Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card vs Air India SBI Platinum Card (2026)
Air India SBI Platinum Card vs Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card: which wins?
₹76,613ranking value a year at ₹3L a month, to Air India SBI Platinum Card
Skip the duel — the board, ranked → · nothing to sign up for
Same points, and neither card transfers anywhere — the redemption catalogue is the ceiling for both, so this one is decided on earn and fee, nothing else: 1.6% at no fee at all against 1.6% at ₹1,499/yr.
Air India SBI Platinum Card out-earns Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
Every metric, row by row — 11 compared
Head to head
| Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card | Metric | Air India SBI Platinum Card |
|---|---|---|
| closed | Our rank | closed |
| ₹0 — lifetime free — wins this row | Fee — joining · annual (+ GST) | ₹1,499/yr |
| None | Fee waiver | None |
| 3.50% of the transaction value. Dynamic currency conversion markup 3.5% since 28 August 2026, up from 1.5%, per the bank-wide revision notice. | Forex markup | 3.5% + GST — SBI's schedule of charges exempts only AURUM, ELITE, Prime NRI Secured, Tata Neu Infinity and the three MILES tiers, and this card is in none of them |
| 3.75% per month on retail purchases and cash | APR | 3.50%/mo (42%/yr) — SBI's standard unsecured-card rate |
| 1.6% | Headline earn rate | 1.6% |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Currency | Air India Maharaja Points |
| ₹0.80/pt | House value | ₹0.80/pt † |
| A complimentary Premium Economy class ticket voucher on fee payment — WITHDRAWN. Axis's post-merger T&C discontinued the renewal voucher, the milestone vouchers and the Maharaja Club Silver membership together, and the product page still advertises all three. | Welcome benefit | 5,000 Reward Points on payment of the ₹1,499 fee, credited within 15 days, plus complimentary Air India Maharaja Club membership. Closed to new applications, so this is a museum piece unless you already hold the card. |
| 21 of 793 — wins this row | Lounge doors opened | 16 of 793 |
| Net income ₹6 lakh per annum (indicative) | Income — salaried | not published |
† Air India SBI Platinum Card: The 1.6% assumes you convert to Air India Maharaja Points — 1 RP = 1 Maharaja Point, our ₹0.80 mark — and that conversion is fenced three ways. You must be enrolled in the Maharaja Club, you must have completed one flight activity with Air India (until then SBI's own FAQ says your membership reads "Prospect" and every conversion request is rejected), and the transfer runs in blocks of 5,000, takes up to 7 working days, and cannot be undone. Skip it and the points sit in SBI's catalogue, where the same balance is worth a fraction of the airline number. The good figure on this card is a decision, not a default.
Gold marks the better side of a row. House value is our ₹-per-point mark for each card's currency — the full valuation index →
The ₹ face-off at ₹1L/₹3L/₹5L a month
Ranking-value face-off
Everyday spend at each card's base rate plus a realistic ~20% at its best accelerator (less for narrow or capped boosters) — milestones, fee waivers and the redemption haircut all at our house ₹/point. That's why the biggest headline rate doesn't automatically win. This is the ranking model, the one that orders the board; each card page prints the earn-rate-only net annual value instead, which reads lower for any card with an accelerator (both models, side by side). Tune it to your own spend in the calculator.
Air India SBI Platinum Card out-earns Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
How the gap moves with spend — a 20-step sweep from ₹0.25L to ₹5L/month
How the gap moves with spend
Air India SBI Platinum Card leads at all 20 steps, but not by the same amount: ₹12,677 at ₹0.25L a month, ₹23,621 at ₹5L — the gap fans out with spend, widest at ₹5L (₹23,621).
Air India SBI Platinum Card pays 2 annual spend milestones, the first at ₹2,00,000 a year, and Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card pays none; Air India SBI Platinum Card pays a renewal bonus whatever you spend, and Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card pays nothing to stay.
Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card draws above the line, Air India SBI Platinum Card below · ₹0.25L to ₹5L a month, step by step
| Monthly spend | Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card | Air India SBI Platinum Card | In front |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹0.25L | ₹4,800 | ₹17,477 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹12,677 |
| ₹0.5L | ₹9,600 | ₹22,853 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹13,253 |
| ₹0.75L | ₹14,400 | ₹28,229 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹13,829 |
| ₹1L | ₹19,200 | ₹33,605 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹14,405 |
| ₹1.25L | ₹24,000 | ₹38,981 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹14,981 |
| ₹1.5L | ₹28,800 | ₹44,357 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹15,557 |
| ₹1.75L | ₹33,600 | ₹49,733 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹16,133 |
| ₹2L | ₹38,400 | ₹55,109 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹16,709 |
| ₹2.25L | ₹43,200 | ₹60,485 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹17,285 |
| ₹2.5L | ₹48,000 | ₹65,861 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹17,861 |
| ₹2.75L | ₹52,800 | ₹71,237 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹18,437 |
| ₹3L | ₹57,600 | ₹76,613 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹19,013 |
| ₹3.25L | ₹62,400 | ₹81,989 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹19,589 |
| ₹3.5L | ₹67,200 | ₹87,365 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹20,165 |
| ₹3.75L | ₹72,000 | ₹92,741 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹20,741 |
| ₹4L | ₹76,800 | ₹98,117 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹21,317 |
| ₹4.25L | ₹81,600 | ₹1,03,493 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹21,893 |
| ₹4.5L | ₹86,400 | ₹1,08,869 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹22,469 |
| ₹4.75L | ₹91,200 | ₹1,14,245 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹23,045 |
| ₹5L | ₹96,000 | ₹1,19,621 | Air India SBI Platinum Card by ₹23,621 |
Transfer reach — 0 shared live routes
Transfer reach
Both cards earn Air India Maharaja Points, so the partner list is identical — 0 live transfer routes each. The fight is decided on earn and fees, not reach.
Full route maps on each card page, best ₹/point routes on the optimizer →
What to watch out for — 6 points
What to watch out for
Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card · 5 more →
- Closed to new applications — Axis's own product page reads “Sourcing of Axis Bank Vistara Credit Cards has been discontinued”; existing holders keep the card
- The Premium Economy vouchers and the Maharaja Club Silver membership are discontinued, and the product page still sells all of them
- Lounge access is spend-gated — ₹50,000 on this card in the previous 3 calendar months, or the 2 visits do not open
Air India SBI Platinum Card · 7 more →
- Closed to new applications — SBI's live card catalogue flags it isOnline "no" and the page ships no Apply Now button; existing holders only
- ₹1,499 every year with no spend-based waiver — SBI's MITC prints a reversal clause for its BPCL and Tata Neu cards and none for this one
- Points transferred from SBI Card to Air India are valid 12 months only and lapse on the last day of the 12th month — SBI's own conversion FAQ
The call
For the ₹1L/month spender, Air India SBI Platinum Card nets ₹33,605 against ₹19,200 — a ₹14,405 gap. At ₹5L/month, Air India SBI Platinum Card nets ₹1,19,621 against ₹96,000 — a ₹23,621 gap. Lounge chasers: Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card opens 21 of 793 tracked doors to Air India SBI Platinum Card's 16.
Our standing verdicts: Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card — Keep; Air India SBI Platinum Card — Keep. Air India SBI Platinum Card takes 3 of the 5 rounds we can score — that's the overall call. Your spend pattern can overrule us: run your exact numbers →
Common questions — 5 answered
Straight answers
Which is better, Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card or Air India SBI Platinum Card?
Air India SBI Platinum Card. Air India SBI Platinum Card takes 3 of the 5 rounds we can score. Air India SBI Platinum Card out-earns Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card or Air India SBI Platinum Card — which earns more at ₹3L a month?
At ₹3L a month, Air India SBI Platinum Card nets ₹76,613 against ₹57,600 — a ₹19,013 gap. Those are ranking-value figures: everyday spend at the card's base rate plus a realistic slice at its best accelerator, net of the fee.
Which costs less to hold, Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card or Air India SBI Platinum Card?
Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card — ₹0 — lifetime free against ₹1,499/yr. Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card waives its fee at no spend level — there is no waiver; Air India SBI Platinum Card at no spend level — there is no waiver.
Which gets you into more airport lounges, Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card or Air India SBI Platinum Card?
Lounge chasers: Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card opens 21 of 793 tracked doors to Air India SBI Platinum Card's 16. Visit quotas, guest charges and spend gates are per card — the lounge map carries each one.
How current is this comparison?
Card records last re-verified against their issuers' own documents: Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card on 2026-08-23, Air India SBI Platinum Card on 2026-08-17. Every figure on this page — the ranking values, the fee rows, the lounge counts, the transfer ratios — is recomputed from those records each time the site builds, so a devaluation changes the call the day we log it.
Verified against Axis Bank and SBI Card's own documents on · the ranking model, at our house ₹/point
Every document behind this page — 12 of them, each with the day we read it
- official Revision of Axis Bank Credit Card Terms and Conditions — the bank-wide notice: DCC 1.5% to 3.5%, and gift cards, Bridge Fees, Road Fees and Tolls out of rewards, from 28 Aug 2026
- official Axis Bank product page — sourcing discontinued, 4 Maharaja Points per ₹200, 2 Visa lounge visits subject to spends, 3 rounds of golf, forex 3.50%, DCC 1.5%
- official Axis Bank T&C revision after the Vistara–Air India merger — annual fees waived on renewal, tier memberships and all ticket vouchers discontinued, Maharaja Points earning continues
- official Axis Bank revision effective 20 April 2024 — domestic lounge access gated on ₹50,000 of spend in the previous 3 calendar months; insurance and gold/jewellery MCCs stop earning
- official Air India Maharaja Club partner directory — lists Axis only for EDGE REWARD Points and EDGE Miles conversion, with no Vistara co-brand entry
- official SBI's own product record — ₹1,499 annual and renewal, 2 Reward Points per ₹100, 5 per ₹100 on Air India tickets, a 2,000-point anniversary gift, 4 domestic lounge visits, and isOnline "no"
- official The card's own Terms & Conditions — 2 Reward Points per ₹100 on the Platinum against 4 on the Signature, the 5 RP/₹100 Air India accelerator effective 31 Mar 2025, and the MCC exclusion list
- official SBI's Reward Point conversion FAQ — a minimum of 5,000 points in multiples of 5,000, 7 working days, irreversible, and blocked entirely until your first Air India flight activity
- official SBI's Maharaja Club enrolment FAQ — one flight accrual to redeem for yourself, five for family or friends, and the accelerated ticket points need the membership number recorded at booking
- official SBI's MITC — Air India SBI Platinum Card ₹1,499 annual and ₹1,499 renewal with no spend reversal, and a 3.5% foreign-currency transaction fee
- official Airport Lounge Access — the Air India SBI Platinum Card is in Set A, the cut-down 16-lounge domestic list effective 10 January 2026
- official SBI's live card catalogue — the Air India Platinum row reads isOnline "no", the only status shared with the Signature tier among SBI's travel cards