Table of Contents
- 1. Key Takeaways
- 2. Why This Needs Clarifying First
- 3. The Three Things "SBI Signature" Can Mean
- 4. The Evidence Behind the Legacy-Name Read
- 5. If You're Looking for Air India SBI Signature
- 6. If You're Looking for a Bank-Partnership Signature Card
- 7. If You Want SBI's General Premium Card
- 8. Frequently Asked Questions
Key Takeaways
- "SBI Signature" is not one product - it refers to at least three different cards, and confusing them leads to inaccurate eligibility and benefit expectations.
- Air India SBI Signature Credit Card is a real, distinct co-branded product, but new issuance stopped on 10 October 2024 - existing cardholders continue, new applicants cannot get it.
- Bank-partnership variants like KVB SBI Signature Card exist as separate products issued through specific partner banks.
- A standalone, generic "SBI Signature" card - not co-branded with anything - does not appear to be a currently open product. SBI's own Cardholder Agreement groups it with SBI Card ELITE in a way that suggests it's a legacy name.
- If you're looking for SBI's general premium lifestyle card today, that product is now marketed as SBI Card ELITE.
Why This Needs Clarifying First
Search results and older content for "SBI Signature Credit Card" are genuinely inconsistent, and it's worth being upfront about that rather than presenting a confident answer that might be wrong for your specific case. Depending on which "Signature" a source is describing, the eligibility, fees, and benefits are entirely different. Before looking at eligibility or applying anywhere, it's worth confirming which of these you're actually asking about.
The Three Things "SBI Signature" Can Mean
| Card | Status | What It Is |
|---|---|---|
| Air India SBI Signature Credit Card | Existing cardholders only - new issuance stopped 10 October 2024 | Co-branded travel card built around Air India ticket bookings and reward points on airline spend |
| Bank-partnership Signature cards (e.g. KVB SBI Signature) | Distinct products issued via specific partner banks | Co-issued cards structurally similar to SBI's ELITE tier, distributed through the partner bank's relationship |
| Generic/standalone "SBI Signature" | Not confirmed as a currently open product - appears to be a legacy name | Older content describes general shopping and travel benefits; SBI's own current documentation pairs this name with ELITE rather than treating it as a separate live product |
The Evidence Behind the Legacy-Name Read
SBI Card's own official Cardholder Agreement describes reward earning as applying to "Prime/Platinum & Elite/Signature" cardholders - grouping Signature together with Elite the same way Platinum is grouped with Prime. Platinum, as a generic standalone card, has been confirmed discontinued by third-party aggregators. That same pairing pattern for Signature - plus the fact that the only detailed generic "Signature" content available dates back to 2021, with nothing more recent describing it as an actively marketed product - points toward Signature having been the earlier name for what SBI now sells as Card ELITE, rather than a separate card still open to new applicants today.
To be direct about the limits of this: this isn't a confirmed discontinuation the way generic SBI Platinum is. SBI hasn't published an explicit "Signature is discontinued" notice the way it has for some other legacy products. This is the strongest read of the available evidence, not a certainty - which is exactly why this piece leads with disambiguation instead of asserting eligibility criteria for a product whose current status isn't fully confirmed.
If You're Looking for Air India SBI Signature
This is a real, distinct product, but new issuance stopped on 10 October 2024 as part of SBI Card's broader wind-down of Air India co-branded cards following the Vistara-Air India merger. If you're an existing Air India SBI Signature cardholder, your card continues to function and continues to receive periodic reward-rate updates from SBI - but no new applicant can get this card today.
For the current airline co-branded options SBI does offer, see Best SBI Credit Cards in India 2026: Top Pick by Category.
If You're Looking for a Bank-Partnership Signature Card
Cards like KVB SBI Signature Card are distributed through a specific partner bank relationship rather than applied for directly through SBI. If you saw "Signature" mentioned through a specific bank (Karur Vysya Bank or another SBI banking partner), that's a separate product from both Air India SBI Signature and the generic Signature name - check directly with that partner bank for current eligibility and application routes, since SBI Card's own direct application channels may not process these.
If You Want SBI's General Premium Card
If your interest was really in SBI's standard premium lifestyle card - lounge access, dining and movie rewards, a general-purpose premium product not tied to a specific airline or partner bank - that's SBI Card ELITE today. It's the actively marketed, currently open-to-application product that appears to have succeeded the generic Signature name in SBI's own lineup.
For the full breakdown of ELITE's fees, benefits, and eligibility, see the SBI Card ELITE review, or compare it directly against SBI Card PRIME in
SBI Elite vs SBI Prime: Which Premium SBI Card Should You Choose?.
