SBI Card PULSE Review: Lounge Access, Rewards & Fees

SBI Card PULSE is a lifestyle and wellness credit card from SBI Card designed for users looking for wellness benefits, airport lounge access and accelerated rewards on pharmacy and dining spends. The card comes with a joining and annual fee of ₹1499 + GST. You get a complimentary Noise smartwatch as a welcome benefit along with FITPASS Pro and Netmeds First memberships.

SBI Card PULSE offers accelerated reward points on pharmacy, dining, movie and sports spends. The card also includes complimentary domestic airport lounge access. Spend ₹2 lakh in a membership year and the annual fee gets waived.

Fees

According to the latest official SBI Card page, the current welcome gift is the Noise ColorFit Pulse 4 Pro smartwatch. SBI Card has done a good job matching the welcome benefits with the card’s wellness theme. The bundled smartwatch, FITPASS PRO and Netmeds First membership make the first-year value proposition stronger than most ₹1500 fee cards.

If you were already planning to buy a smartwatch for fitness tracking, the SBI Card PULSE becomes more appealing. You effectively get the smartwatch at a discounted cost while also receiving FITPASS PRO and Netmeds First memberships along with the card’s other benefits.

The ₹2 lakh annual spend waiver is another positive. It is realistic for most salaried users and makes the card easier to keep long term if you regularly use it for dining, movies and everyday spending.

SBI Pulse Reward Rate

1 SBI Card Reward Point = ₹0.25 when redeemed against statement credit or select vouchers. This gives the card an effective reward rate of:

• 2.5% on accelerated categories
• 0.5% on general spends

According to the latest terms, accelerated rewards are capped at 5000 Reward Points per statement cycle. Fuel transactions are also excluded from earning reward points.

MCC 5912 is commonly used for pharmacies, chemists and drug stores, while MCC 8099 is generally associated with healthcare and medical service providers. Dining rewards apply on merchants classified under MCC 5812, which covers restaurants and eating places.

SBI Pulse Reward Points can be redeemed for statement credit, vouchers and products through the SBI Card rewards catalogue.

Milestone Rewards

• ₹1500 Netmeds e-voucher on annual retail spends of ₹4 lakh
• Renewal fee waiver on annual spends of ₹2 lakh

It may not make sense to spend ₹4 lakh on SBI Card PULSE just to unlock the ₹1500 Netmeds voucher. The reward is too small for the spend requirement.

The card makes more sense if you use it mainly for pharmacy, dining and movie spends while targeting the ₹2 lakh annual fee waiver. Beyond that, there are much better cashback and travel cards for higher spending.

Complimentary Health Benefits

• Complimentary 1 year FITPASS PRO membership
• Complimentary 1 year Netmeds First membership

SBI Card PULSE stands out as one of the few wellness credit cards in India offering bundled fitness and healthcare memberships. Netmeds First currently offers benefits like free medicine delivery, discounted healthcare services and additional savings on pharmacy orders.

The FITPASS PRO membership is one of the more useful benefits on the card. It provides access to partner gyms and fitness centres across India along with complimentary workout sessions every month through the FITPASS network.

These memberships add decent real-world value if you actively use fitness or pharmacy services. For users who already pay for gym access or order medicines online regularly, the wellness benefits can help offset a part of the annual fee. More details here.

Rewards Redemption

SBI Pulse credit card offers multiple options for redemption. We can get e-vouchers or products from the catalogue over here. The best option however is to get a statement credit by calling SBI credit card customer care. For statement credit, we get a value of 25 paise per reward point.

Complimentary Airport Lounge Access

• Domestic Airport Lounge Access: SBI Card PULSE offers 4 complimentary domestic airport lounge visits per year with a maximum limit of 1 visit per quarter. Access is available at participating airport lounges across India through the Visa or Mastercard lounge program, depending on your card variant. There is currently no spend based eligibility condition attached to these lounge visits.
• International Airport Lounge Access: SBI Card PULSE does not offer complimentary international airport lounge access.

The lounge benefit is still decent for a ₹1499 fee credit card, especially since SBI Card does not currently require quarterly spending to unlock access. That alone makes the experience simpler than many competing cards which now have strict spend based lounge conditions.

However, the recent reduction from 8 visits per year to 4 visits per year has made the card less attractive for frequent travelers. For occasional domestic flyers, the benefit is still useful. But if airport lounge access is your main priority, there are now stronger travel cards available in the same fee range.

Other Key Benefits & Charges

SBI Pulse Card Pros & Cons

Final Thoughts

SBI Card PULSE is a good option for users looking for a wellness focused credit card with lifestyle benefits. The combination of a Noise smartwatch, FITPASS PRO membership and Netmeds First membership gives the card a unique positioning compared to most cards in this segment. The card also offers accelerated rewards on pharmacy, dining, movies and sports spends along with complimentary domestic airport lounge access.

The card works best for users who actively use fitness and wellness benefits. The ₹2 lakh annual fee waiver condition is reasonable and makes the card easier to maintain long term.

However, users looking for higher cashback on online spending or stronger travel rewards may find better alternatives depending on their spending style. SBI Cashback Card is a stronger option for online cashback focused users, while Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank Credit Card offers better value for Tata Neu and 1mg users.

Overall, SBI Card PULSE is a balanced lifestyle credit card that focuses more on wellness perks and everyday lifestyle benefits rather than aggressive cashback or premium travel rewards.

Frequently Asked Questions