SBI Launches Doctor’s SBI Card – Review

By | April 3, 2018

SBI recently launched a unique credit card exclusively for the Doctors (Medical Professionals). Although the card serves a very unique proposition, but this is not the industry first. This same kind of concept exists for HDFC Bank’s Credit Card which has the Doctor’s Superia Credit Card (and Doctor’s Regalia) in it’s arsenal. However, this product from SBI is far above the HDFC Superia in terms of facilities and benefits. Let’s have a closer look at what this card has to offer.

  • Joining/Renewal Fee: Rs 1499 + GST (Renewal Fee is waived on 2 Lakh Spends in a year)
  • Welcome e-Gift Voucher: Rs 1500 from Yatra.

Doctor’s SBI Card Features and Benefits – Review

#1. Welcome Gift

  • Welcome Gift e-Voucher worth Rs 1500 from Yatra.com. We will see further in this review that this card is specifically targeted for Doctors who have to travel a lot too. So it’s no surprise that the Welcome Benefit has e-voucher only from Yatra.com which can be redeemed online

#2. Reward Points

  • 5 RPs/Rs 100 spent on Medical Supplies, Travel Bookings and International Spends (1.25%)- This includes Travel Agents and Tour Operators with MCC- 4722 and Medical, Dental, Ophthalmic and Hospital Equipment and Supplies with MCC- 5047
  • 5 RPs/ Rs 100 spent on Doctor’s day- 1st July each year (1.25%)
  • 1 RP/ Rs 100 spent on all other purchases and spends (0.25%)
  • 1 RP= Rs 0.25 (This can be adjusted as statement Credit Too)
  • Reward Redemption Fee- Rs 99 + GST

#3. Milestone Benefits

  • E-Gift Voucher from Yatra.com/Bata/Shoppers Stop worth Rs 5,000 on achieving annual spends of Rs 5 Lakhs.
  • Also, as mentioned above, the annual fees of Rs 1499 + GST is also reversed if you spend over Rs 2 Lakh in a year.

#4. Professional Indemnity Insurance

  • Professional Indemnity Insurance of Rs 10 Lakh. Litigations are very common in Medical Profession and almost all medical practitioners have an indemnity insurance. This card gives a coverage of Rs 10 Lakh without any premium. This is unique and is given by no other card in the country as of now.
  • Reimbursement all Legal & defense costs, out-of-court settlement expenses and court awards
  • 0% Sum Insured will be deductible. This effectively means, there is no premium to be to deposited for the cover of this policy. Just by keeping and using this card, you are very much insured.

#4.  Unique International Benefits

  • International mark Up Fees : 3.5% (It was earlier 1.99%, now SBI has updated it as 3.5%)
  • Emergency Card replacement Fees, when Abroad- NIL (Yes!, You read that right. At least that is what is written on SBI Website as of writing this post). Usually, it is the VISA/Mastercard that replaces the card on an emergency basis while you are travelling abroad and somehow have lost the card or if have been forced to block the card. The fees is said to be actuals subject to a minimum fee of $175. However, here SBI has said that the fees for this emergency replacement, while abroad is NIL. However, I’ll take this with a pinch of salt and it needs to be confirmed with SBI directly.
  • These two propositions, place this card very high among the choices of a good international travel card.

#5. Airport Lounge Access

  • International: 4 complimentary visits per year to International Priority Pass Lounges, outside India (max. 2 visits per quarter)
  • Domestic: 8 complimentary visits per year to Domestic in India (max. 2 visits per quarter). Though it isn’t mentioned whether the domestic lounge access are via VISA or MC, but it’s safe to assume from the picture, that at least VISA is sure to be there since the picture shows the card to be on Visa Signature Platform. While looking at the terms and conditions, I couldn’t find Mastercard anywhere. So it might mean that this is Visa Signature Exclusive Platform card

This card has been launched in association with the esteemed Indian Medical Association (IMA) and is the only card in India to be so. IMA is the only representative voluntary organisation of Doctors of Modern Scientific System of Medicine. Amidst crisis situation in India where the patient and the doctor trust is deteriorating day by day and incidence of violence against doctors at work place, by aggrieved relatives is on the rise, it’s a welcome move by IMA. I am sure, many readers of this forum who are medical practitioners will appreciate the move and would love to own this card.

  • Cardexpert rating: 4/5 [yasr_overall_rating]

The card also embosses your professional qualifications and the salutation giving a a little privileged and unique feel. Not that this is a big move but it doesn’t hurt either.

Do let us know how many of you medical professionals are willing to go for this card. We would be also happy to hear from other readers whether they think doctors should go for this card or better stick with other good cards from SBI like SBI Prime Card.

Author: Abhishek Roy

Abhishek is a Doctor by profession and is passionate about Technology and Photography. He pursues his hobbies during the little free time he gets and likes to make the most out of it. He has special interest in Credit/Debit Cards, Reward Points, Air Miles and Travel Hacks.

42 thoughts on “SBI Launches Doctor’s SBI Card – Review

  1. Akshay Sapar

    Hi,
    Indeed a unique and feature rich card awarding the life saving professionals.
    Nice move SBI!!

    Reply
  2. SH

    May be our resident card co-expert, Dr Abhishek Roy will apply for this..:-)

    Reply
        1. Abhishek Roy Post author

          It will be difficult as this card is in Association with Indian Medical Association. It’s probably for Medical Doctors. However, you can give it a try and ask SBI about it.

          Reply
  3. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    Its always great to see new contents from you Siddharth. Please keep it up. I have off the topic question .
    I have Regalia First with Rs. 2.25 lakhs limit. I want to start with any credit card of yes bank so that I can upgrade it to preferred in future. My ITR is Rs. 4,01,000 . 1.Which yes card should I start with ?
    2.Can I apply it with card on card basis ?
    3. How much limit can I expect ?

    Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy Post author

      You might get Yesbank Prosperity edge card on card on card basis.

      Reply
  4. Vinod Kannan

    Indemnity cover is good. Infact is a great move by IMA. But im disappointed with the earning potential of this card. Once i saw the Black colour of the card i got too excited that it would be brtter than SBI Elite card, only to be disappointed at the end. If they have launched this card atleast at par with SBI prime card, i would have definitely gone for it. They should have atleast provided 2 points per 100 and 10 points per 100 for medical equipments n Travel.

    But this seems to be a good move by SBI to identify the Medical professionals and target them with customised offers. I recently heard from a bank manager that the repayment track of doctors overall is almost 100%. That must be one of the factors behindlauching this card.

    Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy Post author

      Agreed. SBI Prime is a better card no doubt but the indemnity cover for Medical Professionals, specially Clinicians would matter a lot.

      Reply
  5. Vinod Kannan

    But the Premium looks of the card and the Dr salutation along with the degree embossing always entices me to go for this card. The 2L threshold for annual fee waiver makes this card almost free of cost. Its definitely a good card for Beginners. Most of my friends who have gone for Simply click n simply save variants will be very much attracted to this card though.

    Woth Elite card having been devalued, i was looking to downgrade to Prime card. But the BookMyShow movie tickets nearly made-up for the 5000 annual fee.I hope SBI launches another variant of the card with good reward rate and hopefully something better than SBI Elite.

    Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy Post author

      I seriously doubt. But never say never with SBI. They might very well launch another card as per Sid. So, let’s keep a close watch.

      Reply
  6. Ashish Nikhare

    Is IMA membership compulsory for this card ? Most doctors are not members of IMA. For IMA members Professional Indemnity Insurance is inbuilt within their membership and do not require additional Indemnity. Hence 10 L SBI card Indemnity is not much value. Also, the low reward rate is disheartening. Most of the medical instruments & equipments are costly almost above 4-5 lakhs & hence could not be purchased with the low credit limit provided by SBI card. I have a SimplySave SBI CC with limit of 1.8 L & happy with it.

    Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy Post author

      No. They haven’t mentioned anywhere that membership is compulsory. This is I guess open to all doctors.

      Reply
    2. Shailesh Pai

      Sorry to say, but indemnity is not inbuilt with IMA. One needs to pay extra premium year on year to get the indemnity coverage.

      Reply
  7. DR.HARDIK PATEL

    Well this card is good with low joining fee but it has very low rewards points against sbi elite so i dont know Dr. Like me gave up sbi elite and take this card…anyway it’s subjective…but yes indemnity insurance is very plus point of this card…Dr.Hardik Patel

    Reply
  8. Ankit

    Hi Abhishek, the foreign currency markup is 3.5% and not 1.99% (as per SBI Card website)

    Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy Post author

      They have since then updated the Foreign Currency Mark Up Fees. While writing the review it was indeed 1.99%. Now I saw it has been changed. I have updated the article accordingly.

      Reply
  9. Thomas

    Professional protection scheme is not inbuilt and is charged at 2000 first year per 2.5 lakhs. So 10 lakhs for 1499 is good

    Reply
  10. Kabir

    I currently work in a central govt medical institute and we have a SBI branch on campus that is the primary salary account branch for almost all the employees of the establishment. Obviously they are aggressively marketing this card to each and every one on campus, i already hold SBI prime so passed on it but it was funny to see the representative try to sell this to my friend who had shown interest in Prime. The representative actually said that prime has been discontinued, then following day he appeared again with a brochure with something called Prime Pro, which had yearly fees of 2000, reduced benefits and absent 10x categories of the prime variant, is this a devalued version of prime that they are looking to introduce?, would make little sense after launching a well designed product like prime.
    In any case i advised my friend to bypass the representative of the branch and apply through sbicard website, that worked just fine, now he is waiting for his card to be delivered, but i still have not been able to find another reference to the ‘Prime Pro’

    Reply
  11. Dr shukrath c

    Many of the online platform is not accepting this card ,,,, it was showing please use Indian issued card , so is this a foreign issued card??? I have no idea about this issue , I asked same question in customer care, she didn’t help properly, she told check with your merchant site,,,,, in Paytm it is working but instead of showing Sbi card ,, it is showing operating engineers federal credit loan card,, so please explain me what is this card and how to overcome all these problems

    Thank you

    Reply
    1. Srikrishna Raajan

      It might due to the fact that this Visa BIN (Bank Identification Number), the first 6 digits of the card number is newly issued to Indian region. In this case, it might take some time for the payment gateways to get trained/modify card BIN data. If might be inconvenient but nothing can be done from our end or at least try contacting the respective payment gateway and inform them that it the card is issued in India, and they may require scanned copy of the front side of the card revealing the first 6 digits of the card number and the rest along with the name and date of expiry masked.
      I still remember this happened when new variant of Visa debit card was issued by Axis bank and it was considered as credit card in some payment gateways.

      Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy Post author

      You have to ask them. As far as I know, this card has been opened in collaborating with IMA, which represents MBBS doctors.

      Reply
  12. Dr P NIKHILESH REDDY

    SBI IMA Credit card
    clearly SBI IMA credit card isnt selling as much it shud have, narrating my experience,am a 29 yr old doctor, a government assistant professor now,got to know about SBI IMA card,being a IMA member and into Government service too,thought SBI IMA card would b a best fit,especially that Indemnity insurance was usp,but after expressing interest on their social portal,e application and mails,didnt even get a single call,and when i posted the hassle of applying for their card,got a twitter DM saying my application couldnt be accepted,when i asked them how does a Doctor with Salary of 1.25 lakh per month wont a make a gud customer,got the reply saying its not based on credit worthiness but their internal risk analysis,i would say SBI would go places with this attitude
    P.s filed an RTI to know the No. of SBI IMA credit cards issued since inception( not sure whether that data will be furnished)
    so far,from the IMA circles i have been in contact with this card isnt even heard of

    Reply
    1. Dr Nikhilesh Reddy

      I did get the card later when my home branch processed it for me, it’s sometimes crazy how a human touch outweighs the online ease
      Indemnity insurance of 10lakhs is a biggest usp of this card
      But I still feel this is least advertised of all
      U can’t opt for it directly at your branch,I had to take an elite card first then complain to the relevant authorities then shift over to SBI IMA Card

      Reply
  13. Dr. Megha

    I have applied for the card one month back, i got verification call ,they told i will get card in 14 working days but still i hv not recieved card. The agent who has sumbitted my application says it is under progress. What should i do.

    Reply
    1. DR P Murali Krishna

      I have applied for the card on october, i got verification call and had submitted hard copies of documents ,they told i will get card in 7-8 working days but still i hv not recieved card. when I checked online about my application says it is under progress. whats next step

      Reply
  14. DR RAMESH RAO

    When I contacted the AGENT, he told me that it is being issued only to DOCTORS practising in few selected cities only.I don’t understand the logic behind this preferential treatment.One should ascertain whether he is aDOCTOR or NOT and his financial status.Why this strange ELIGIBILITY requirement?

    Reply
  15. Arjun Phillips

    1. Does this Doctors Card serve other purposes of a normal Credit Card too? Like paying bills at a bar, online shopping etx? Or is it just for the purposes enlisted in the brochure?

    2. What is the upper limit of using this card all at one go?

    Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy Post author

      It is just like a normal credit card.
      What do you mean by upper limit of using the card all at one go? If you are asking about Credit Limit, it will be the decision of the bank based on your risk and financial profile.

      Reply
  16. DrDhiman Bhattacharya

    Dear Dr. Abhishek,
    Someone has posted that not everyone is eligible for this card,only those from a few elite cities are eligible for this card.
    Is it true that doctors in the rural settings are exempted from this extraordinary card.

    Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy Post author

      It’s not that anyone is exempted. It’s just that any Credit Card is issued by a bank only in cities which are serviceable by that bank. If you reside in that city then you can apply else you’ll have to wait till that particular bank starts issueing the card at your residing city. Nevertheless, this is only for issueing. Once you get the card, you can be at any place in India, you’ll keep using the services.

      Reply
  17. Dr Harsha

    Hi Abhishek..how to claim the insurance..customer care number is not working..i have indemnity card with policy number..

    Reply
    1. Abhishek Roy Post author

      Contact SBI Customer care Delhi number. Just use 011-39020202

      Reply
  18. Dr. Shivam

    Hello,
    How much time does it usually take to get the card once applied for it.

    Reply
  19. Ashish Nikhare

    I recently received this card along with the Indemnity Card. I had first contacted SBI Card care for upgrading my existing BPCL card. But they said it cannot be upgraded ie. i have to apply for this card as new / fresh application. I did so. Within 2 days i received a call for Documents pickup (Ie. ID, Address, Other Credit card statement – for credit limit enhancement, Latest ITR, Degrees & Registration – IMA membership is not mandatory !) Later after 7 days received a call for confirmation and also if i already hold an existing SBI card. After cancelling the existing BPCL card, received the new Doctors SBI card by post along with the indemnity card and an enhanced Credit limit of > 5 lakhs (in old BPCL card it was < 2 lakhs).

    Reply
    1. Venkat

      what did you get in your welcome kit.I just got the card when i upgraded from SBI BPCL card to Doctor’s SBI card.Can you share the list of contents in welcome kit.I called the customer care and the guy I soke to is ignorant about the welcome kit.He is arguing that I only get a card and nothing else

      Reply
  20. Venkat

    what did you get in your welcome kit.I just got the card when i upgraded from SBI BPCL card to Doctor’s SBI card.Can you share the list of contents in welcome kit.I called the customer care and the guy I soke to is ignorant about the welcome kit.He is arguing that I only get a card and nothing else

    Reply
  21. Dr. Arindam Sinha

    On my way to the Airport Lounge inside the Kolkata Airport last October, a guy @ SBI Kiosk offered me the SBI DOCTOR’s CC as I revealed my Profession. All my Documents were processed digitally as I forwarded him copies of my Registration Certificate, PAN, etc
    After coming back to Hyderabad, got a verification call within a week, and Card got delivered within 15 days.

    He said that their Service is centralised. Leaving his details here for those who faced problems while processing their Card application online.

    Reply
  22. Nandakumar

    Is the priority pass only for two years or is it renewed every year. If we get card mainly for the indemnity and don’t use it will it get cancelled

    Reply

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