PRIME

Joining ₹2,999 · Annual ₹2,999 · Renewal fee waived on annual spends of ₹3,00,000 or more in the preceding year (SBI Card's own Key Fact Statement and MITC both state this). Eligible spends in the last 365 days before the annual-fee billing date count.

Fee break-even: ≈₹5,99,800/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). This is the rate for statement credit and for most Shop & Smile e-vouchers. Statement credit is the dependable route and its mechanics tightened from 1 Apr 2026: redemption only in multiples of 4,000 RP (= ₹1,000) and capped at 60,000 RP (= ₹15,000) per card per calendar month. A ₹99 + GST Rewards Redemption Fee applies to statement credit, physical products and physically-delivered vouchers, so small redemptions are badly diluted. Redeem in large blocks. Points expire 24 months from the date of accrual. Catalogue/physical-product redemptions generally value points below ₹0.25, so ₹0.25 is a realistic ceiling, not a guaranteed floor.

Verified 10 Aug 2026

Forex markup3.5%

ConciergeNone

GolfMastercard World variant only: 4 complimentary rounds on green fees, up to 50% off golf games, and 1 complimentary golf lesson per month at selected courses across India. The Visa Signature variant carries Visa's travel package instead of golf, and the RuPay variant carries neither.

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 (excluding GST). Fuel spends still earn zero reward points.

Domestic lounge8 a year. 2 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits per calendar quarter in India (8 a year), delivered through the Visa Signature / Mastercard World programme. No spend gate. Quarterly entitlement does not roll over. Because the programme is network-funded, the RuPay variant is not covered by this the same way.

International lounge4 a year. Complimentary Priority Pass membership (stated worth USD 99), valid 24 months from issue, primary cardholder only. 4 complimentary visits a year, maximum 2 per quarter. And valid ONLY at Priority Pass lounges outside India. Priority Pass visits at lounges within India are charged USD 27 + taxes from the very first visit. Beyond the free quota, and for every guest, USD 27 + taxes per visit, billed 60 to 120 days later. The Priority Pass is deactivated if the card is reissued for renewal, upgrade, downgrade or network change, and must be reapplied for.

Milestones

◆ Spend ₹50,000 per quarter → ₹1,000 Pizza Hut e-voucher Worth ₹1,000
◆ Spend ₹5,00,000 per year → ₹7,000 e-gift voucher from Yatra.com or Pantaloons Worth ₹7,000

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%	PRIME has a RuPay variant (launched around May 2024. Existing holders can switch network by calling customer care via IVR), and only RuPay credit cards can be linked to UPI at all. SBI Card's own UPI FAQ confirms UPI spends earn reward points 'as per existing product offering', excluding the usual product exclusions. So the 2 RP per ₹100 base applies, with no UPI-specific fee and no cap on the number of transactions (₹5 lakh per transaction, ₹10 lakh per day). Accelerated 10X can in principle apply where the merchant's MCC qualifies, but UPI P2M merchants frequently carry different MCCs so this is not dependable. Only merchant payments work: P2P, P2PM and card-to-card are blocked by NPCI, as are cash withdrawal at merchant/ATM, IPO, mutual funds, lending platforms and eRUPI. Important trade-off: the domestic lounge programme and the golf benefit are supplied by Visa/Mastercard, so switching to RuPay for UPI access risks losing those network-funded perks.
Dining	2.5%	Shared 10X bucket cap of 7,500 RP per calendar month (roughly ₹75,000 of accelerated spend across dining + departmental stores + groceries + movies combined). Past the cap these categories drop to 2 RP per ₹100 · 10 RP per ₹100. SBI pays this strictly on merchant category code: 5812 eating places & restaurants, 5813 drinking places, 5814 fast food. A restaurant billed under a hotel or aggregator MCC will not earn it.
Swiggy	2.5%	Uses its dining rate
Zomato	2.5%	Uses its dining rate
Groceries	2.5%	Shared 10X bucket cap of 7,500 RP per calendar month (combined with dining, departmental stores and movies). Past the cap, 2 RP per ₹100 · 10 RP per ₹100 on MCC 5411 grocery stores & supermarkets and MCC 5311 departmental stores. The merchant must actually be classified under those MCCs. SBI's terms are explicit that the establishment has to have qualified into the accelerated category.
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	2.5%	Shared 10X bucket cap of 7,500 RP per calendar month (combined with dining, groceries and departmental stores). Past the cap, 2 RP per ₹100 · 10 RP per ₹100 on MCC 7832 motion picture theatres. Direct cinema/box-office billing only. Ticketing aggregators often bill under a different MCC.
BookMyShow	2.5%	Uses its movies rate
PVR INOX	2.5%	Uses its movies rate
Fuel	0%	No reward points on any petrol pump or service-station spend (MCC 5172, 5541, 5542, 5983). SBI's PRIME terms name this as the sole spend exclusion in the earning clause
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	−3%	0.5% reward − 3.5% forex markup
Utilities & bills	5%	3,000 RP per month (roughly ₹15,000 of qualifying standing-instruction spend) · 20 RP per ₹100. But only on utility bills paid by Standing Instruction registered through SBI Card's own platforms, and in practice this is CLOSED to anyone who joined after 31 Mar 2021. So the headline 20X utility rate is a legacy benefit for long-standing cardholders. A new applicant should assume utilities earn the 0.5% base. Separately, a 1% fee applies once utility payments exceed ₹50,000 in a billing cycle (), which can wipe out the reward entirely on large bills.
Rent	0%	Rent payments earn no reward points and carry a ₹199 processing fee per transaction that is not refunded if the transaction reverses
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 and 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: ₹3,000 e-gift voucher, chosen from Bata/Hush Puppies, Aditya Birla Fashion Retail (Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England, Planet Fashion), Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop or Yatra.com. Released only after the joining fee is actually realised. An SMS with the choice arrives within 15 days of fee payment.
Birthday bonus: 20 RP per ₹100 on spends across a 3-day birthday window (the birthday, the day before and the day after), capped at 1,800 RP per year per SBI Card's current PRIME terms. During that window no other accelerated rate applies, so a large 10X-category purchase is better made outside the birthday window once the 1,800 RP cap is near.
IMPORTANT ON FOREX: PRIME is 3.5%, NOT 1.99%. SBI's fee table lists a 1.99% group containing 'AURUM, Elite, Prime NRI Secured, Tata Neu Infinity, SBI Card Miles Elite'. The 'Prime' there is the separate product SBI Card PRIME NRI Secured, not plain PRIME. CardInsider and CardMaven independently confirm 3.5% for plain PRIME. Any source claiming 1.99% forex on this card is wrong.
PRIME now carries no life/air-accident insurance at all.
Still active: credit-card fraud liability cover of up to ₹1,00,000, covering the window from 48 hours before to 7 days after you report the loss.
ITC Hotels tie-up that partly replaces 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. Treat this as a promotion rather than a permanent card feature. SBI's terms restrict at least part of it to cards sourced onwards and set a 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.
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 through third-party apps (both, with education paid directly to a school/college website or POS exempt), and ₹199 per rent transaction.
A 3-day grace period beyond the statement payment due date is allowed where no previous cycle is overdue.
Related but SEPARATE products, not covered by this entry: PRIME Advantage, PRIME Pro (₹500 quarterly Pizza Hut voucher instead of ₹1,000 and no complimentary international lounge visits), Miles PRIME, PRIME NRI Secured, and the bank-partnership PRIME co-brands.

Other exclusions

Cash withdrawals earn nothing and cost 2.5% (minimum ₹300) domestically plus interest from the withdrawal date

Sources

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