In-depth review
SBI Card PULSE
A genuinely empty niche, filled — one of the very few Indian cards built around health and fitness spending, paying 10X on pharmacy, dining, movies and sports, and bundling a Noise smartwatch SBI lists at ₹7,999, FITPASS PRO and Netmeds First, a bundle that more than covers the ₹1,769 all-in fee if you'd use it. For the Cult.fit-and-Netmeds demographic the math works cleanly. Outside the health categories it's an ordinary 0.5% card, and the bundled cover is travel and fraud protection, not health insurance.
Read the full review →Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
Welcome Benefit
~₹7,999 in vouchers, points or cashback in year one — usually conditional on a first spend within 30–90 days
2.5% on Dining
10 reward points per ₹100 (2.5%) on dining, movies, sports, chemist and pharmacy spends (1 point = ₹0.25). SBI caps accelerated points at 7,500 a calendar month across all of those categories together
0.5% on Other
2 reward points per ₹100 on all other eligible spends
Airport Lounge Access
Complimentary: 4 domestic airport lounge visits a year (1 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
OTT Subscription
Complimentary FITPASS PRO and Netmeds First memberships, renewed each year on card renewal — both conditional on paying the fee and making at least one retail transaction
Milestone Bonus
~₹1,500 in bonus rewards on hitting annual spend milestones
Insurance Cover
Fraud liability cover ₹1 lakh, lost check-in baggage up to ₹72,000, baggage delay ₹7,500, lost travel documents up to ₹12,500 and flight delay up to ₹7,500
✈️ TRAVEL BENEFITS
Lounge access, miles, forex rates and travel perks at a glance.
AIRPORT LOUNGE ACCESS
4 visits/yr
Domestic lounges
₹2,000
Estimated annual value
3.5%
Forex markup
- Domestic airport lounge access (4 domestic visits/yr, worth ~₹2,000)
- Travel insurance cover included
🎬 ENTERTAINMENT BENEFITS
Movies, OTT subscriptions and entertainment perks.
For working professionals who spend ₹3,000+/month on gym, pharmacy, and health apps. If health spending is a significant budget line, PULSE is one of the few Indian credit cards that rewards it specifically.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dining | reward points | 2.5%10 pts/₹100 × ₹0.25 | ₹1,875 |
| Other | reward points | 0.5%2 pts/₹100 × ₹0.25 | — |
Dining: 10 reward points per ₹100 (2.5%) on dining, movies, sports, chemist and pharmacy spends (1 point = ₹0.25). SBI caps accelerated points at 7,500 a calendar month across all of those categories together
Other: 2 reward points per ₹100 on all other eligible spends
Earns nothing on: Fuel · Rent · Government & Tax · Wallet Loads · Online Gaming · 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% |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹7,000/yr in total.
4 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits a year (1 per quarter), with no spend condition, plus a complimentary Priority Pass membership worth $99 for the first two years — the membership only, international visits are paid
Complimentary FITPASS PRO and Netmeds First memberships, renewed each year on card renewal — both conditional on paying the fee and making at least one retail transaction
₹1,500 e-voucher on ₹4 lakh of annual retail spend
Fraud liability cover ₹1 lakh, lost check-in baggage up to ₹72,000, baggage delay ₹7,500, lost travel documents up to ₹12,500 and flight delay up to ₹7,500
Spend milestone
- ₹4,00,000 a year₹1,500 of value
Should you get it?
- Best for: Cult.fit / gym membership holder, Regular pharmacy and diagnostic centre visitor, Practo or HealthifyMe user, Health-conscious professional with ₹3K+ monthly health budget
- Mid tier — a solid all-rounder for steady monthly spend.
- Strongest value if you spend heavily on Dining (2.5% back).
- Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.
Pros & cons
✓ Pros
- Noise ColorFit Pulse 4 Pro smartwatch SBI lists at ₹7,999 on joining — about 4.5 times the ₹1,769 all-in fee at list price
- Accelerated reward points on gym memberships, pharmacy, diagnostics, and health apps
- Complimentary FITPASS PRO and Netmeds First health memberships each year
- ₹1,500 e-voucher once your annual retail spend reaches ₹4 lakh
- Five-part travel and fraud insurance cover, plus a Priority Pass membership for two years
- One of the few Indian cards that rewards health spending as a category
✕ Cons
- Value entirely concentrated in health categories — below-average earn on all other spends
- Requires ₹3,000+/month genuine health spend to justify the ₹1,499 annual fee
- Lounge access is a thin 4 domestic visits a year and no complimentary international visits — a Priority Pass membership is included, but the visits themselves are paid
- The bundled insurance is travel and fraud cover, not health cover, on a health-themed card
- ₹1,499 fee — the joining fee is not waivable, though the renewal fee is reversed on ₹2 lakh of annual spend
Eligibility & documents
Documents required
- 📄PAN card
- 📄Aadhaar / address proof
- 📄Income proof (salary slips or ITR)
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
- 🎁Redeem reward points for statement credit and catalogue products at ₹0.25 each
- 🎁Gift vouchers via 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
Outside health categories the card is ordinary — it needs ₹3,000+/month of genuine health spend to beat generalist alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
What does SBI PULSE reward most?
What is the welcome benefit?
Is the fee waived?
How has the SBI Card PULSE changed over time?
Has the SBI Card PULSE been devalued recently?
The bottom line
PULSE is one of the few cards that treats health spending as a category worth rewarding — plus a wearable welcome gift that effectively prepays the fee. Niche, but for the fitness-app demographic the math genuinely works.
How this page was built
Counted from this card’s own record: 2 earn rules, 1 of them capped, the spends listed as earning nothing and 4 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 SBI Card PULSE 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.
Similar & related cards
Other cards worth comparing before you apply.
IRCTC SBI Card Premier
Same tier with similar rewards
Landmark Rewards SBI Card SELECT
Same tier with similar rewards
BPCL SBI Card Octane
Same tier with similar rewards
BPCL SBI Card
Lower annual fee, similar tier
Bank of Baroda Premier Credit Card
Comparable BOB option
Axis Bank Rewards Credit Card
Comparable AXIS option
Read more
Guides and reviews related to this card.
SBI Card PULSE
A genuinely empty niche, filled — one of the very few Indian cards built around health and fitness spending, paying 10X on pharmacy, dining, movies and sports, and bundling a Noise smartwatch SBI lists at ₹7,999, FITPASS PRO and Netmeds First, a bundle that more than covers the ₹1,769 all-in fee if you'd use it. For the Cult.fit-and-Netmeds demographic the math works cleanly. Outside the health categories it's an ordinary 0.5% card, and the bundled cover is travel and fraud protection, not health insurance.
SBI Card PRIME
Still SBI's solid mid-premium all-rounder — 10X on dining, groceries, departmental stores and movies, plus 8 domestic and 4 international lounge visits, around ₹11,000 a year of real milestone vouchers for a ₹5 lakh spender and a fuel waiver, all at a ₹2,999 fee that waives at ₹3 lakh. But the Vistara-Air India merger stripped out the Club Vistara Silver and Trident Privilege Red memberships that once made it distinctive, so judge the 2026 PRIME on its rewards, not the status perks.
Bank of Baroda Tiara Credit Card
Most premium cards differentiate on reward rate; the BOBCARD Tiara differentiates on who it's for. A women-first card anchored by complimentary health screenings (Pap smear, mammography) that almost no other Indian card offers, plus 5X rewards, unlimited domestic lounges and lifestyle memberships. For women who'll use the health benefit, it's an easy card to like — held back only by BOB's thin rewards ecosystem.
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 2021 · last change Jan 2026
2026
- ▼ LoungeEffective 10 Jan 2026
Domestic lounge visits halved
8 per year (max 2 per quarter)→4 per year (max 1 per quarter)
Under SBI Card's revised domestic lounge programme effective 10 January 2026, PULSE complimentary domestic lounge visits were cut from 8 to 4 a year (from 2 to 1 per quarter), with access restricted to the Set A lounge list.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
2025
- ▼ BenefitEffective 15 Jul 2025
Complimentary air accident cover withdrawn
₹50 lakh cover→None
SBI Card discontinued the complimentary ₹50 lakh air accident insurance cover on PULSE with effect from 15 July 2025, with no replacement benefit offered.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
2024
- ▼ RewardEffective 1 Dec 2024
Digital gaming spends stop earning
Reward Points earned→No Reward Points on MCC 5816, 7993, 7994
From 1 December 2024 the card stopped accruing Reward Points on spends at Digital Gaming Platforms and Merchants (MCC 5816, 7993, 7994). SBI publishes a card-by-card list naming SBI Card Pulse among roughly 45 affected cards. Recorded 2026-08-27 from that list during the SBI portfolio sweep; it now binds in card-data via an ONLINE_GAMING exclusion.
Verification: SBI Card ↗ · Confidence: High
2021
- ◆ LaunchEffective 15 Dec 2021
SBI Card PULSE launched
SBI Card launched PULSE, a first-of-its-kind health-and-wellness card at ₹1,499 fee — 10 reward points per ₹100 on pharmacy, dining and movies (2 elsewhere), a Noise ColorFit PULSE smartwatch worth ₹4,999 as welcome gift, and one-year FITPASS PRO + Netmeds First memberships.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: Reconstructed
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.
</> Embed this timeline on your site
Free to use. Facts only — dates, changes and before/after values. Please keep the credit line below the frame: it's the only part search engines can see, and it's what we ask for in return.
“ Cite this timeline
Quoting a date or a before/after figure? Copy the HTML version — it credits the record with a working link.
Source: <a href="https://cardadvisor.in/cards/sbi-pulse#value-timeline">SBI Card PULSE value timeline</a>, CardAdvisor (CC BY 4.0).
Want to know if this beats your current card for your spending?
Applications are submitted to and decided by SBI Card. CardAdvisor does not issue cards or process applications.