Air India SBI Signature Card vs SBI Card MILES ELITE (2026)
SBI Card MILES ELITE vs Air India SBI Signature Card: which wins?
₹2,08,025ranking value a year at ₹3L a month, to Air India SBI Signature Card
Skip the duel — the board, ranked → · nothing to sign up for
Same issuer, same ₹4,999, same currency at the end — the closed co-brand earns 4 Maharaja Points per ₹100 direct, MILES ELITE earns 1% and moves it 1:1 alongside 25 other partners. Only one of them can still be given to you.
Air India SBI Signature Card out-earns SBI Card MILES ELITE at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
Every metric, row by row — 10 compared
Head to head
| Air India SBI Signature Card | Metric | SBI Card MILES ELITE |
|---|---|---|
| closed | Our rank | #77 |
| ₹4,999/yr | Fee — joining · annual (+ GST) | ₹4,999/yr |
| None | Fee waiver | ₹15,00,000 spend |
| 3.5% + GST | Forex markup | 1.99% + GST (also 1.99% DCC on INR-billed international transactions ≥₹1,000) — wins this row |
| not published | APR | Up to 3.75%/mo (45%/yr) |
| 3.2% — wins this row | Headline earn rate | 1.0% |
| Air India Maharaja Points | Currency | SBI Travel Credits |
| ₹0.80/pt † | House value | ₹1.00/pt |
| 20,000 Reward Points on joining-fee payment (credited within 15 days) + complimentary Air India Maharaja Club membership. Closed to new applications, so this is history unless you already hold the card. | Welcome benefit | 5,000 Travel Credits on ₹1L spend in 60 days |
| 72 of 793 | Lounge doors opened | 689 of 793 — wins this row |
† Air India SBI Signature Card: The 3.2% assumes you convert to Air India Maharaja Points — 1 RP = 1 Maharaja Point, our ₹0.80 mark. Leave the points inside SBI's own catalogue and they price at the legacy ₹0.25, turning this into a 1% card. The conversion is one-way and irreversible, runs in blocks of 5,000, and takes up to 7 working days — so the good number here is a decision, not a default.
Neither issuer publishes an income floor for these two. Air India SBI Signature Card is closed to new applications, and only grandfathered holders still have it; SBI Card MILES ELITE is open to a direct application. How people actually get each one is on its card page.
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 Signature Card out-earns SBI Card MILES ELITE 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 Signature Card leads at all 20 steps, but not by the same amount: ₹11,032 at ₹0.25L a month, ₹1,99,641 at ₹5L — the gap fans out with spend, widest at ₹5L (₹1,99,641).
SBI Card MILES ELITE's ongoing earn stops at ₹15,00,000 of spend a month, where Air India SBI Signature Card's doesn't; Air India SBI Signature Card pays a renewal bonus whatever you spend, and SBI Card MILES ELITE pays nothing to stay.
Air India SBI Signature Card draws above the line, SBI Card MILES ELITE below · ₹0.25L to ₹5L a month, step by step
| Monthly spend | Air India SBI Signature Card | SBI Card MILES ELITE | In front |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹0.25L | ₹9,753 | −₹1,279 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹11,032 |
| ₹0.5L | ₹36,505 | ₹2,441 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹34,064 |
| ₹0.75L | ₹47,257 | ₹6,161 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹41,096 |
| ₹1L | ₹82,009 | ₹29,881 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹52,128 |
| ₹1.25L | ₹92,761 | ₹38,600 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹54,161 |
| ₹1.5L | ₹1,03,513 | ₹42,320 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹61,193 |
| ₹1.75L | ₹1,54,265 | ₹46,040 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,08,225 |
| ₹2L | ₹1,65,017 | ₹49,760 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,15,257 |
| ₹2.25L | ₹1,75,769 | ₹53,480 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,22,289 |
| ₹2.5L | ₹1,86,521 | ₹57,200 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,29,321 |
| ₹2.75L | ₹1,97,273 | ₹60,920 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,36,353 |
| ₹3L | ₹2,08,025 | ₹64,640 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,43,385 |
| ₹3.25L | ₹2,18,777 | ₹68,360 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,50,417 |
| ₹3.5L | ₹2,29,529 | ₹72,080 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,57,449 |
| ₹3.75L | ₹2,40,281 | ₹75,800 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,64,481 |
| ₹4L | ₹2,51,033 | ₹79,520 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,71,513 |
| ₹4.25L | ₹2,61,785 | ₹83,240 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,78,545 |
| ₹4.5L | ₹2,72,537 | ₹86,960 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,85,577 |
| ₹4.75L | ₹2,83,289 | ₹90,680 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,92,609 |
| ₹5L | ₹2,94,041 | ₹94,400 | Air India SBI Signature Card by ₹1,99,641 |
Transfer reach — 0 vs 25 live routes
Transfer reach
0 shared routes · 0 only Air India SBI Signature Card · 3 only SBI Card MILES ELITE — the full partner lists
Only SBI Card MILES ELITE
- The British Airways Club (Avios)
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Air India Maharaja Club
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
Air India SBI Signature Card · 5 more →
- Closed to new applications — SBI stopped issuing it in late 2024 after the Air India–Vistara merger; existing holders only
- ₹4,999 renewal fee every year with no spend-based waiver published
- Priority Pass is membership-only — SBI bills $27 per lounge visit, so there is no free international lounge here
SBI Card MILES ELITE · 4 more →
- Travel Credits expire in 24 months; redemptions only in 2,000-credit multiples
- Earn capped at 15,000 Travel Credits a statement month (≈₹15L general / ₹5L travel spend) — the excess earns nothing
- Fuel, rent, utilities, insurance, wallets and education earn zero
The call
For the ₹1L/month spender, Air India SBI Signature Card nets ₹82,009 against ₹29,881 — a ₹52,128 gap. At ₹5L/month, Air India SBI Signature Card nets ₹2,94,041 against ₹94,400 — a ₹1,99,641 gap. Lounge chasers: SBI Card MILES ELITE opens 689 of 793 tracked doors to Air India SBI Signature Card's 72.
Our standing verdicts: Air India SBI Signature Card — Keep; SBI Card MILES ELITE — Keep. Air India SBI Signature Card takes 4 of the 6 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, Air India SBI Signature Card or SBI Card MILES ELITE?
Air India SBI Signature Card. Air India SBI Signature Card takes 4 of the 6 rounds we can score. Air India SBI Signature Card out-earns SBI Card MILES ELITE at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
Air India SBI Signature Card or SBI Card MILES ELITE — which earns more at ₹3L a month?
At ₹3L a month, Air India SBI Signature Card nets ₹2,08,025 against ₹64,640 — a ₹1,43,385 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, Air India SBI Signature Card or SBI Card MILES ELITE?
They cost the same to get: ₹4,999/yr. Air India SBI Signature Card waives its fee at no spend level — there is no waiver; SBI Card MILES ELITE at ₹15,00,000 of spend.
Which gets you into more airport lounges, Air India SBI Signature Card or SBI Card MILES ELITE?
Lounge chasers: SBI Card MILES ELITE opens 689 of 793 tracked doors to Air India SBI Signature Card's 72. Visit quotas, guest charges and spend gates are per card — the lounge map carries each one.
How current is this comparison?
Both card records were last re-verified against their issuers' own documents on 2026-08-23. 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 SBI Card and SBI Card's own documents on · the ranking model, at our house ₹/point
Every document behind this page — 16 of them, each with the day we read it
- official Official SBI product page — ₹4,999 annual + ₹4,999 renewal, no spend waiver, 20,000 RP welcome on joining-fee payment, 4 RP/₹100 general, 10 RP/₹100 on Air India tickets
- official SBI's own product record behind that page — isOnline "no", re-confirmed 26-Jul-2026 against the ten other SBI travel cards on the identical template
- official SBI's MITC — Air India SBI Signature Card ₹4,999 annual and ₹4,999 renewal with no spend reversal, and a 3.5% foreign-currency transaction fee
- official Airport Lounge Access — this card is in neither Set A nor Set B, so its domestic lounge quota runs on Visa's own programme and Visa's own room list
- community CardInsider — filed as discontinued by SBI Card, "no new applications will be entertained"
- community CardExpert review — issuance of the SBI Air India co-brands stopped around September–October 2024 on the back of the Air India–Vistara merger and the application link went
- official Product page — 5,000 welcome TC on ₹1L/60 days, 6 TC per ₹200 travel and 2 per ₹200 otherwise, 20,000 bonus TC at ₹12L, fee reversal at ₹15L
- official MITC — ₹4,999 joining/renewal waived at ₹15L preceding-year spend; foreign-currency fee 1.99%, shared only with AURUM, SBI Card ELITE, Tata Neu Infinity SBI and PRIME NRI Secured
- official SBI product record behind that page — isOnline "yes" (open to new applications), productType MEOM, cardLaunchDate 2024-04-23
- official MILES rewards T&C — the partner grid of record: 17 airlines + 8 hotels, 1:1 except Air Arabia/Emirates/Ethiopian/JAL/Saudia/Turkish/United at 2:1
- official Card e-kit T&C PDF (15,000 TC/month cap; 2,000-TC transfer multiples; PP 24 months)
- official MILES-range e-kit T&C (one document for all three MILES cards) — §28: the spend-earned visits
- community CardExpert review
- community CardInsider review (Mastercard + RuPay networks)
- community Magnify — approval reality: no published cutoff, docs list, SBI relationship helps
- official SBI Card's upgrade/downgrade FAQ — the only downgrade the issuer publishes: customer-initiated, inside 90 days of an upgrade, and no upgrade again for six months