Trick
Maximise Grocery Rewards with Category-Specific Cards
Reviewed by Jay Dodiya Last reviewed 5 September 2026 Data verified 5 September 2026
Grocery spends at supermarkets (Big Bazaar, DMart, Reliance Fresh, More) are coded under MCC 5411. Many cards cap or exclude rewards on grocery MCCs.
The trick: Use cards that specifically reward grocery spends, or route grocery purchases through platforms that change the MCC.
Cards that reward grocery spends:
- SBI Card SimplyCLICK: 10X reward points on grocery and department store spends (capped at ₹5,000 monthly).
- HDFC Millennia: 2.5% cashback on all online spends including grocery apps (BigBasket, Zepto, Blinkit).
- Amazon Pay ICICI: 3% back on Amazon Fresh and Pantry grocery orders.
- Flipkart Axis: 5% cashback on Flipkart Supermart grocery orders.
Step-by-step:
- For in-store grocery shopping, use SBI SimplyCLICK for 10X rewards.
- For online grocery orders (BigBasket, Zepto, Blinkit), use HDFC Millennia or Amazon Pay ICICI.
- For Flipkart Supermart, use Flipkart Axis for 5% cashback.
- Track monthly caps — SimplyCLICK caps at ₹5,000 monthly grocery reward.
Annual savings: ₹8,000/month grocery spend at 2.5–5% return = ₹2,400–₹4,800/year in rewards.
Sources
- HDFC credit cards — product page (verified 5 September 2026).
- ICICI credit cards — product page (verified 5 September 2026).
- SBI credit cards — product page (verified 5 September 2026).
- Axis credit cards — product page (verified 5 September 2026).
- Reserve Bank of India — Master Direction on Credit Card and Debit Card Issuance (verified 5 September 2026).
Related reading
- Hidden caps on credit-card rewards — what issuers don’t shout about — monthly and quarterly caps that quietly throttle otherwise-high reward rates
- How rewards programmes are designed (and what that means for you) — the rule of 1% interchange and why issuers gate rewards behind caps
- Tax on credit-card rewards in India — what gets reported — when reward redemptions cross into taxable territory
- Understanding MCC codes on Indian credit cards — the merchant-category codes that decide whether a transaction earns rewards