SBI Miles Elite vs HDFC Regalia Gold 2026: Which Travel Card Wins?

HDFC Regalia Gold is the better card for most people here. It costs about half as much, its fee waiver sits at ₹4 lakh instead of ₹15 lakh, and it came out ahead in both of our worked examples once its vouchers are counted. SBI Card Miles ELITE has a real case only for heavy travel spenders, for people who want its 8 plus 6 lounge visits without a spend gate, and for applicants who earn ₹50,000 a month and can't meet Regalia Gold's ₹1,50,000 income bar.

Side-by-side comparison

Feature	SBI Miles ELITE	HDFC Regalia Gold
Network	Visa	Visa
Joining fee	₹4,999	₹2,500
Annual fee	₹4,999	₹2,500
Fee waiver spend	₹15,00,000/year (fee reversed)	₹4,00,000/year
Base reward rate	1%	1.25%
Travel rate	3% (Travel Credits)	2.5%
Reward type	Travel Credits, valued at ₹1	Reward Points, valued at 50 paise
Forex markup	1.99%	2%
Domestic lounge	8 a year via Priority Pass	3 a quarter, after ₹60,000 spend in the prior quarter
International lounge	6 a year via Priority Pass	6 a year via Priority Pass
Min monthly income	₹50,000	₹1,50,000
Min credit score	750	750
APR	42%	41.88%

All figures come from BestCard's latest card data, last checked on 24 October 2026. Both banks revise these cards often, so confirm current terms with SBI Card and HDFC Bank before you apply.

How the rewards work

SBI Miles ELITE

SBI Miles ELITE earns 3% in Travel Credits on travel spend and 1% on everything else. Our data lists the Travel Credits at ₹1 each, but also notes that they carry no cash redemption value, so the money only has value if you spend it on travel. Redemptions via statement credit, vouchers or products cost ₹99 plus taxes per request. New cardholders get 5,000 welcome Travel Credits for spending ₹1 lakh within 60 days, and there are up to ₹6,000 of complimentary movie tickets a year through BookMyShow offers.

HDFC Regalia Gold

HDFC Regalia Gold earns 5 Reward Points per ₹200 since 15 May 2026, which our data treats as a 1.25% base rate at 50 paise a point, and lists 2.5% on travel. Flights and hotels on SmartBuy redeem at 50 paise a point, up to 70% of the booking and a maximum of 50,000 points a month. The bigger prizes are the milestones: ₹5,000 of flight vouchers at both ₹5 lakh and ₹7.5 lakh of annual spend (up to ₹10,000 a year), plus a ₹1,500 Myntra or Nykaa voucher for every quarter with ₹1.5 lakh of spend. Swiggy One and MakeMyTrip Black Gold memberships unlock on ₹1 lakh of spend in the first 90 days.

Worked example 1: ₹75,000 a month

Split: ₹20,000 on travel, ₹55,000 on everything else. Annual spend ₹9 lakh.

SBI Miles ELITE

• Travel: 3% × ₹20,000 = ₹600
• Other: 1% × ₹55,000 = ₹550
• Total ₹1,150 a month, ₹13,800 a year
• ₹9 lakh is below the ₹15 lakh waiver, so subtract the ₹4,999 fee
• Net: ₹8,801 a year

HDFC Regalia Gold

• Travel: 2.5% × ₹20,000 = ₹500
• Other: 1.25% × ₹55,000 = ₹687.50
• Total ₹1,187.50 a month, ₹14,250 a year
• ₹9 lakh clears the ₹4 lakh waiver, so no fee
• Milestones: ₹10,000 of flight vouchers, plus four ₹1,500 quarterly vouchers (₹2.25 lakh a quarter beats ₹1.5 lakh) = ₹6,000
• Net: ₹14,250 from points, or ₹30,250 if you use every voucher

Even ignoring the vouchers, Regalia Gold is ahead by about ₹5,450 a year.

Worked example 2: ₹2 lakh a month

Split: ₹60,000 on travel, ₹1,40,000 on everything else. Annual spend ₹24 lakh.

SBI Miles ELITE

• Travel: 3% × ₹60,000 = ₹1,800
• Other: 1% × ₹1,40,000 = ₹1,400
• Total ₹3,200 a month, ₹38,400 a year
• ₹24 lakh clears ₹15 lakh, so the ₹4,999 fee is reversed
• Net: ₹38,400 a year

HDFC Regalia Gold

• Travel: 2.5% × ₹60,000 = ₹1,500
• Other: 1.25% × ₹1,40,000 = ₹1,750
• Total ₹3,250 a month, ₹39,000 a year
• Fee waived; the same ₹10,000 of flight vouchers and ₹6,000 of quarterly vouchers apply
• Net: ₹39,000 from points, or ₹55,000 with all vouchers

At this level the two earn almost the same from points alone, a gap of ₹600 a year. The difference is the vouchers.

Where Elite overtakes: Miles ELITE pays 0.5 percentage points more on travel and 0.25 points less on everything else. It comes out ahead on points only when travel spend is more than half of your non-travel spend, which means travel is above roughly one-third of your total. In example 2, travel is 30% of spend, just under that line, hence the near tie.

Lounge access and travel

Miles ELITE lists 8 domestic and 6 international lounge visits a year through a bundled Priority Pass membership, with no spend condition in our data. Regalia Gold lists 3 domestic visits a quarter, so 12 a year, but each quarter's visits require ₹60,000 of spend in the preceding quarter, which means new cardholders get nothing in their first quarter. International access is the same 6 visits a year on both. Regalia Gold also adds Boarding Edge from 15 May 2026: upload a boarding pass on SmartBuy and pick 2 perks a quarter from a spa visit, an Uber airport transfer, hotel dining or a room upgrade.

Forex is a wash. On ₹1 lakh spent abroad, Miles ELITE's 1.99% markup costs ₹1,990 and Regalia Gold's 2% costs ₹2,000, before GST. See our forex markup comparison by bank for how both sit against other cards. For the lounge side, our guide to quarterly spend triggers for lounge perks explains how the gates work.

Fees and waivers

Regalia Gold's ₹2,500 fee disappears at ₹4 lakh of yearly spend, about ₹33,300 a month. Miles ELITE's ₹4,999 is reversed only at ₹15 lakh in a membership year, about ₹1,25,000 a month. Most people who hold Miles ELITE will pay the fee, so count it against the rewards. Our annual fee waiver guide has more on how reversals work.

Who should pick which

Choose Miles ELITE if:

• Travel is more than about one-third of your monthly spend
• You want 8 domestic and 6 international lounge visits without a quarterly spend gate
• You earn ₹50,000 a month or more, but less than Regalia Gold's ₹1,50,000 bar
• You can realistically spend ₹15 lakh a year and get the fee back

Choose Regalia Gold if:

• Your spending is mixed and travel is a smaller share
• You want a fee you can waive at ₹4 lakh
• You'll use flight vouchers, Myntra or Nykaa vouchers and the Boarding Edge perks
• You prefer points with SmartBuy flexibility over Travel Credits that only work on travel

Verdict

SBI Miles ELITE is a narrow card. It is worth holding only for people who put a large share of their money into travel and want lounge visits that aren't gated by quarterly spend. For everyone else, HDFC Regalia Gold earns similar or more, costs less and gives back more through milestones. Two things count against Regalia Gold: its ₹1,50,000 income requirement, and its domestic lounge rule, which leaves a quarter without access if you miss the spend.

Read our SBI Miles ELITE review and HDFC Regalia Gold review for the full picture. To see how each fares against another rival, try SBI Miles ELITE vs Axis Atlas or SBI Elite vs HDFC Regalia Gold, or browse our best travel credit cards with lounge access. You can also compare both on BestCard's compare tool.