SBI Card Unnati
Issued against a fixed deposit — no income proof or credit history needed
- Joining fee
- Nil
- Annual fee
- Lifetime free
- Effective return
- 0.5%
- Forex markup
- 3.50%
- Lounge access
- 0 domestic · 0 international
- Min. income
- Not required
- Min. credit score
- Any
On SBI Card’s secure site. Checking eligibility is a soft enquiry.
Our verdict
Not a rewards card and not meant to be. If you have no credit history — a student, a new earner, or someone rebuilding after a default — six months of on-time payments here is the cheapest route to a score that unlocks real cards.
How we scored it
- Rewards
- 0.5
- Fees
- 5.0
- Perks
- 0.0
- Accessibility
- 5.0
Rewards carry 40% of the weight, perks 25%, fees 20% and accessibility 15%. The score is computed from the fields above, not assigned. See the full method on our methodology page.
What works, what does not
- No income or credit score requirement — backed by your own FD
- Free for the first four years
- Reports to bureaus, so it builds a genuine credit history
- Requires locking up a fixed deposit
- Very low reward rate
- Credit limit capped at a share of the FD value
The full cost
Data as of 15 Aug 2026Source: sbicard.comPending issuer verification
Is the fee worth it for you?
Put in your actual spending. The calculator works out the net value after the fee and its GST — the number that decides whether this card pays you or costs you.
- Rewards + perks75%
- Fee25%
- Annual spend
- ₹6,00,000
- Rewards earned
- ₹9,000
- Annual fee incl. 18% GST
- ₹2,950
- Net value in year 1
- ₹8,550
- Effective return on spend
- 1.01%
- Monthly spend to break even
- ₹16,389
What this means.A genuine 1.01% return. Remember the GST on the annual fee — most comparisons forget it, and it is 18% on top of the sticker fee.