The card, launched at an event by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines in the Government of India, will place the power of card transactions in the hands of first time credit cards users, including those who do not have a credit history.

As the nation progresses on the path to digitisation, SBI Card has introduced the Unnati card in an effort to bring new users into the fold of cashless transactions, thereby contributing to India`s transformation towards a digital economy.

SBI Card Unnati will be available to SBI customers through India`s largest bank network of20000 plus SBI branches, offering unmatched accessibility to users across the country.

To encourage adoption of credit cards and facilitate expansion in the reach of digital payments, the SBI Card Unnati will be offered free, at zero annual fee, for four years.

Cardholders will be entitled to a host of benefits including fuel surcharge waiver across petrol pumps in India, 1 Reward point earning for every Rs 100 spent and the option to redeem reward points for attractive gifts from the exclusive Rewards Catalogue.

Unnati cardholders will also receive attractive cashback on achieving certain annual milestone spends which will further add to the savings proposition and encourage consumers to migrate towards cashless payments.

Speaking on the occasion, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of India said, “SBI Card Unnati is a unique product, which will be catering to the credit card requirements of new users and especially to those without any prior credit history. Presently, lack of credit history has been a challenge in increasing credit card penetration in the country. In such a scenario, this card is likely to enhance credit card penetration and facilitate in generation of credit history for new users, which will eventually help bringing them into organized financial stream.The nation is progressing towards becoming a less cash economy for which a slew of digital initiatives have been made available to the population at large. Needless to add that through SBI Card Unnati, SBI has once again shown the commitment to partner India’s digital vision and contribute to the growth of cashless transactions.”

Commenting on the launch of SBI Card Unnati, Vijay Jasuja, CEO, SBI Card said, “The new SBI Card Unnati will bring the convenience of card transactions to a large segment of the population which was hitherto excluded due to non-availability of credit history. The SBI Card Unnati will offer customers across India, including Jan Dhan account holders, the power to step ahead, towards the easy, secure and cashless way of transacting, while enjoying the many benefits of a credit card. Transacting via credit cards will also generate credit history for new users and this will eventually help bring them into organized financial mainstream and ease their future cost of borrowing. As cardholders discover the benefits and conveniences of card usage, we expect they will shift a greater proportion of cash spends on to their cards, thereby increasing cashless payments. We believe the SBI Card Unnati will play a significant role in encouraging new users to adopt credit cards as a preferred payment instrument and in driving the transformation towards a digital India.”