In-depth review
Kotak UPI RuPay Credit Card
A lifetime-free, virtual-only RuPay card built for one job: putting a credit line behind your UPI QR payments. Link it to Google Pay, PhonePe or Paytm and scan-and-pay from a credit line, earning 3 reward points per ₹100. Be clear-eyed on value, though — Kotak points are worth about ₹0.10 (₹0.07 as cash since June 2025), so the effective return is a thin ~0.3%, and a long exclusion list earns nothing. A convenience card, not a rewards engine.
Read the full review →Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
0.3% on Other
3 reward points per ₹100 (~0.3% at ₹0.10/point catalogue; ~0.21% as cash at ₹0.07 since June 2025); min 1,000 points to redeem; excludes rent, fuel, utilities over ₹35k/cycle and more
Lifetime Free
No annual fee — ever. Keep this card long-term without any recurring cost.
UPI Linked
Pay UPI QR codes from your credit line. What UPI payments earn can depend on the app you pay through, so check the rewards details.
For an existing Kotak credit-card holder who wants a free credit line on UPI for everyday scan-and-pay and does not care much about reward value. You cannot take it as a standalone first card. A sensible free addition to a wallet for UPI convenience — not a card to route big spends through, given the weak points and long exclusion list.
Full reward structure
What you earn on every rupee, per spend category — as of 5 Aug 2026. Rates assume 1 pt = ₹0.10. How we value points →
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other | reward points | 0.3%3 pts/₹100 × ₹0.10 | — |
Other: 3 reward points per ₹100 (~0.3% at ₹0.10/point catalogue; ~0.21% as cash at ₹0.07 since June 2025); min 1,000 points to redeem; excludes rent, fuel, utilities over ₹35k/cycle and more
Earns nothing on: Rent · Fuel · Wallet Loads · EMI Conversions · Education · Insurance · Government & Tax · Online Gaming · Railway · Balance transfer
These spends earn no rewards at all — not a reduced rate, and not the base rate. They are also normally left out of any milestone or fee-waiver calculation.
Fees & charges
The numbers that matter beyond rewards — verify on the issuer site before applying. Fees below are shown inclusive of 18% GST, as of 5 Aug 2026.
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | Lifetime free |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | Free |
| Finance charge (APR) | 3.75% p.m. |
| Forex markup | 3.5% |
Should you get it?
- Best for: Existing Kotak credit-card holders who want UPI scan-and-pay on a credit line, UPI-first spenders adding a second, no-fee card for convenience
- Entry tier — great for first-time and lower-spend users.
- Strongest value if you spend heavily on everyday spends (0.3% back).
Pros & cons
✓ Pros
- Lifetime free — no joining or annual fee
- Works at any UPI QR code via Google Pay, PhonePe or Paytm
- 3 reward points per ₹100 on eligible spends
- Fully digital — virtual card registers in the Kotak app
✕ Cons
- Weak Kotak point value — ~₹0.10 on the catalogue, ₹0.07 as cash since June 2025
- Long exclusion list (rent, fuel, railway, wallet, EMI, education, insurance, government, utilities over ₹35k) earns nothing
- Virtual-only — no physical card is issued
- No add-on card and no cash advance facility at all
- Kotak says customers with multiple CRNs cannot link a Kotak RuPay credit card on any UPI app for now, so the card's one job may not work for you
- Standard ~3.5% forex markup on international use
Eligibility & documents
Documents required
- 📄None — Kotak issues this card against an existing Kotak credit-card relationship, virtually, with no separate document collection
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
- 🎁Online rewards catalogue (mobile recharge, shopping, e-vouchers, movies, travel) at ~₹0.10/point
- 🎁Cash value / statement credit at ₹0.07/point (minimum 2,000 points)
What your Kotak Reward Points are worth
Realistic value per point by redemption route — the difference is what most people leave on the table.
Standard redemption
Brand & e-gift vouchers
Kotak points are weak (~₹0.10 on the catalogue, ₹0.07 as cash since June 2025) and a long exclusion list — rent, fuel, railway, wallet, EMI, education, insurance, government, gaming and utilities over ₹35,000/cycle — earns nothing, so the effective return is ~0.3% at best.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Kotak UPI RuPay Credit Card cost?
How many rewards does it earn?
Can I use it on UPI?
Which spends do not earn rewards?
Is a physical card issued?
How has the Kotak UPI RuPay Credit Card changed over time?
Has the Kotak UPI RuPay Credit Card been devalued recently?
When did the Kotak UPI RuPay Credit Card's fees last change?
How did the Kotak UPI RuPay Credit Card change in 2025?
The bottom line
As a lifetime-free way to put a credit line behind your UPI QR payments, the Kotak UPI RuPay does its one job well — no fee, works everywhere UPI does. Just be clear-eyed about the rewards — at ~₹0.10 a point (₹0.07 as cash) the 3 points per ₹100 is a thin ~0.3%, and a long list of everyday categories earns nothing. Hold it for UPI convenience, not returns; a flat-cashback card should carry your larger spends.
How this page was built
Counted from this card’s own record: 1 earn rule and the spends listed as earning nothing.
Last updated 5 Aug 2026.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the Kotak UPI RuPay Credit Card are taken from Kotak Mahindra Bank's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page. Last updated 5 Aug 2026. Reviewed by Devchandra Sah. Always confirm current details on the issuer's site before applying. How we research →
Independence. CardAdvisor is an independent editorial publication. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or authorised to act for Kotak Mahindra Bank. All issuer names, product names, and payment-network marks are the property of their respective owners and appear here for identification and comparison only. Card faces shown on this site are our own original illustrations — we do not display or host issuer card artwork or logos.
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Guides and reviews related to this card.
Kotak UPI RuPay Credit Card
A lifetime-free, virtual-only RuPay card built for one job: putting a credit line behind your UPI QR payments. Link it to Google Pay, PhonePe or Paytm and scan-and-pay from a credit line, earning 3 reward points per ₹100. Be clear-eyed on value, though — Kotak points are worth about ₹0.10 (₹0.07 as cash since June 2025), so the effective return is a thin ~0.3%, and a long exclusion list earns nothing. A convenience card, not a rewards engine.
Kotak Cashback+ Prime Credit Card
The flagship of Kotak's Cashback+ family, and one of the few Kotak cards worth holding for rewards rather than credit access — because its cashback is real ₹1-a-point value rather than reward points. It earns 5% on online grocery, food delivery and entertainment (plus auto dealers), 3% on fuel and 0.5% on everything else. The catch is the cap: the 5% bucket is limited to 750 points (₹750) per billing cycle across all those categories combined.
Value timeline
Every real-world change to this card's rewards, fees and benefits we've tracked — newest first, each linked to its source.
Tracking since 2023 · last change Jun 2025
2025
- ▼ RedemptionObserved 8 May 2025 · Effective 1 Jun 2025
Cash redemption value cut ₹0.10 → ₹0.07 per point
₹0.10 per point→₹0.07 per point (min 2,000 points to redeem)
Effective 1 June 2025 Kotak cut the cash redemption value of a UPI RuPay reward point from ₹0.10 to ₹0.07 — a 30% cut — and set a 2,000-point minimum for cash redemption. On a card whose headline is 3 reward points per ₹100, that drops the effective cash return from about 0.30% to roughly 0.21%, which is the single biggest hit to this card's value.
Verification: Kotak Mahindra Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
- ▼ FeeObserved 8 May 2025 · Effective 1 Jun 2025
Finance charge raised; 1% category transaction fees added
3.5% per month finance charge (reported); no category transaction fee→3.75% per month; 1% fee on select categories over per-cycle limits
As part of the same 1 June 2025 revision, Kotak introduced a 1% transaction fee on this card once per-cycle limits are crossed — on wallet loads and gaming above ₹10,000, fuel above ₹25,000 and utilities above ₹35,000, plus education paid through third-party apps. The current 3.75% monthly finance charge is confirmed in Kotak's own KFS; the 3.5% it is said to have replaced is reported rather than published — Kotak has no live page carrying the pre-revision rate.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: Reconstructed
- ▼ RewardObserved 8 May 2025 · Effective 1 Jun 2025
Several categories dropped from reward earning
Wallet, gaming, insurance, government, fuel, rent & education spends earned points→These categories earn no reward points
From 1 June 2025 wallet loads, online skill-based gaming, insurance, government, fuel, rent and education spends stopped earning reward points on the UPI RuPay card. Because this is a UPI-first card often used precisely for bill-type and QR payments, the exclusions remove earning from a large share of the spends people actually put on it.
Verification: Kotak Mahindra Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
2023
- ◆ LaunchEffective Sept 2023
Kotak UPI RuPay virtual card in market
3 reward points per ₹100, lifetime free, virtual-only
Kotak's virtual-only, lifetime-free RuPay credit card was in market by September 2023, in the wave that followed RuPay credit cards becoming linkable to UPI in mid-2023. No physical card is issued — the details are registered in the Kotak mobile banking app and the card is linked to UPI apps for scan-and-pay. It earned 3 reward points per ₹100 with no per-cycle earning cap, on both UPI and regular card transactions, at 1,000 points = ₹100. Kotak published no dated launch notice, so the month is bracketed from the earliest community coverage.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: Reconstructed
Each change links to the issuer's own document — bank T&C, MITC, notice, press release or product page — where one is public. Where the bank published nothing, it's marked CardAdvisor Research and verified against the card's current terms. Independent of the live terms shown above. This timeline is one card's slice of our market-wide change record across every tracked card.
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Source: <a href="https://cardadvisor.in/cards/kotak-upi-rupay#value-timeline">Kotak UPI RuPay Credit Card value timeline</a>, CardAdvisor (CC BY 4.0).
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