Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME Review 2026: 2% Flat Including Fuel, and What Was Withdrawn in 2025
Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME costs ₹2,999 and pays a flat 2% on all retail categories — including fuel, uniquely in SBI's range. But renewal benefits and the premium-economy milestones were withdrawn in April 2025. Full maths, fees and FAQs.
The Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME is unusual in two ways. It pays a flat 2% on every retail category — including fuel, which no other SBI card does. And it is a card in run-off: SBI restructured it on 1 April 2025 and withdrew most of its benefits, so the current product is considerably thinner than the reviews written before that date describe.
Vistara has since merged into Air India, and redemption now runs through the Air India Maharaja Points page.
Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME Quick Overview
| **Card type** | Airline co-brand, post-restructuring |
|---|---|
| **Best for** | Fuel-heavy spenders who will actually redeem on Air India |
| **Joining / annual fee** | ₹2,999 + GST, same on renewal — **no spend-based waiver** |
| **Network** | Visa, Mastercard or RuPay |
| **Reward rate** | **2% flat** — 4 Club Vistara Points per ₹200, **including fuel** |
| **Accelerated categories** | **None** |
| **CV Point value used here** | **₹1** — but see the caveat |
| **Welcome benefit** | **None** |
| **Renewal benefit** | **Withdrawn** for renewals on or after 1 April 2025 |
| **Milestone** | ₹10,000 Yatra hotel e-voucher at ₹8 lakh annual spend |
| **Lounge access** | 8 domestic a year + an international programme |
| **Insurance** | Three covers, headed by ₹1 lakh lost-card liability |
Eligibility Criteria
SBI Card publishes no age or income threshold. Approval rests on its own assessment. Indian residency and a valid PAN are required. Add-on cards are free.
What Was Withdrawn on 1 April 2025
Read this before comparing against any older review. SBI restructured the Club Vistara cards and the current product page is largely a record of what was removed:
- Renewal benefits are withdrawn for cards renewing on or after 1 April 2025. Only cardholders whose renewal date precedes that cut-off can still avail them.
- The premium-economy ticket milestones at ₹1.5 lakh, ₹3 lakh, ₹4.5 lakh and ₹8 lakh are discontinued for cards renewing after the cut-off. Those ticket vouchers were the card's headline benefit, and they are gone.
- No quantified welcome benefit appears on the current pages.
What remains is the earn rate, one milestone, the lounge entitlement and the insurance. Anyone evaluating this card on a 2024 review is evaluating a different product.
It Earns on Fuel — Uniquely
SBI's wording is explicit: the rate applies "on all retail categories, including fuel".
Every other SBI card excludes fuel outright — MCCs 5172, 5541, 5542 and 5983 are cut from the rewards programme across the range. The Club Vistara cards are the exception.
At 2% on fuel that is a real benefit for anyone with a significant monthly fuel bill. The trade-off: no fuel surcharge waiver is published, so the 1% surcharge every Indian fuel transaction attracts is not reversed. Net, you are 1% ahead on fuel — which is still better than the 0% every other SBI card delivers on it.
An Important Caveat on What the Points Are Worth
Every rupee figure here uses ₹1 per Club Vistara Point, and that needs a warning.
SBI publishes no rupee value for this currency. It states only that CV Points redeem "on Air India and Partner Airlines" through the Maharaja Points page, with no rupee equivalence anywhere. ₹1 is a working valuation, not a transcription.
There is a further complication: Vistara has merged into Air India and CV Points now map onto Maharaja Points, whose value Air India also does not publish for this purpose. Air India sells Maharaja Points at roughly ₹1.50 each, which suggests ₹1 may be conservative — but a sale price is not a redemption value.
Treat the percentages below as an estimate, not a measurement.
Reward Structure
| Spend | CV Points | Effective rate at ₹1 |
|---|---|---|
| **All retail categories, including fuel** | 4 per ₹200 | **2%** |
| Cash advances | Nil | **0%** |
That is the whole structure. There is no accelerated category — not for flights, not for travel, not for dining. A flat 2% on everything.
No cap is published.
Note the ₹200 denominator: 4 points per ₹200 is 2 per ₹100, so accrual rounds down to complete ₹200 blocks on each transaction.
The Milestone
A hotel e-voucher from Yatra worth ₹10,000 at ₹8,00,000 of annual spend.
One rung, set high. ₹8 lakh is about ₹67,000 a month, every month. At that level the voucher is worth 1.25% on the threshold — meaningful, but it is the only milestone left after the April 2025 restructuring took the premium-economy tickets away.
Lounge Access and Insurance
8 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year, subject to a quarterly maximum SBI does not quantify on the captured pages. A complimentary lounge access programme at major international airports is also included.
Insurance — three covers:
| Cover | Amount |
|---|---|
| **Lost card liability** | ₹1,00,000 |
| **Loss of checked-in baggage** | ₹72,000 |
| **Flight cancellation** | ₹3,500 **per cancellation** |
The flight cancellation figure is a per-cancellation limit, not an annual total — the PRIME allows six cancellations a year against the standard card's four.
Worked Example
Illustrative, at ₹50,000 a month — ₹6 lakh a year, short of the ₹8 lakh milestone:
| Category | Monthly spend | Rate | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Fuel** | ₹6,000 | **2%** | ₹120 |
| Everything else | ₹44,000 | 2% | ₹880 |
| **Monthly total** | **₹50,000** | **₹1,000 — 2%** |
Annual tally:
| CV Points earned | ₹12,000 |
|---|---|
| Milestone (₹6 lakh is short of ₹8 lakh) | ₹0 |
| Welcome / renewal benefit | **₹0 — withdrawn** |
| **Total** | **₹12,000** |
| Annual fee | **₹2,999** (never waived) |
| **Net** | **₹9,001 — 1.5% of spend** |
Plus 8 domestic lounge visits, the international programme and three insurance covers.
The simplicity is the appeal. A flat 2% on every rupee, with no categories to track, no caps to manage and fuel included, is rare. But it only holds if you will actually redeem on Air India — CV Points have no cash or catalogue exit.
Where You Won't Earn
| Excluded | Note |
|---|---|
| **Cash advances** | 2.5% fee, minimum ₹500, interest from day one |
That is the only exclusion. Fuel is not excluded, which is the card's defining feature. No fuel surcharge waiver is published either.
SBI's range-wide transaction fees still apply: ₹199 per rent payment, 1% on wallet loads above ₹1,000, 1% on utility payments once the cycle total passes ₹50,000, and 1% on education payments through third-party apps.
Fees and Charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Joining fee | ₹2,999 + GST |
| Renewal fee | ₹2,999 + GST — **no spend-based reversal at any level** |
| Add-on card fee | Nil |
| Finance charge | 3.75% per month — **45% per annum** |
| Interest-free period | 20 to 50 days; none if any part of last month's bill is unpaid |
| Forex markup | 3.5% |
| Cash advance fee | 2.5%, minimum ₹500 |
| Fuel surcharge | **Not reversed** — but fuel does earn 2% |
| Late payment | ₹100 to ₹1,300 by balance |
| Overlimit | 2.5%, minimum ₹600 |
| GST | 18% on all of the above |
PRIME vs the Standard Club Vistara SBI Card
| Club Vistara SBI Card | **Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME** | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | ₹1,499 | ₹2,999 |
| Reward rate | 3 CV Points per ₹200 — **1.5%** | 4 per ₹200 — **2%** |
| Fuel earns | Yes | Yes |
| Milestone | ₹5,000 Yatra voucher at ₹5 lakh | ₹10,000 Yatra voucher at ₹8 lakh |
| Domestic lounge | 4 a year | **8 a year** |
| International lounge | None | **Included** |
| Flight cancellations covered | 4 a year | **6 a year** |
| Fee waiver | None | None |
Break-even on the ₹1,500 fee difference is ₹1,500 ÷ 0.5% = ₹3,00,000 of annual spend. Above that the PRIME's higher rate repays the gap, and its doubled lounge entitlement and international access are worth more besides. Below ₹3 lakh, the standard card is the better buy.
Is the Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME Worth It?
Yes, if you spend ₹5 lakh+ a year and want simplicity. A flat, uncapped 2% on every category — fuel included — with no tracking and no caps is genuinely uncommon.
Yes, if fuel is a big line in your budget. 2% on fuel where every other SBI card pays nothing is the card's clearest edge, even without a surcharge waiver.
Only if you will redeem on Air India. CV Points have no cash or catalogue exit. They go to Air India and its partners, or nowhere.
Know what you are buying. The premium-economy ticket milestones and the renewal benefit — the things that made this card famous — were withdrawn on 1 April 2025. What is left is an earn rate, one high milestone, lounges and insurance.
No, if your annual spend is under ₹3 lakh. No fee waiver at any level, no welcome benefit, and a milestone at ₹8 lakh. The standard Club Vistara card at ₹1,499 is the sensible rung.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the annual fee of the Club Vistara SBI Card PRIME? ₹2,999 plus GST, on joining and renewal. No spend-based fee reversal is published at any level.
What is the reward rate? A flat 4 Club Vistara Points per ₹200 — 2% at ₹1 a point — on all retail categories including fuel. There is no accelerated category and no published cap.
Does the card really earn on fuel? Yes. SBI's wording is "on all retail categories, including fuel", and this is one of only two cards in this dataset that does. Every other SBI card excludes fuel MCCs outright. Note that no fuel surcharge waiver is published, so the 1% surcharge is not reversed.
What was withdrawn in April 2025? Renewal benefits and the premium-economy ticket milestones at ₹1.5 lakh, ₹3 lakh, ₹4.5 lakh and ₹8 lakh, for cards renewing on or after 1 April 2025. Only cardholders whose renewal date precedes that cut-off can still avail them.
What is a Club Vistara Point worth? SBI publishes no rupee value. ₹1 is the working valuation used here. Since Vistara merged into Air India, CV Points redeem through the Air India Maharaja Points page; Air India sells Maharaja Points at about ₹1.50 each, which suggests ₹1 may be conservative.
Where can I redeem? On Air India and its partner airlines, through the Air India Maharaja Points redemption page. There is no cash or catalogue channel.
What is the milestone benefit? A Yatra hotel e-voucher worth ₹10,000 at ₹8,00,000 of annual spend — the only milestone remaining after the 2025 restructuring.
What insurance is included? Lost card liability up to ₹1 lakh, loss of checked-in baggage up to ₹72,000, and flight cancellation cover at ₹3,500 per cancellation for up to six cancellations a year.
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