for businesses that are looking for a credit card that offers a lot of cashback perks. This card is one of the best business credit cards for startup companies in India because it offers a host of business-focused rewards and cashbacks that can be used to pay off card dues.
For the first year, if you use this card you’ll have to pay an annual fee of ₹500, from the second year onwards, however, if your spending crosses ₹50,000 the annual fee will be completely waived.
This card provides cashback worth 5% on business purchases. This cashback has a ceiling of ₹250 and there has to be a minimum of ₹10,000 spent every month. Additional features include 4 reward points per ₹150 spent online, 2 reward points for every ₹150 spent elsewhere, fuel surcharge waivers, credit card loans, easy EMIs, and interest-free credit.
The Citi Corporate Credit Card is one of the most exclusive corporate credit cards available in India. This card has been designed specifically to fit the needs of corporates. You need to be earning a minimum of ₹25,000 per month to be able to get this card.
However, there are no annual or renewal fees required to be paid for the Citi Corporate Credit Card. There is also a 1% waiver on fuel surcharges when you use Indian Oil outlets.
Additional features of the Citi Corporate Credit Card include complimentary domestic airport lounge access, 2 reward points earned for every ₹125 you spend using the card, at select restaurants you can avail of up to 15% on dining, Visa Intellilink spend management system for easy expense management, 24*7 travel assistance and more.
Moreover, the reward points you accumulate with this card never expire.
Axis bank also falls amongst some of the most popular and widely used banks in the Indian subcontinent. The Axis Bank My Business Credit Card has been designed by Axis bank to make business expense management easier and more streamlined.
The joining fee for this card is set at ₹999 while the fee for a renewal is set at ₹499. This card also comes with a standing instructions feature that can help you automatically pay all your bills.
When you make a transaction with this card that falls between ₹400 and ₹4000 at any fuel station in India you get a fuel surcharge waiver of 1%. Every quarter you get complimentary access to domestic airport lounges twice.
You get access to over 1 million Visa ATMs across the world from where up to 30% of your credit limit worth of cash can be withdrawn. Additionally, for every ₹200 you spend you get 4 reward points, these points can be redeemed for a host of offers.
American Express is a globally popular banking service provider. Its business card offering, the AMEX Platinum Travel Credit Card, is one of the best credit card for small business startup options available in the market. It is also a fairly expensive card given that the joining fee is set at ₹3,500 and renewal is set at ₹5,000.
However, this card is an excellent option for high-spenders who also travel frequently. This card also has a tie-up with Taj Hotels and provides vouchers for staying at Taj properties.
Special features of this card include 1 reward point for every spending of ₹50, with partnered restaurants you get 20% off on your dining bill, milestone reward points when traveling, and within India, you get four free airport lounge accesses. Additionally, you get a Taj Experience E-GIFT Card and at the time of joining you get 5,000 Bonus membership points.
The Kotak Corporate Platinum Credit Card has been tailored to provide business owners with more value for their money via high reward points. Both the joining fee, as well as the renewal fee for this card, is set at ₹999. The points you collect with this card can be redeemed easily every quarter simply by calling the customer service desk of Kotak.
For all fuel transactions that fall between the ₹500 and ₹3,000 brackets you can avail of a fuel surcharge waiver worth 1% (this is capped at ₹3,500 per year). You can also avail of a maximum of ₹500 waivers on railway surcharges.
The card also comes with spend monitoring features to help you manage your business expenses. For security purposes, you also get SMS alerts whenever the Kotak Corporate Platinum Credit Card is used to carry out a transaction.
Some of the main documents that are required for getting a business credit card are:
• Identification documents (for example Authorised Account Administrator name, admin's copy of a valid ID such as Passport, Employment pass or NRIC, and Authorised signatories details)
• Audited financial statements
• GST certificate & GST number
• CIN number and company details
• Latest bank statements
To obtain a Volopay corporate card for your business in India all you need to do is meet a certain set of eligibility criteria. This includes:
To get a Volopay corporate card in India there are some basic conditions that you and your business must meet. This includes factors such as nationality and age of the business owner or applicant and type of business entity.
Typically, the applicant must be at least 21 years and at most 70 years of age, they must also be an Indian citizen.
You must also be a business entity that is one of the following - partnership firms, startups, LLPs, charities and NGOs, banks, sole proprietors, and organizations run by the government.
The past performance records and growing numbers of the applying business entity must also match eligibility requirements. The applying entity must have a positive growth record as well as solid projections for the future.
To establish these numbers applicants may have to provide bank statements, profit and loss statements, income, or other financial statements.
When an applicant's position is being reviewed their credit score is also an important factor that is taken into account, similar to how your credit score will be required for a personal credit card.