SBI Card’s New 1% Fuel and Toll Fee: Who Pays From 1 Dec

Updated as of 28 Oct 2026. From SBI Card’s customer notice of 27 Oct 2026 and the BPCL SBI Card OCTANE product page, checked 28 Oct 2026. SBI reward points valued at ₹0.25 each (6,000 points = ₹1,500, as SBI states).

SBI Card is adding two new fees from 1 December 2026: one on big fuel bills and one on large transport payments. SBI’s notice names no exceptions, so they apply to every SBI credit card, fuel cards like BPCL SBI Card OCTANE included. Most people won’t notice. If you fill up more than ₹50,000 a month on an SBI card, you will.

The two new fees

Spend	MCCs	When you pay	Fee
Fuel	5172, 5541, 5542, 5983	Your total fuel spend in a billing cycle goes over ₹50,000	1% on the whole cycle’s fuel spend, not just the part above ₹50,000
Transport	4111, 4784, 4131	A single transaction goes over ₹30,000	1% of that transaction

Not sure how a merchant codes? Check it in our MCC Lookup.

The fuel fee has a cliff

Because the fee is charged on the whole cycle’s fuel spend, going ₹1 over ₹50,000 costs you about ₹590:

Fuel spend in one billing cycle	Fee	With 18% GST
₹50,000	₹0	₹0
₹50,001	₹500	₹590
₹60,000	₹600	₹708
₹1,00,000	₹1,000	₹1,180

Splitting fill-ups doesn’t help: SBI adds up every fuel transaction in the cycle. That makes it stricter than HDFC and ICICI, which charge only when a single fuel transaction goes over ₹15,000 and ₹10,000 respectively.

BPCL SBI Card OCTANE users: the maths

OCTANE pays 7.25% back at BPCL: 25 reward points per ₹100 plus a 1% fuel surcharge waiver. But both are capped:

• Points: a maximum of 2,500 a billing cycle, worth ₹625. You hit that at about ₹10,000 of BPCL fuel.
• Surcharge waiver: a maximum of ₹100 a cycle, and only on swipes of up to ₹4,000.

So the most OCTANE can give you on fuel is about ₹725 a cycle, all of it on the first ₹10,000 or so. Put ₹60,000 of fuel on it and the new fee takes ₹708 of that back, leaving you about ₹17. Above ₹50,000, a fuel card stops paying for itself that month.

Who it hits

• Fleet and taxi owners and anyone paying for several vehicles on one SBI card.
• Heavy BPCL OCTANE users who put all their fuel on the card.
• Fleet FASTag top-ups of more than ₹30,000 at a time. A normal car’s FASTag top-up won’t come close.
• Large bus or metro bookings, such as a group or office booking of more than ₹30,000 in one payment.

It’s SBI’s latest fee of this kind. It already charges 1% when utility bills go over ₹50,000 in a cycle (since December 2024), on wallet loads above ₹1,000, and on school fees paid through third-party apps.

What to do

You are…	What to do
Spending under ₹50,000 a cycle on fuel	✅ Nothing changes; keep using your SBI card
Spending over ₹50,000 a cycle on fuel	⚠️ Stop at ₹50,000 on the SBI card; pay the rest by UPI from your bank account or another card
Holding BPCL OCTANE	⚠️ Its rewards run out at about ₹10,000 a cycle anyway; keep at least that much on it and never cross ₹50,000
Topping up a fleet FASTag	⚠️ Keep each top-up at ₹30,000 or less
Paying for rail tickets	✅ Not affected; railways (MCC 4112) aren’t on the list

Before moving fuel to another card, check that card’s own fuel rules. Most cards earn nothing on fuel, and HDFC and ICICI charge on big single fuel payments. For large fuel bills, UPI from your bank account is often the simplest option: no fee, and nothing lost.

DealUni take: a small change for most people, but a real cost for fleets and heavy fuel users, and the whole-cycle rule makes it a cliff. Keep SBI fuel spend at ₹50,000 or less a cycle. ₹50,000 se upar ka petrol SBI card pe mat bharo. (Don’t put more than ₹50,000 of fuel on an SBI card.)

Sources: SBI Card: notices for cardholders (notice dated 27 Oct 2026); SBI Card: BPCL SBI Card OCTANE. Checked 28 Oct 2026.