ELITE

Joining ₹4,999 · Annual ₹4,999 · Renewal fee waived on annual spends of ₹10,00,000 or more in the preceding year

Fee break-even: ≈₹9,99,800/yr through this card at its base rate. Below that, the fee eats the rewards.

Earns Reward Points · assumed 0.25 ₹/point. 1 RP = ₹0.25 (4 RP = ₹1) via statement credit and most Shop & Smile e-vouchers. From 1 Apr 2026 statement credit is only redeemable in multiples of 4,000 RP (= ₹1,000) and capped at 60,000 RP (= ₹15,000) per card per calendar month. A real constraint on ELITE, whose milestone ladder alone can deposit 50,000 RP in a year. The ₹99 Rewards Redemption Fee is NARROWER than usually reported: SBI's MITC applies it only to physical products, statement credit and physically-posted vouchers, so digital e-vouchers appear fee-free. The MITC says '₹99' and is silent on GST. The widely-quoted '₹99 + GST' is not in official text. Points expire 24 months from accrual. Catalogue/physical redemptions typically value points under ₹0.25, so treat ₹0.25 as the realistic best case.

Verified 10 Aug 2026

Forex markup1.99%

ConciergeNone

GolfMastercard variant ONLY, 4 complimentary green-fee rounds per year with no more than 1 per calendar month, plus 1 complimentary lesson per calendar month (12/year), at selected courses across India. No spend requirement. Verified against Mastercard's own India World Golf Program T&C scoped to 1 Jan-31 Dec 2026. SBI's 'up to 50% off' on further games understates the constraint: Mastercard caps its share at ₹1,800 of the green fee. Monthly entitlements cannot be carried forward. Book max 10 days ahead, one booking per day, via Apexlynx (1800-102-6263), sharing your card BIN. Cancellation penalty is 100% of the walk-in fee (1 day for weekday games, 2 days for weekend games and all lessons). The Visa tab on SBI's page shows no golf and the Amex tab carries discounted dining instead. Though SBI never explicitly states golf is excluded on those networks. 1Finance's '48 rounds and 12 lessons' is wrong, contradicted by both SBI and Mastercard.

EMINil on 3 months, then ₹45 at 6, ₹69 at 9, ₹89 at 12, ₹129 at 18 and ₹169 at 24 months, and only on purchases of ₹20,000 or more processing fee · The kindest fee structure here. There is nothing at all to pay on a 3 month plan, and the fee only bites once the purchase reaches ₹20,000. Minimum ₹2,500 to convert. Converting an already billed amount is a separate product costing 1% capped at ₹2,000.

Fuel surcharge1% fuel surcharge waiver on single transactions of ₹500 to ₹4,000, capped at ₹250 per statement cycle per card account. The higher ₹4,000 ceiling is an ELITE/Platinum-specific concession (most SBI cards stop at ₹3,000 with a ₹100 cap). Fuel spends earn no reward points.

Domestic lounge8 a year. 2 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits per calendar quarter (8/year is arithmetic, SBI publishes only the quarterly figure). The quarterly sub-limit is the binding constraint: unused quarters cannot be banked, and beyond quota the transaction simply declines. No spend gate. IMPORTANT: ELITE was SPARED the 10 Jan 2026 domestic-lounge cut. SBI's own page scopes that change to 'all cards with an annual fee of ₹1,499 & ₹2,999', and ELITE at ₹4,999 sits outside that band and is in neither the Set A nor Set B lounge list. The widely-reported reduction to one visit per quarter does NOT apply here. Access is delivered by the card NETWORK programme (Visa/Mastercard/Amex), not SBI's own POS-authorised programme.

International lounge6 a year. Complimentary Priority Pass membership worth USD 99, given once and valid 24 months. 6 complimentary visits per year, capped at 2 per quarter, and valid ONLY at Priority Pass lounges OUTSIDE India. SBI's FAQ is explicit that they are 'not applicable for Domestic and International lounges within India'. Primary cardholder only. Beyond the 6, and for EVERY guest at any lounge including within India, up to USD 27 + taxes per visit. Because the 6 are 'members only', guest visits do NOT draw down your allowance. You simply pay for each guest, and accompanying children pay the full guest fee. The USD 35 figure some sources quote is Priority Pass's own generic Standard-plan rate. No SBI source says 35. Membership is not auto-issued. Request it via the helpline, ~10 days to arrive. Charges hit the statement 60 to 120 days after the visit at the debit-date FX rate. Any card reissue (renewal, upgrade, downgrade or network change) DEACTIVATES the Priority Pass and you must reapply.

Milestones

◆ Spend ₹3,00,000 per year → 10,000 bonus Reward Points Worth ₹2,500
◆ Spend ₹4,00,000 per year → 10,000 bonus Reward Points Worth ₹2,500
◆ Spend ₹5,00,000 per year → 15,000 bonus Reward Points Worth ₹3,750
◆ Spend ₹8,00,000 per year → 15,000 bonus Reward Points (50,000 RP / ₹12,500 in total at ₹8L) Worth ₹3,750

Return by category

Category	Return	Notes
Online spend	0.5%	Base rate
Amazon	0.5%	Base rate
Flipkart	0.5%	Base rate
Subscriptions & OTT	0.5%	Base rate
Offline spend	0.5%	Base rate
UPI spending	0.5%	ELITE has a RuPay variant (launched around May 2024. Existing holders can switch network via customer-care IVR), and only RuPay credit cards can link to UPI. SBI Card's own UPI FAQ confirms UPI spends earn reward points 'as per existing product offering' minus the usual product exclusions, so the 2 RP per ₹100 base applies, with no linking or transaction fee, unlimited transaction count, ₹5 lakh per transaction and ₹10 lakh per day. Accelerated 5X may apply where the merchant MCC genuinely qualifies but cannot be relied on for UPI P2M. Merchant payments only. P2P, P2PM and card-to-card are barred by NPCI, along with cash withdrawal at merchant/ATM, IPO, mutual funds, lending platforms and eRUPI. Trade-off worth flagging: ELITE's domestic lounge access and golf are Visa/Mastercard-funded, so moving to RuPay to get UPI puts those at risk.
Dining	2.5%	10,000 Reward Points per CALENDAR MONTH across dining + groceries + departmental stores combined (≈₹1,00,000 of accelerated spend). Beyond it these categories drop to the base 2 RP per ₹100. Confirmed verbatim in SBI's own ELITE T&C §11.3(b). Note the official product page does NOT disclose this cap, and CardMaven states 'Caps: None specified'. · '5X' on ELITE means 5 times the base, i.e. 10 RP per ₹100 TOTAL. SBI's T&C §11.3(a) uses the word 'total' precisely to settle this. Paid on merchant category code: 5812 eating places, 5813 drinking places, 5814 fast food. A restaurant billed under a hotel or aggregator MCC misses out.
Swiggy	2.5%	Uses its dining rate
Zomato	2.5%	Uses its dining rate
Groceries	2.5%	10,000 Reward Points per CALENDAR MONTH across dining + groceries + departmental stores combined (≈₹1,00,000 of accelerated spend). Beyond it these categories drop to the base 2 RP per ₹100. Confirmed verbatim in SBI's own ELITE T&C §11.3(b). Note the official product page does NOT disclose this cap, and CardMaven states 'Caps: None specified'. · 10 RP per ₹100 on MCC 5311 departmental stores and 5411 grocery/supermarkets. CARVE-OUT most sources miss: accelerated points are denied at Metro Cash & Carry, Reliance Market and Walmart on ELITE specifically, per SBI's own earning-reward-points FAQ. Movies are NOT an accelerated category on ELITE (unlike PRIME). The cinema benefit comes as the BookMyShow discount instead.
Quick commerce	2.5%	Uses its groceries rate
Swiggy Instamart	0.5%	Base rate
Blinkit	0.5%	Base rate
BigBasket	2.5%	Uses its groceries rate
Movies & shows	0.5%	Base rate
BookMyShow	0.5%	Base rate
PVR INOX	0.5%	Base rate
Fuel	0%	No reward points on petrol pump / service-station purchases. Named in SBI's ELITE earning-exclusion list
Travel (general)	0.5%	Base rate
Flights	0.5%	Base rate
Hotels	0.5%	Base rate
MakeMyTrip	0.5%	Base rate
IRCTC rail	0.5%	Base rate
International	−1.49%	0.5% reward − 1.99% forex markup
Utilities & bills	0.5%	Base rate
Rent	0%	Rent payments earn no reward points and attract a ₹199 processing fee per transaction, not reversed on refund
Education fees	0.5%	Base rate
Insurance premiums	0.5%	Base rate
Government & tax	0.5%	Base rate
Wallet loads	0%	E-wallet loads under MCC 6540/6541 earn no reward points, and a 1% fee applies to every wallet load above ₹1,000
Anything else	0.5%	Base rate
Jewellery	0.5%	Base rate

Rates are the card's own published rates, before any spend profile. Add this card inMy cards to rank it against the rest of your wallet.

Also worth knowing

Welcome benefit: ₹5,000 e-Gift Voucher, still live in 2026 on SBI's own page. Current brands are Yatra, Hush Puppies/Bata, Pantaloons, Aditya Birla Fashion and Shoppers Stop. Marks & Spencer is NOT on the current list despite many sources still printing it. Mechanics from the official T&C: released only after the membership fee is paid, chosen in multiples of ₹1,000 up to ₹5,000 on the Gyftr portal, and it EXPIRES 6 months from the date of the communication with no extensions or brand swaps after redemption.
Movie benefit. An UNCONDITIONAL recurring perk with NO spend threshold anywhere, which is why it is here rather than in milestones. It is a FLAT DISCOUNT, explicitly not buy-one-get-one: BookMyShow's own FAQ answers 'Can I book one ticket and get second free?. No'. ₹500 off, or the cost of 2 tickets, whichever is less, with a ₹250 maximum per ticket, on a minimum 2-ticket booking, twice a month, ₹500/month, ₹6,000/year if used every month, which is exactly how SBI derives its headline figure and on its own covers the annual fee. Applied by BIN at the BookMyShow payments page (offer SBI0613), not a typed promo code. Movies only, not events. Bookmyshow.com or its app only. Primary card only. Convenience fee still payable. TWO TRAPS: the Amex variant of ELITE is EXCLUDED from this benefit, and the offer page SBI links to reads 'valid till 31-Aug-2024' even though SBI still advertises ₹6,000/year. Worth verifying before relying on it.
FEE CONFLICT RESOLVED: SBI's own Key Fact Statement and MITC both list ELITE at ₹4,999 annual (SBI's term for the one-time joining charge) and ₹4,999 renewal, waived at ₹10 lakh. CardExpert independently states ₹4,999 joining. BankBazaar's 'nil joining fee, ₹4,999 from year two' is wrong.
ELITE's 1.99% forex markup is among the lowest on any SBI card (versus 3.5% standard, including on PRIME), which makes it materially better than PRIME for overseas spend. Though rewards abroad are only the 0.5% base, so the appeal is cost avoidance rather than earning.
ELITE now carries no air-accident or life cover. Only the fraud liability cover remains.
Still active: credit-card fraud liability cover of up to ₹1,00,000 under the SBI Card programme.
ITC Hotels tie-up, offered to ELITE and PRIME holders and partly replacing the lost Trident benefit: 1-year complimentary Club ITC Silver Tier membership, 25% off the second night on a two-night stay, and 20% off ITC Hotels app food orders above ₹3,000. Promotional rather than permanent. Part of it is restricted to cards sourced onwards, with a stated query cut-off of 15 Apr 2026.
Redemption tightened from 1 Apr 2026: statement credit only in multiples of 4,000 RP and capped at 60,000 RP per card per calendar month. This bites hardest here, since the milestone ladder alone can credit 50,000 RP in a year.
Spend-category fees that erode the effective return: 1% on utility payments above ₹50,000 per billing cycle (), 1% on wallet loads above ₹1,000 and 1% on education paid via third-party apps (both, with payments made directly to a school/college website or POS exempt), and ₹199 per rent transaction.
A 3-day grace period beyond the payment due date applies where no earlier cycle is overdue.
Related but SEPARATE products, not covered by this entry: ELITE Advantage, Miles ELITE, IndiGo SBI Card ELITE, and the bank-partnership ELITE co-brands.
DOMESTIC LOUNGE NUANCE: ELITE does not appear anywhere on SBI's own airport-lounge-access page (which governs SBI's POS-authorised programme). Its 8 domestic visits are delivered through the CARD NETWORK programmes. Visa Signature / Mastercard World / Amex. That is why a network change can disturb domestic lounge access.
Complimentary 1-year Club ITC Silver Tier membership for cards issued on or after 1 Sept 2025, unlocked by the first transaction within 60 days.
Insurance is a ₹1 lakh fraud liability cover, valid from 48 hours before you report the loss to 7 days after. There is no air accident cover and no travel insurance: 'Air accident' returns zero hits in the current ELITE T&C.
RuPay variant: a RuPay Select ELITE does exist (launched around May 2024, obtained by CONVERTING an existing card via customer care/IVR, visible in YONO). But SBI does not market or document it on the ELITE product page at all, where 'RuPay' returns zero hits. Benefit parity on RuPay is DISPUTED: first-hand reports on the equivalent PRIME conversion describe losing domestic lounge access, which is consistent with domestic lounge riding on the network programme. Treat RuPay ELITE lounge access as unverified.
The Amex variant is still live and still issued, with its own perks (Swiggy/Zomato/Blinkit up to ₹600 off, up to 25% off at 500+ restaurants), but carries two restrictions: no domestic ATM cash withdrawal and exclusion from the BookMyShow movie benefit.
UNCONFIRMED: the milestone measurement window. The word 'milestone' appears nowhere in SBI's ELITE T&C, MITC or Key Fact Statement. Secondary sources say 'membership year' without citation. The FEE waiver is separately and precisely defined as the 'preceding year'. Do not assume card-anniversary.
CAUTION on second-hand exclusion lists: several 2026 articles list SBI cards as earning nothing on utilities, insurance, education, jewellery and railways. That list belongs to the Cashback SBI Card (from 1 Apr 2026) and the PhonePe SBI cards (from 1 Jul 2026), NOT to ELITE. On ELITE those categories all earn the base 0.5%. There is no SBI notice removing them. Equally, CardInsider's claim that fuel earns base points on ELITE is wrong. Fuel earns ZERO.
Movie benefit. Official vs third-party framing: SBI's own T&C states the cap as ₹500 per booking per month ('reduced by ₹500 or the cost of 2 tickets, whichever is less'), while aggregators phrase it as ₹250 per ticket. With the 2-ticket maximum both produce the same number in every case. SBI never defines whether 'month' is a calendar or statement month.
Use the live product page, Key Fact Statement and MITC for anything numeric. The booklet is still reliable for benefit mechanics that have not changed.
Networks. The evidence is genuinely split on RuPay. SBI's live page shows exactly three tabs (Mastercard default, Visa, Amex) and 'RuPay' returns zero hits there. Against that, a RuPay Select ELITE is reported launched around May 2024, visible in YONO, obtained by converting an existing card via customer care, with forum reports of physical cards in hand. Absence from marketing is not proof of non-existence, so it is recorded here as existing-but-undocumented. Its lounge and golf parity remain unverified.
THE HOTEL-TIER GAP: Trident ended 30 Jun 2024 but Club ITC Silver applies only to cards 'sourced from 1st September 2025 onwards' per SBI's own T&C. The ITC second-night discount is 25%, not the 50% some sources claim.
Treat both as long-standing terms.
SBI's MITC boilerplate asserting 'complimentary Air accident / Personal accident insurance cover on certain credit cards' was DELETED from the master terms between 12 Jul and 10 Aug 2026. SBI no longer claims any air/personal accident cover anywhere. The remaining fraud cover has an unreconciled inconsistency: the product page says it runs from 48 hours before you report the loss, the T&C and policy wording say 3 days.
Confirmed still OPEN to new applicants (live apply funnel, listed in the current MITC fee table, and absent from SBI's list of discontinued cards). A secured ELITE Advantage variant also remains listed.
Quietly de-listed from the product page, with no SBI announcement: 'Emergency Card Replacement' (worldwide replacement + 24x7 helpline), Mastercard's up-to-15% Lalit Hotels discount, and Visa's Hertz/Avis car-rental savings and 900-luxury-hotel benefits.

Other exclusions

Cash advances earn nothing and cost 2.5% (minimum ₹300) domestically, 3% (minimum ₹300) internationally, plus interest from the withdrawal date

Sources

Every figure above comes from the issuer's own pages and documents. Last verified 10 Aug 2026.