Many SBI credit card customers will not be eligible for reward points on certain online transactions starting September. SBI Card, the credit card arm of the State Bank of India (SBI), has updated its rewards programme rules, which will come into effect from Sept. 1.
Under the revised rules, a section of SBI credit cardholders will not be able to accumulate reward points on payments made via digital gaming platforms and government-related services.
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This forms part of a wider set of changes recently introduced by SBI Card for different categories of credit cards.
“W.e.f. 1 Sep 2025, accrual of Reward Points on spends on Digital Gaming platforms/merchants and Govt-related transactions will be discontinued for Lifestyle Home Centre SBI Card, Lifestyle Home Centre SBI Card SELECT and Lifestyle Home Centre SBI Card PRIME,” the official website mentioned. The notification regarding the changes in the reward programme was issued on Aug. 1.
Once this rule is implemented, SBI credit card users will no longer be able to earn reward points on spends such as buying gaming credits online or settling bills through government websites. This move is not unprecedented, as SBI Card had previously introduced similar restrictions on reward accumulation in December 2024.
The revised norms will impact owners of three SBI credit cards: Lifestyle Home Centre SBI Card, Lifestyle Home Centre SBI Card SELECT and the Lifestyle Home Centre SBI Card PRIME.
When you redeem reward points on your SBI Card, a redemption fee of Rs 99 plus applicable taxes is charged to your account. “This amount is toward delivery and processing charges in case of physical product redemption and statement credit,” as per the official website.
Under FAQs, SBI Card states reward points earned on an SBI Card are linked only to that specific card account. They cannot be pooled together from different SBI cards or transferred to another account. Customers can redeem them solely on the card where they were originally accumulated.
SBI Card allows customers to use their reward points to clear pending dues. However, the points can only be used in multiples of 2,000 at a time when paying off the outstanding balance.
It is worth noting that SBI Card is not the only credit card issuer implementing such measures. In June, HDFC Bank also revised its policy, announcing that transactions linked to online skill-based gaming paid through its credit cards would no longer earn reward points. The changes came into effect from July 1.
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