In-depth review
Doctor's SBI Card
A profession-specific card for registered doctors whose real draw is a Rs.20 lakh professional indemnity cover, not its rewards. You get 5X points on medical, travel and international spend but only ~0.25% on everything else. Worth it for the indemnity protection; weak as a general rewards card.
Read the full review →Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
Welcome Benefit
~₹1,500 in vouchers, points or cashback in year one — usually conditional on a first spend within 30–90 days
1.25% on International
5X Reward Points on international spends (5 RP per Rs.100, ~1.25% at 4 RP = Re.1). This card's own T&C booklet publishes no monthly cap; the IMA sibling's booklet caps the same earn at 7,500 RP/month.
5 points/₹100 on Travel (~1.25% value)
5X Reward Points (5 RP per Rs.100, ~1.25%) on travel AGENTS and tour operators only — MCC 4722. Booking direct with an airline, hotel or railway earns the 1 RP base. This card's own T&C booklet publishes no monthly cap; the IMA sibling's booklet caps the same earn at 7,500 RP/month.
Airport Lounge Access
Complimentary: 4 domestic airport lounge visits a year (1 a quarter) and 4 international (2 a quarter)
Annual Fee Waiver
Fee of ₹1,499 + 18% GST (₹1,769 all-in)/yr fully waived when you spend ₹2,00,000/year
Milestone Bonus
~₹5,000 in bonus rewards on hitting annual spend milestones
Insurance Cover
Professional indemnity insurance cover of Rs.20 lakhs — reimburses legal & defence costs, out-of-court settlements and court awards. SBI states 0% of the sum insured is deductible — so no deductible applies.
✈️ TRAVEL BENEFITS
Lounge access, miles, forex rates and travel perks at a glance.
AIRPORT LOUNGE ACCESS
4 visits/yr
Domestic lounges
Priority Pass
International lounges
₹9,000
Estimated annual value
3.5%
Forex markup
1.3%
Travel reward rate
AIRLINE / TRAVEL PARTNERS
- Domestic + international airport lounge access (4 domestic visits/yr, worth ~₹9,000)
- Miles on: Travel agencies & tour operators (MCC 4722)
- Travel insurance cover included
For practising, non-IMA doctors who value bundled professional indemnity cover and have meaningful medical, travel and international spends — not for anyone chasing everyday rewards.
Full reward structure
What you earn on every rupee, per spend category — as of 11 Oct 2026. Rates assume 1 pt = ₹0.25. How we value points →
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| International | reward points | 1.25%5 pts/₹100 × ₹0.25 | — |
| Travelonly at Travel agencies & tour operators (MCC 4722) | reward points | 1.25%5 pts/₹100 × ₹0.25 | — |
| Other | reward points | 0.25%1 pts/₹100 × ₹0.25 | — |
International: 5X Reward Points on international spends (5 RP per Rs.100, ~1.25% at 4 RP = Re.1). This card's own T&C booklet publishes no monthly cap; the IMA sibling's booklet caps the same earn at 7,500 RP/month.
Travel: 5X Reward Points (5 RP per Rs.100, ~1.25%) on travel AGENTS and tour operators only — MCC 4722. Booking direct with an airline, hotel or railway earns the 1 RP base. This card's own T&C booklet publishes no monthly cap; the IMA sibling's booklet caps the same earn at 7,500 RP/month. · Travel agencies & tour operators (MCC 4722)
Other: 1 Reward Point per Rs.100 on other spends (~0.25% at 4 RP = Re.1). Plus 5X (5 RP per Rs.100) on medical supplies and on all spends on Doctor's Day (1 July).
Earns nothing on: Fuel · Rent · Wallet Loads · EMI Conversions · Cash Advances
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 11 Oct 2026.
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹1,769 |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹1,769 |
| Finance charge (APR) | 3.75% p.m. |
| Forex markup | 3.5% |
| Add-on card fee | Free |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹18,200/yr in total.
Professional indemnity insurance cover of Rs.20 lakhs — reimburses legal & defence costs, out-of-court settlements and court awards. SBI states 0% of the sum insured is deductible — so no deductible applies.
Complimentary Priority Pass membership (worth $99) with 4 international lounge visits a year (max 2 per quarter), plus a $27 usage fee after that. Access to 1,000+ lounges worldwide.
4 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits a year (max 1 per quarter).
E-Gift voucher (Yatra.com / Bata / Shoppers Stop) worth Rs.5,000 on annual spends of Rs.5 lakhs. Renewal fee also reversed on Rs.2 lakhs annual spend.
1% fuel surcharge waiver on transactions between Rs.500 and Rs.4,000; max Rs.250 per statement cycle.
Spend milestone
- ₹5,00,000 a year₹5,000 of value
Should you get it?
- Best for: Practising doctors who want professional indemnity cover bundled with a card, Non-IMA doctors seeking a profession-branded SBI card, Doctors with meaningful travel and international spends
- Mid tier — a solid all-rounder for steady monthly spend.
- Strongest value if you spend heavily on International (1.25% back).
- Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.
Pros & cons
✓ Pros
- Rs.20 lakh professional indemnity insurance cover tailored to doctors
- 5X Reward Points on medical supplies, travel and international spends
- Priority Pass membership plus domestic and international lounge access
- Renewal fee reversed at Rs.2 lakh annual spend
✕ Cons
- Eligibility is restricted to registered medical practitioners
- Base earn of ~0.25% on general spends is weak; rewards are worth only Re.0.25 each
- Rs.1,499 fee, waived only at Rs.2 lakh annual spend
- 3.5% forex markup despite the 5X international earn
Eligibility & documents
Documents required
- 📄PAN card
- 📄Aadhaar / address proof
- 📄Medical registration proof
- 📄Income proof (salary slips or ITR)
- 📄Recent passport-size photograph
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
- 🎁Pay your card outstanding with Reward Points (4 RP = Re.1)
- 🎁Redeem Reward Points against gifts and vouchers from the SBI Card rewards catalogue
What your SBI Reward Points are worth
Realistic value per point by redemption route — the difference is what most people leave on the table.
Capped at 60,000 pts/month from Apr 2026
Vouchers & merchandise
Eligibility is restricted to registered doctors, the base earn is a weak ~0.25%, and points are worth only Re.0.25 each despite the ₹1,499 fee.
Frequently asked questions
Who can apply for the Doctor's SBI Card?
What insurance does it include?
How much are the reward points worth?
How is this different from the IMA version?
How has the Doctor's SBI Card changed over time?
Has the Doctor's SBI Card been devalued recently?
When did the Doctor's SBI Card's fees last change?
How did the Doctor's SBI Card change in 2024?
The bottom line
A focused, single-purpose card: the ₹20 lakh indemnity cover is the reason to hold it, and the 5X on medical, travel and international spends is a fair extra. But with ~0.25% base earn and Re.0.25 points, it should never be your everyday card. For eligible doctors who value the protection it is a sensible yes; choose it over the IMA edition only if you are not an IMA member.
How this page was built
Counted from this card’s own record: 3 earn rules, 1 paid only at named merchants, the spends listed as earning nothing and 5 recorded perks. The renewal fee is conditional — it is waived on a published spend target, so the fee you pay depends on what you spend.
Last updated 11 Oct 2026.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the Doctor's SBI Card are taken from SBI Card's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page. Last updated 11 Oct 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 SBI Card. 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.
Doctor's SBI Card
A profession-specific card for registered doctors whose real draw is a Rs.20 lakh professional indemnity cover, not its rewards. You get 5X points on medical, travel and international spend but only ~0.25% on everything else. Worth it for the indemnity protection; weak as a general rewards card.
Doctor's SBI Card (in Association with IMA)
A niche card for registered doctors: its standout is a Rs.20 lakh professional indemnity cover and IMA association, not its rewards. The 5X on medical, travel and international spend is decent, but base earning is a thin ~0.25%. Worth it mainly for the indemnity protection, not as an everyday rewards card.
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 2018 · last change Apr 2026
2026
- ▼ RedemptionObserved 26 Feb 2026 · Effective 1 Apr 2026
Statement-credit redemption capped & blocked into 4,000-point multiples
Unrestricted statement-credit redemption, any point quantity→Max 60,000 RP/month; redeemable only in multiples of 4,000
Effective 1 April 2026, SBI Card capped statement-credit redemption at 60,000 Reward Points per card per calendar month and required redemptions in multiples of 4,000 points, removing partial/small redemptions. The 4 RP = ₹1 (₹0.25/point) conversion rate is unchanged. Applies to the Doctor's SBI Card (only Air India SBI Signature and the two PhonePe SBI variants are exempt).
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
2025
- ▼ FeeEffective 1 Nov 2025
1% fee on third-party education payments & wallet loads
No surcharge on education/wallet-load spends→1% fee on 3rd-party education fees & wallet loads over ₹1,000
In its system-wide fee revision effective 1 November 2025, SBI Card added a 1% fee on education-fee payments made via third-party apps/aggregators (Paytm, PhonePe, Razorpay, etc.; direct school/college website or campus POS payments stay free) and a 1% fee on digital-wallet loads exceeding ₹1,000. Applies to the Doctor's SBI Card.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
2024
- ▼ RewardEffective 15 Jul 2024
Portfolio government-spend exclusion — not carried in this card's own T&C
Earned→Excluded
From 15 July 2024, government-related transactions (MCC 9399 and 9311 — tax, fines and government-service payments) on the Doctor's SBI Card were reported to stop accruing reward points, in line with SBI Card's wider exclusion across its portfolio. RE-EXAMINED 2026-08-06 and downgraded: the Doctor's SBI Card T&C booklet, which SBI serves for both the IMA and non-IMA variants, contains ZERO occurrences of MCC 9399 or 9311, and its exclusion list ends at the rent clause — unlike the Shaurya, Shaurya Select, Apollo and Apollo SELECT booklets, all of which name the government clause explicitly. We therefore do NOT bind GOVERNMENT in card-data for these two cards. The event is kept as a record of what was published elsewhere, not as a statement about this card.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed
- ▼ RewardObserved 1 Mar 2024 · Effective 1 Apr 2024
Reward points removed on rent payments (MCC 6513)
Base RP earned on rent payments→No RP on rent payments (MCC 6513)
SBI Card stopped awarding Reward Points on rent payments coded under MCC 6513, effective 1 April 2024 for standard cards. As an RP-earning SBI-branded card, the Doctor's SBI Card was covered; combined with the ₹199 processing fee, rent became a fully unrewarded, fee-bearing spend.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
2022
- ▼ FeeEffective 15 Nov 2022
Rent-payment processing fee introduced (₹99, later ₹199)
No rent-payment processing fee→₹99 + GST (raised to ₹199 + GST from 17 Mar 2023)
SBI Card began levying a ₹99 + GST processing fee on every rent-payment transaction from mid-November 2022, then doubled it to ₹199 + GST effective 17 March 2023. Applies system-wide, including the Doctor's SBI Card.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High
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/sbi-doctors#value-timeline">Doctor's SBI Card value timeline</a>, CardAdvisor (CC BY 4.0).
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