Every guide to the best credit card for daily use in India ranks cards by their headline reward rate. In 2026 that is the wrong number to look at, because the categories that make up an ordinary Indian day, rent, fuel, utilities, insurance and education, have been quietly removed from earning on card after card.
Between July 2025 and August 2026 four major issuers ran exclusion sweeps. One removed rewards on utilities, insurance, rent, education and government payments across a range of cards. Another added digital gaming, tolls and government transactions to an already long exclusion list and cut its cycle cap. A third stopped earning on ten everyday categories across its entire premium portfolio in one circular. A fourth capped reward earning at your credit limit per cycle and gave its points an expiry date for the first time.
So we did the opposite of what the ranking pages do. Instead of comparing headline rates, we checked each card against the everyday categories that actually fill an Indian month, and ranked on how many still earn. Here are eight cards that survive that test, along with the RuPay and UPI detail that now matters more than any percentage.
What Daily Use Actually Means in India
A daily use card is not the card with the highest number on it. It is the card that earns on the largest share of an ordinary month. Three things decide that, and only one of them is the reward rate.
Broad Coverage Beats One Accelerated Category
A card paying a spectacular rate on one category and almost nothing elsewhere is a specialist. Daily spending is a long tail: groceries, a chemist, a taxi, a school fee, a phone recharge, a restaurant, a hardware shop. A card with a decent uncapped base rate will out earn a capped accelerator across a real month, because the accelerator stops paying partway through while the base rate keeps going.
A Fee You Will Actually Recover
Lifetime free and fee waived on spends are not the same thing, and the difference is treated carelessly everywhere. A waiver threshold that you clear comfortably is fine. A waiver threshold you will miss in a quiet month means paying the fee for a card you barely used. For a daily use card, prefer genuinely lifetime free unless the paid card gives you something specific, such as lounge access, that you will definitely use.
A Short Exclusion List, Not a Long One
This is the criterion nobody applies and it is the most important one in 2026. We tested every card on this page against eight everyday categories: rent, utilities, fuel, insurance, education, wallet loads, government payments and instalment conversions. On some widely recommended daily use cards, six or seven of those eight now earn nothing at all. A card cannot be your everyday card if it excludes most of your everyday.
The 2026 Exclusion Wave: What Stopped Earning
Rent. Excluded or fee bearing on nearly every card now. One issuer added a percentage charge on rent payments during 2026 and another stopped rewarding it entirely.
Utilities and telecom. The most changed category of all. Some cards still earn, several issuers apply a percentage charge once your monthly utility total crosses a threshold, and one removed utility earning outright across a range of cards from June 2025.
Fuel. The surcharge waiver mostly survives. Reward earning mostly does not. A large number of everyday cards state plainly in their own terms that fuel spends earn no points.
Insurance. Capped by some issuers, excluded by others. One issuer moved to a monthly reward ceiling on insurance from July 2025 and another removed it entirely from June 2025.
Education, wallet loads and government payments. Education paid through third party apps is widely excluded, wallet and voucher loads are excluded essentially everywhere, and government payments and tolls were added to at least one major exclusion list in April 2026.
Instalment conversion. The silent one. Converting a purchase to instalments moves it into an excluded category on most cards, so the rewards you expected quietly disappear after the fact.
The overall picture is a market that spent two years narrowing what an everyday card actually pays on. That is why we rank on coverage rather than on rate.
RuPay on UPI: The Feature That Now Matters Most
Only RuPay credit cards can be linked to UPI. Visa and Mastercard credit cards cannot. In a country where a very large share of daily payments happen by scanning a QR code, that single fact decides how much of your ordinary spending can go on a card at all.
It is limited to merchant payments. You cannot use a credit card on UPI to send money to a person, to a personal QR code, to a lending platform, to buy mutual funds or to withdraw cash. It is for paying shops and businesses, which is exactly the daily use case.
Your UPI reward cap is often lower than your card cap. This is the point no competing article separates. Several issuers apply one monthly ceiling to rewards earned through UPI and treat ordinary card spends differently, sometimes with no ceiling at all. On the same card, the same purchase can earn two different amounts depending on how you paid.
Which of our picks support it. Six of the eight cards on this list have a working RuPay route. For a household whose spending is mostly small local merchants, that is worth more than a percentage point on a category card.
Best Credit Card for Daily Use: Quick Comparison
Read the exclusions column before the reward column. On a daily use card, what is excluded tells you more than what is accelerated.
| Credit Card | Best For | Key Benefit | Apply |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDFC Pixel Play Credit Card | Best Overall for Everyday Spending | Lifetime free, you choose your own categories, and the base rate is uncapped | Apply |
| HDFC RuPay Credit Card | Best for UPI First Households | One of the few cards where utility bills still earn rather than being excluded | Apply |
| Kotak Cashback Plus Credit Card | Best for a Grocery and Fuel Household | A rare card in 2026 that still rewards fuel, with an uncapped base rate | Apply |
| SBI Cashback Credit Card | Best When Most Daily Spending Is Online | A high flat rate across nearly every website, with no merchant list | Apply |
| Axis Neo Rupay Credit Card | Best Zero Fee Card for Small Frequent Spends | Discounts on bills, food and entertainment at no annual cost | Apply |
| IndusInd Tiger Credit Card | Best Lifetime Free Card With Lounge Access | A free card that adds airport lounge access for a mid spending family | Apply |
| Uni GoldX Credit Card | Best for Turning Daily Spending Into Savings | A free card that accumulates everyday spending as digital gold | Apply |
| SBM ZET Credit Card | Best First Card With No Credit History | Deposit backed, lifetime free and works on UPI from day one | Apply |
The 8 Best Credit Cards for Everyday Spending in India
Each card was scored on how many of the eight everyday categories still earn, then on whether the base rate is capped, then on the fee.
1. HDFC Pixel Play Credit Card – Best Overall for Everyday Spending
A daily use card has one job: earn something on the long tail of ordinary spending rather than a big number on one category you rarely use. This card does that better than anything else we can offer, for one structural reason that no competitor article highlights. Its base rate on everything outside your chosen categories runs without a monthly ceiling. Most cards cap their accelerated category and then pay nothing meaningful on the rest, which is exactly backwards for a card you use every day.
On top of that uncapped base you select two accelerated packs and one e-commerce merchant, so you can point the extra earning at wherever your money actually goes and change it when your habits change. It is lifetime free, so there is no fee to recover, and the RuPay variant links to UPI, which for daily spending in India now matters more than almost any other feature. The exclusions are the usual ones. The trade off is that it rewards a little management, and the pack composition has changed since launch, so check it before you apply.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Network and UPI Support | RuPay variant available and linkable to UPI |
| Annual Fee Status | Lifetime free |
| Base Rate on Uncategorised Spends | Earns without a monthly ceiling |
| Accelerated Categories | Two selectable packs plus one chosen e-commerce merchant, each capped monthly |
| Everyday Categories Excluded | Fuel, rent, government payments, wallet loads, EMI conversion |
| Redemption and Expiry | CashPoints to statement credit, subject to redemption rules |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Base rate on ordinary spending runs uncapped
- ✓ Lifetime free, so nothing to recover
- ✓ You choose the accelerated categories yourself
- ✓ RuPay variant works on UPI
👎 Cons
- ✗ Each selected pack has its own monthly ceiling
- ✗ Fuel, rent and government payments are excluded
- ✗ Needs occasional management to stay optimal
2. HDFC RuPay Credit Card – Best for UPI First Households
If most of your daily spending happens by scanning a QR code rather than by tapping a card, this is the card designed for that life. It is built around RuPay and UPI from the start rather than having UPI bolted on, and its accelerated categories are precisely the everyday ones: groceries, supermarkets and dining, plus the issuer own payment app. For a household whose spending is mostly food, groceries and small local merchants, that coverage is more useful than a card offering a spectacular rate on air tickets.
It also does something genuinely unusual in 2026: utility bills still earn on this card, at a lower rate than groceries but far from excluded. Given that four major issuers either capped, charged for or removed utility earning between 2024 and 2026, a card that still pays on your electricity bill is worth noticing. The annual fee is small and waived on modest annual spending. Each accelerated category carries its own monthly ceiling, so this is a card for consistent everyday use rather than occasional large purchases.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Network and UPI Support | RuPay, built for UPI linking |
| Annual Fee Status | Low fee, waivable on modest annual spends |
| Base Rate on Uncategorised Spends | Earns on other eligible spends, capped monthly |
| Accelerated Categories | Groceries, supermarkets, dining and the issuer payment app, plus utility bills at a lower rate |
| Everyday Categories Excluded | Fuel, rent, government payments, wallet and voucher loads, EMI conversion |
| Redemption and Expiry | CashPoints to statement credit, subject to redemption rules |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Built for UPI rather than adapted for it
- ✓ Utility bills still earn, which is rare in 2026
- ✓ Accelerated categories match ordinary household spending
- ✓ Low fee, waived on modest annual spends
👎 Cons
- ✗ Each accelerated category has a monthly ceiling
- ✗ Fuel, rent and government payments are excluded
- ✗ No premium benefits such as lounge access
3. Kotak Cashback Plus Credit Card – Best for a Grocery and Fuel Household
This card earns its place for two reasons that run against the direction of the whole market. Its base cashback on other eligible spends, including spending through UPI, is unlimited rather than capped, which is exactly what a daily use card should offer. And it still rewards fuel spending outright at a time when most issuers have either excluded fuel from earning or reduced it to a surcharge waiver alone. That combination is genuinely uncommon in 2026.
The accelerated categories cover online food delivery, online groceries, movies and streaming, which describes a large share of modern household spending, and cashback lands on the statement rather than in a points catalogue. Read the exclusions carefully though, because Kotak made one of the hardest cuts in the market from June 2025: rent, utilities, insurance, education, government payments, wallet loads and EMI conversions all stopped earning across a range of cards including this one. If those categories dominate your spending, this is the wrong card.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Network and UPI Support | RuPay variant available, and base earning applies to UPI spends |
| Annual Fee Status | Annual fee applies, waivable on spends |
| Base Rate on Uncategorised Spends | Unlimited base cashback on other eligible spends |
| Accelerated Categories | Online food delivery, online grocery, movies and streaming, capped per cycle |
| Everyday Categories Excluded | Rent, utilities, insurance, education, government payments, wallet loads, EMI conversion |
| Redemption and Expiry | Cashback credited to the statement, no catalogue to browse |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Unlimited base cashback, including on UPI spends
- ✓ Still rewards fuel spending, which is rare now
- ✓ Accelerated categories match modern household spending
- ✓ Cashback lands on the statement automatically
👎 Cons
- ✗ Rent, utilities, insurance and education all excluded
- ✗ Accelerated cashback is capped per billing cycle
- ✗ Annual fee needs regular spending to waive
4. SBI Cashback Credit Card – Best When Most Daily Spending Is Online
For a household whose daily spending is mostly online, this remains the simplest high return card in India. There is no merchant list, no category to select and nothing to redeem, because the cashback arrives automatically as a statement credit. If your ordinary week is groceries ordered to the door, food delivery, subscriptions and the occasional online purchase, almost all of it earns at the same accelerated rate.
We are including it with a clear warning attached, which is more than most articles recommending it do. Its exclusion list is the longest on this page and it was extended again in April 2026 to add digital gaming, tolls and government transactions on top of utilities, insurance, fuel, rent, wallet loads and education. The cycle ceiling was reduced at the same time and split into separate online and offline pots. If a large share of your daily spending is rent, bills and fuel, this card will pay you nothing on most of your month. If it is online purchases, it is still excellent.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Network and UPI Support | No RuPay UPI route on this card |
| Annual Fee Status | Annual fee applies, waived on annual spends |
| Base Rate on Uncategorised Spends | Small base rate on offline spends |
| Accelerated Categories | Nearly all online merchants, capped per cycle and split into separate online and offline pots |
| Everyday Categories Excluded | Utilities, insurance, fuel, rent, wallet loads, education, jewellery, railways, tolls, government, merchant EMI, digital gaming |
| Redemption and Expiry | Automatic statement credit, nothing to redeem manually |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Highest flat rate on online spending we can offer
- ✓ Nothing to manage and nothing to redeem
- ✓ No merchant whitelist to memorise
- ✓ Very widely available
👎 Cons
- ✗ Longest exclusion list on this page, widened in April 2026
- ✗ Offline spending earns only a small base rate
- ✗ No RuPay UPI route on this card
5. Axis Neo Rupay Credit Card – Best Zero Fee Card for Small Frequent Spends
Treat this as a discount card rather than a rewards card and it makes complete sense. It costs nothing to hold, and it applies straight percentage discounts to exactly the things a young urban household pays for every week: utility bills, food delivery, quick commerce groceries and cinema tickets. Because the benefit is a discount at the point of payment rather than points to redeem later, there is no catalogue to browse and nothing to forget.
The RuPay variant links to UPI, which extends its usefulness to the small local merchants that accept a QR code but no card machine, and that is where a lot of daily spending in India actually happens. Two things to plan around. Each discount is capped monthly and applies through named partner platforms rather than everywhere, so it suits recurring small payments rather than large purchases. And Axis tightened exclusions across its portfolio during 2026 and is adding prior spend conditions to some benefits from November 2026, so keep the card in regular use.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Network and UPI Support | RuPay variant linkable to UPI |
| Annual Fee Status | Lifetime free |
| Base Rate on Uncategorised Spends | Modest base earning, this is a discount card more than a rewards card |
| Accelerated Categories | Utility payments, food delivery, quick commerce and movie bookings, each capped monthly |
| Everyday Categories Excluded | Fuel, rent, wallet loads, EMI conversion, and categories tightened across Axis in 2026 |
| Redemption and Expiry | Discounts applied at payment rather than points to redeem |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Lifetime free with genuinely useful everyday discounts
- ✓ Covers bills, food delivery and entertainment together
- ✓ RuPay variant links to UPI for QR payments
- ✓ Discounts apply at payment with nothing to redeem
👎 Cons
- ✗ Discounts are capped monthly and platform specific
- ✗ A discount card rather than a rewards accumulator
- ✗ Axis tightened exclusions across its portfolio in 2026
6. IndusInd Tiger Credit Card – Best Lifetime Free Card With Lounge Access
A lifetime free card that includes domestic and international airport lounge access is unusual, and for a family that takes two or three trips a year that benefit alone can be worth more than a percentage point of cashback. The earning structure is tiered against annual spending, so it rewards consolidating your household spending onto one card rather than spreading it, which is the natural behaviour for a daily use card anyway. It also carries a fuel surcharge waiver at any pump with an unusually generous ceiling.
The exclusion list is the reason it sits at number six rather than higher, and we would rather you knew now. Utilities, insurance, government payments, education, rent and fuel are all excluded from reward earning. That is a large slice of an ordinary Indian household budget. The right way to use this card is for retail, dining, shopping and travel spending, with a different card handling bills and rent. Held that way, it costs nothing, adds lounge access and quietly accumulates on everything it does cover.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Network and UPI Support | RuPay variant available and linkable to UPI |
| Annual Fee Status | Lifetime free |
| Base Rate on Uncategorised Spends | Tiered earning based on annual spending |
| Accelerated Categories | Earning improves as annual spending crosses tiers |
| Everyday Categories Excluded | Utilities, insurance, government payments, education, rent, fuel |
| Redemption and Expiry | Reward points redeemed through the issuer programme |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Lifetime free with domestic and international lounge access
- ✓ Earning improves as your annual spending grows
- ✓ Fuel surcharge waiver at any pump with a generous ceiling
- ✓ RuPay variant links to UPI
👎 Cons
- ✗ Utilities, rent, insurance and education all excluded
- ✗ Fuel spends earn no reward points
- ✗ Tiered structure rewards high spenders more than average ones
7. Uni GoldX Credit Card – Best for Turning Daily Spending Into Savings
This is the card for anyone who has ever let reward points expire because redeeming them felt like a chore. There is no catalogue, no category to select and no monthly optimisation. Everyday spending accrues as digital gold at a flat rate across online and offline purchases, and for a great many Indian households gold is a more natural and more motivating store of value than a points balance. Nothing expires, which removes the single most common way people lose reward value.
It is deliberately plain. A flat rate will not beat a well matched category card on the category you spend most in, and the value of what you accumulate moves with the gold price, which cuts both ways. What it offers instead is zero cost, zero maintenance and a RuPay route that works at the small merchants where a lot of daily spending actually happens. As the card you use without thinking, sitting behind a sharper primary card, it is very easy to justify.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Network and UPI Support | Dual network with a RuPay route for UPI |
| Annual Fee Status | Lifetime free |
| Base Rate on Uncategorised Spends | Flat rate across online and offline spends |
| Accelerated Categories | None, the flat rate applies everywhere it is eligible |
| Everyday Categories Excluded | Rent, fuel, wallet loads, EMI conversion, cash advances |
| Redemption and Expiry | Accrues as digital gold, no expiry to track and no catalogue |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Lifetime free with absolutely nothing to manage
- ✓ Flat rate on both online and offline spending
- ✓ Rewards do not expire the way points do
- ✓ RuPay route works at small merchants on UPI
👎 Cons
- ✗ Flat rate is beaten by a matched category card
- ✗ Value moves with the gold price
- ✗ No accelerated categories or premium benefits
8. SBM ZET Credit Card – Best First Card With No Credit History
Every daily use guide we read assumes the reader already has a credit score and a salary slip. This card is for everyone else, which in India is a very large group. It is issued against a fixed deposit, so approval does not depend on a credit history or income proof, there is no joining fee and no annual fee, and the deposit continues to earn interest while the card is open. The real cost of holding it is close to nothing.
What makes it a genuine daily use card rather than a token starter product is that it is a RuPay card that works with third party UPI apps from day one. That means your ordinary spending, the tea shop, the vegetable seller, the small local store, can go through the card and start building a credit record rather than leaving your bank account invisibly. Cashback on eligible spends including UPI is subject to a monthly ceiling, and your credit limit is tied to your deposit, but for a first card that is exactly the right shape.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Network and UPI Support | RuPay, works with third party UPI apps |
| Annual Fee Status | Lifetime free with no joining fee |
| Base Rate on Uncategorised Spends | Cashback on eligible spends including UPI, subject to a monthly ceiling |
| Accelerated Categories | None, the benefit is a straightforward cashback on eligible spends |
| Everyday Categories Excluded | Rent, wallet loads, fuel, cash advances, EMI conversion |
| Redemption and Expiry | Cashback accrues within the programme, no catalogue to browse |
👍 Pros
- ✓ Approval without a credit score or income proof
- ✓ Lifetime free with no joining fee either
- ✓ Works on UPI through third party apps from day one
- ✓ Fixed deposit continues to earn interest
👎 Cons
- ✗ Credit limit is tied to your deposit size
- ✗ Cashback is subject to a monthly ceiling
- ✗ No accelerated categories or premium benefits
Flat Rate or Category Card: Which Returns More?
The case for an uncapped base rate. Ordinary spending is scattered. A capped accelerator pays generously until the ceiling and nothing after it, while an uncapped base rate keeps paying on every purchase for the rest of the month. Across a full year, for a household with no dominant spending category, the uncapped base usually wins.
When a category card genuinely wins. If a single category or one brand ecosystem accounts for a large share of your monthly spending, and it is a category the card actually rewards rather than one on the exclusion list, then a matched card beats a flat rate card clearly. Groceries and food delivery are the two most common cases in India.
The two card setup most households should run. One lifetime free card with a strong uncapped base as your default, plus one card matched to whichever category dominates your spending. That combination beats any single card and, chosen from this list, can cost nothing at all in annual fees.
Lifetime Free Versus Fee Waived on Spends
The waiver threshold trap. A card advertised as effectively free requires you to spend a set amount each year to avoid the fee. That is fine if you clear it comfortably. It is a real cost if a quiet year leaves you short, and some issuers exclude the very categories you were counting on, such as rent and wallet loads, from the waiver calculation.
Which of our eight are genuinely lifetime free. Five of the cards on this list carry no annual fee at all under any condition, which for a daily use card is the safest structure. Two carry a low fee waived on modest spending, and one carries a fee that needs regular use to justify.
When paying a fee is right. Only when the card gives you something specific you will definitely use, such as airport lounge access for a family that travels a few times a year. Paying a fee for a slightly higher percentage on a capped category is almost never worth it on an everyday card.
Other Cards Worth Knowing About
We can only help you apply for the cards above, and you should know what else is out there.
The Amazon Pay ICICI Bank card is probably the most widely held genuine everyday card in India, is lifetime free, and pays a higher rate to Prime members. HSBC Live Plus is the strongest dining, grocery and food delivery accelerator currently offered, and is a materially better card than the HSBC Platinum card that sits on our permitted list. Federal Bank Scapia and Kiwi are the two strongest UPI first cards in the market if RuPay on UPI is your priority. Yes Bank PaisaSave and Axis ACE are best in class flat rate cashback cards, and RBL ShopRite, AU Bank LIT and the Swiggy HDFC Bank cards are the specialists for groceries, modular benefits and food delivery respectively.
If any of those match your spending better than our eight, apply for them directly with the issuer. A daily use card is a decade long relationship and it is worth getting right.
How to Choose Your Daily Use Card in Five Minutes
Map your own month first. Take one bank statement and split it across the eight everyday categories. Whichever two are largest decide everything that follows.
Read the exclusion clause before the reward rate. If your two biggest categories appear in the exclusions, stop and look at another card, no matter how good the headline number is.
Check whether the base rate is capped. An uncapped base is the single most valuable feature on an everyday card and it is never advertised.
Check the UPI route and its separate cap. If most of your spending is QR payments, a card without a RuPay variant is only half a daily use card.
Check the redemption route, minimum and expiry. Automatic statement cashback beats a catalogue with a redemption fee, a monthly ceiling and a two year expiry.
Related Reads You Will Love
- Best Credit Card in India: The Complete Guide
- Best RuPay Credit Card in India
- Best Lifetime Free Credit Card in India
- Best Cashback Credit Card in India
- Best Visa Credit Card in India
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the best credit card for daily use in India in 2026?
For most households the HDFC Pixel Play card, because it is lifetime free, it lets you point the accelerated earning at your own categories, and crucially its base rate on everything else runs without a monthly ceiling. That last feature is what a daily use card actually needs, since ordinary spending is a long tail rather than one big category. If most of your daily spending happens by UPI, the HDFC RuPay card is the better fit, and if you have no credit history the SBM ZET card is the realistic starting point.
Do rent, fuel and utility bill payments still earn rewards on Indian credit cards?
Mostly no, and this is the single biggest change in the category. Rent has been excluded or made fee bearing almost everywhere. Fuel usually keeps its surcharge waiver but earns no reward points on the majority of cards. Utilities vary the most: some issuers still pay, several apply a percentage charge above a monthly threshold, and at least one removed utility earning entirely across a range of cards. Always read the exclusion clause before the reward rate, because on a daily use card the exclusions matter more.
Is a RuPay credit card on UPI better than a Visa or Mastercard for everyday spending?
For daily spending in India, usually yes, because only RuPay credit cards can be linked to UPI. That lets you pay by scanning a QR code at the vast number of small merchants who accept UPI but have no card machine, which is where a large share of everyday spending happens. The trade off is that UPI spends often earn under a separate and lower ceiling than card spends, and UPI credit card payments are limited to merchant payments only.
Are reward caps on UPI spends different from reward caps on card spends?
Yes, on several cards, and almost no comparison article separates the two. Issuers commonly apply one monthly ceiling to rewards earned through UPI and a different, usually higher or uncapped, treatment to ordinary card spends. That means the same purchase can earn a different amount depending on whether you tapped the card or scanned a QR code. Check both numbers before assuming a RuPay card will earn the same either way.
Is a flat rate cashback card or a category card better for a normal household?
For most households a card with a strong uncapped base rate beats a card with a spectacular but capped accelerated category. Daily spending is a long tail of small purchases across many categories, and a capped accelerator stops paying partway through the month while an uncapped base keeps earning on everything. The exception is a household whose spending is genuinely concentrated in one ecosystem, where a matched category or co-branded card will win clearly.
Final Verdict
The HDFC Pixel Play card is the best credit card for daily use in India that we can offer, for a reason that has nothing to do with its headline rate. It is lifetime free, you choose the accelerated categories yourself, and its base rate on everything else runs uncapped, which is precisely the structure a card used every day needs.
If your daily spending is mostly QR payments, the HDFC RuPay card is the better answer, and it is one of the few cards left where utility bills still earn. If groceries and fuel dominate, Kotak Cashback Plus still rewards fuel and pays an unlimited base rate, which almost nothing else does in 2026. If you have no credit history at all, start with the deposit backed SBM ZET card and build from there.
And whichever card you choose, read the exclusion clause first. In 2026 the list of what a card refuses to pay on tells you far more about how much you will actually earn than the number printed on the front of the brochure.