Checked 4 August 2026. Terms below are from launch reporting dated 29–30 July 2026; the primary-source position is stated in full under "Sourcing" and it is not complete.
SBI Card and Google Pay launched the Google Pay Flex SBI Card on 29 July 2026. It is Google Pay's second co-branded card in India — the first was with Axis Bank in December 2025, and it is already in our catalogue as the Google Pay Flex Axis Bank Credit Card.
The launch headline is rewards "worth up to ₹18,000 annually". That figure is a ceiling reached at a spend level the coverage does not state, so this piece works it out. The answer is roughly ₹11.25 lakh a year, which is worth knowing before the number does any work in a decision.
Sourcing, stated up front
We could not retrieve SBI Card's own product page or e-kit terms for this card at the URL patterns its other card documents use. Everything in the tables below is attributed to launch coverage dated 29–30 July 2026, principally Upstox and Business Standard.
That matters for three things in particular, which no reporting we read specified:
- What counts as an "eligible transaction" for the base and accelerated rates. Every SBI Card product excludes categories; this card's list is unpublished here.
- Whether the milestone rates are the monthly rate or an uplift, and whether the milestone resets each month.
- Whether the 18,000 Star cap is per membership year or per calendar year, and whether it is a cap on all Stars or only on accelerated ones.
Read the e-kit before applying. Where a figure below is load-bearing and unverified, we say so rather than smoothing it over.
The reported terms
| Reported position | |
|---|---|
| Launch date | 29 July 2026 |
| Joining fee | ₹499 plus applicable taxes |
| Annual renewal fee | ₹499 plus applicable taxes |
| Renewal fee waiver | On ₹1,00,000 annual spend |
| Networks | RuPay and Visa, customer's choice |
| UPI | RuPay variant can be linked to UPI |
| Redemption value | 1 Star = ₹1 |
| Annual reward ceiling | 18,000 Stars |
| Welcome benefit | ₹1,000 total — ₹500 after the first Google Pay payment, ₹500 in Stars after the joining-fee payment |
| Repayment feature | Latest outstanding bill can be converted to EMI |
The earn structure, converted to a rate
Stars are earned per cumulative ₹500 of eligible spend, and 1 Star redeems at ₹1. That makes the conversion to a percentage rate straightforward:
| Tier | Reported earn | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 1 Star per ₹500 | 0.2% |
| Activation, first two reward cycles | 2 Stars per ₹500 | 0.4% |
| Monthly eligible spend above ₹15,000 | Up to 4 Stars per ₹500 | Up to 0.8% |
| Monthly eligible spend above ₹30,000 | Up to 8 Stars per ₹500 | Up to 1.6% |
"Up to" is the issuer's word, not ours, and it is doing real work in those last two rows — a rate expressed as a ceiling is not a rate you can budget against.
What the ₹18,000 headline requires
Take the most favourable published assumption: every rupee earns at the top tier of 8 Stars per ₹500, which is 1.6%, and the 18,000-Star cap applies to a year.
18,000 Stars ÷ 8 Stars = 2,250 units of ₹500 = ₹11,25,000 of eligible spend a year, or about ₹93,750 every month.
| Annual eligible spend | Stars at 1.6% | Value at ₹1 per Star |
|---|---|---|
| ₹1,00,000 | 1,600 | ₹1,600 |
| ₹3,60,000 (₹30,000/month) | 5,760 | ₹5,760 |
| ₹6,00,000 | 9,600 | ₹9,600 |
| ₹11,25,000 | 18,000 | ₹18,000 |
So a cardholder who spends exactly enough to sit in the top milestone tier every month — ₹30,000, the threshold itself — reaches about 32% of the headline. The ₹18,000 figure is not a description of the top tier; it is the point at which the cap binds, three times further out.
At the base rate of 0.2%, the cap is unreachable by any realistic spending: 18,000 Stars would require ₹90 lakh.
None of this makes the card bad. It makes the headline a ceiling rather than an expectation, which is the same reading our cap explainer applies to any advertised maximum.
The fee, and why the waiver is the real number
The renewal fee is ₹499 plus tax. At 18% GST that is ₹588.82 in total.
| Route | What it takes |
|---|---|
| Earn the fee back at 0.2% base | ₹2,94,410 of eligible spend |
| Earn the fee back at 1.6% top tier | ₹36,801 of eligible spend |
| Waive the fee outright | ₹1,00,000 of annual spend |
The waiver threshold is lower than the base-rate breakeven by a wide margin, so for most cardholders the fee question is settled by the ₹1 lakh waiver, not by the reward rate. Our fee waiver audit covers the trap on the other side of that: chasing a threshold with spending you would not otherwise have done costs more than the fee it avoids.
Unverified: whether the ₹1 lakh waiver counts all spend or only eligible spend, and whether the excluded categories that apply to earning also apply to the waiver. On several 2026 issuer notices those two lists have started to diverge — see our exclusion round-up.
The RuPay and UPI angle
The card is offered on both RuPay and Visa, and the reported position is that the RuPay variant can be linked to UPI. That is the more interesting half of the launch, because it puts a credit line behind a QR code at merchants who never took a card.
It also changes what earns. UPI-routed credit transactions are treated differently from card-present transactions by several issuers, and SBI Card's own PhonePe notices from 1 July 2026 exclude "UPI (non-PhonePe App spends)" from rewards entirely on those cards. Whether this card carries a comparable UPI carve-out is exactly the sort of term that decides whether the RuPay choice is better or worse for you — and it is unpublished in the coverage we read.
Our RuPay-on-UPI explainer covers the mechanics, and the network choice piece covers your right to pick a network at issuance.
What to check before applying
| Check | Where |
|---|---|
| The eligible-transaction exclusion list | Card e-kit terms, not the marketing page |
| Whether the 18,000 cap is per membership or calendar year | Reward programme terms |
| Whether milestone tiers reset monthly | Reward programme terms |
| Whether the ₹1 lakh waiver counts excluded categories | Fee terms |
| UPI treatment on the RuPay variant | Reward programme terms |
| Star expiry | Reward programme terms |
| Redemption fee, if any | Schedule of charges |
Star expiry and redemption fees are worth singling out. A programme that expires points in 24 months, or charges per redemption request, changes the realised value of every figure above — and neither appears in the launch coverage. Our redemption value guide sets out how to convert a points balance into rupees you can actually count.
Primary sources
We have no primary issuer document for this card as at 4 August 2026. The general SBI Card documents worth reading alongside it:
- SBI Card: PhonePe SBI Card SELECT BLACK revisions, effective 1 July 2026 — for the shape of SBI Card's current exclusion drafting, including the UPI carve-out
- SBI Card: PhonePe SBI Card PURPLE revisions, effective 1 July 2026
Launch coverage relied on: Upstox, 29 July 2026; Business Standard, 30 July 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Does this card really give ₹18,000 of rewards a year?
18,000 Stars is a ceiling. At the top reported tier of 8 Stars per ₹500 it requires about ₹11,25,000 of eligible spend a year. At the ₹30,000-a-month milestone threshold itself, the same tier yields about 5,760 Stars.
Is this the same as the Google Pay card with Axis Bank?
No. Google Pay's first Indian co-branded card was with Axis Bank from December 2025. This is a separate product with SBI Card, launched 29 July 2026.
Should I take the RuPay or the Visa variant?
That depends on whether UPI-routed spend earns rewards on this card, which the launch coverage does not state. RuPay adds UPI linkage; check the reward terms for a UPI carve-out before choosing.
Is the annual fee worth paying?
The reported renewal fee is ₹499 plus tax, waived on ₹1,00,000 of annual spend. For most cardholders that waiver, not the reward rate, decides the question. Whether excluded categories count toward the waiver is unverified.
Where are the official terms?
We could not retrieve SBI Card's own page or e-kit for this card at its usual URL patterns as at 4 August 2026. Ask SBI Card for the current e-kit, or read it in the application flow, before relying on any figure here.
Do Stars expire?
Unavailable. No expiry period appears in the launch coverage we read, and we are not going to assume one. It is a question for the reward programme terms.
This is neutral reporting of a product launch, based substantially on third-party coverage rather than issuer documents, and it is not tax or personal financial advice. Several load-bearing terms are marked unverified above; confirm them with SBI Card before applying.
