New: SBI IRCTC Premier Credit Card Review

By | December 16, 2019

SBICards is in full swing when it comes to co-branded credit cards. Recently they launched the SBI Vistara credit cards and now they’ve added another premium travel credit card named IRCTC SBI Card Premier with IRCTC which just went for IPO a couple of months back.

Basically for most “frequent” train travellers, this would replace the SBI IRCTC platinum card which seems to have had a very good traction which probably led them to launch a premium variant of it.

Joining Fees

  • Joining/Renewal Fee: Rs.1500+GST (Renewal fee will be reversed on 2L spend)
  • Welcome Benefit 1: 1500 reward points
  • Welcome Benefit 2: BookMyShow Movie voucher worth 500 on spends of INR 2000 within first 60 days

The welcome benefits very well cover the fee you pay for the card. Remember that you will not get the welcome bonus on renewal if it works the same way as their IRCTC platinum card.

Rewards

  • IRCTC Train Bookings: 10% as points (AC1, AC2. AC3 and AC CC)
  • IRCTC Flight Bookings: 5% as points
  • Dining & SI on Utility spends: 2.4% as points 
  • All other spends: 0.8% as points (1 Reward point for every Rs. 125)
  • 1 Reward point = Rs.1

I never know until now that even flights could be booked on IRCTC. So that’s definitely a good marketing for IRCTC and 5% on air tickets is also generous, especially because there is no capping, as of now.

Note: To be eligible for the rewards, booked ticket must have one Traveller same as the name on the card

Milestone Rewards

  • 2,500 Points on annual “travel” spends of Rs. 50,000
  • 5,000 Points on annual “travel” spends of Rs. 1,00,000

This gives additional 7.5% return on “travel spend” and I’m yet to check if they mean only IRCTC travel spends or anywhere travel spends. I assume its latter for now.

Technically speaking, IRCTC train bookings are also a “travel spend” so if it works that way, its basically double dipping and you could save as close as 20% (10%+7.5%+1.8%) on train bookings if you can spend 1L on train tickets, but well, hardly few does that, so the bank won’t bleed anyway even if it works this way.

Features & Benefits

  • Save 1.8% transaction charges on railway & Air ticket bookings
  • 1% fuel surcharge waiver, on txns of Rs. 500 – Rs. 4,000, exclusive of GST and other charges (maximum surcharge waiver of Rs. 250 per statement cycle)
  • Complimentary insurance Cover: 10L Rail Accident / 50L Air Accident

That aside, the card runs on Visa Signature platform but it doesn’t seem to come with airport lounge access. That aside, Railway lounge access is something they could have added to the product but that’s not a downside yet as there are very few Railway lounges in the country.

Bottomline

This is not only a credit card for train bookings but also the one which gives very good returns on air/travel bookings. The design, the rewards and everything else looks very much attractive for a card of this fee range and if you could do 1L in travel spends, this may help you save upto Rs.20k a year.

But remember that you need to spend 2L a year overall to get the renewal fee waiver. If your spends are on lower side <40K on train tickets, you’re better off with the lower end variant which is SBI IRCTC Platinum Card.

  • Cardexpert Rating: 4/5 [yasr_overall_rating]

But of course, if you’ve the super premium cards from HDFC, you can save upto 33% on train bookings with 10X rewards. Though, that’s a temporary offer and not everyone have access to those cards!

Overall a very good product from SBICards and as always, as its newly launched, do not try to get it immediately, try by early Jan 2020 if you plan to apply for one.

Do you like the SBI IRCTC Premier Credit Card? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

28 thoughts on “New: SBI IRCTC Premier Credit Card Review

  1. Sharathkumar Anbu

    I had a word with customer care regarding this travel spends. Customer care says the travel spend is restricted only IRCTC train and flight ticket booking. That makes me disappointed. The same 10% cashback offer on ac coaches is Available in basic irctc Platinum card itself.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Thanks for the clarification on that.

      Yes, but that’s only during select dates isn’t it. With the premier variant, you can keep your mind free from those T&C. Also have a double dipping opp.

      Reply
  2. Praveen Katiyar

    @Sid
    I would like to tell all that for any ticket to earn RP, booked ticket must have one Traveller same as the name on the card. Else RPs will not accrue. This I have seen in train tickets, and must be same for flights(haven’t tried) as well. This though makes sense but the card will be less useful with this condition.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Thanks for the info Praveen. Will update article accordingly.

      Reply
      1. Anuj M

        And please also note the RP’s will be only for the fare amount of the Card holder only.

        Reply
      2. Lalit

        Please tell if I use this card on paytm for electricity bill payment 0f 10000 then how much I will get reward on this transaction and how much value will be of 1 reward into cash

        Reply
    1. Shivi

      Nope; it’s different value in this card variant: 1 RP = Re.1

      Btw, it’s mentioned in this post itself!

      Reply
  3. KARTIKAY GAUR

    Hi.

    Looking for a card that provides 10x/5x on dining. Any suggestions?

    Reply
  4. Anuj M

    Hi,
    Important points as per Card FAQ’s is given below:

    C) The Cardholder necessarily must be one of the passengers on the ticket. Also, Reward Points will be
    awarded only on cardholder’s individual fare.
    d) Reward Points can be earned on 1st Class AC, ACII Tier, ACIII Tier, Executive Chair Car and AC Chair Car
    travel only. Tickets purchases at the Passenger Reservation System counters shall not entitle the
    cardholderto these benefits.
    e) The cardholder can get up to 10% Value back on AC ticket fare as Reward points only if :
    i. The cardholder activates his/her IRCTC SBI Card and has linked loyalty number with his/her IRCTC
    login ID.
    ii. The railway tickets are booked online at irctc.co.in through HDFC or CITI PG with 11
    digit loyalty number as shown on the IRCTC SBI Card.

    f) Reward Points shall accrue only on Base Fare of the passenger’s ticket. Reward Points shall not accrue on
    Reservation Charges, Superfast Charges and Other Charges or taxes, if any, included in the total Amount
    Charged forthe Railway Ticket.

    For redemption of reward points also there are certain restrictions.

    Reply
    1. Nimish

      Sir could you please elaborate on restrictions on reward points redemption

      Reply
  5. Vimalkumar

    Siddharth ji if I upgrade my current sbi Yatra cc to irctc premium cc will I get all the joining benefits like bookmyshow voucher 1500 rewards points

    Reply
  6. Surya

    Whatever card SBI can launch, SBI CLICK is the only one to hold from their portfolio. All others are not worth it as there is always a better card from other issuer.

    Reply
  7. Pragyan

    With so many restrictions HDFC smartbuy train tickets have much better value and convenience.

    Reply
  8. Meenaskhi

    Sbi credit card makers make fool to the customer.I m very disappointed with sbi credit card

    Reply
  9. Meenaskhi

    Sbi credit card makers make fool to the customer. I m very disappointed with sbi

    Reply
  10. Ankit Jain

    Hi, I have Sbi prime. Applied and got SBI premier CC.
    By reading reviews and TnC not thinking of Using it.

    Please suggest. If i dont use this new card will i get charge for Annual fee.
    Can i ask SBI CC for cancelling this CC without using it. is there a provision or day limit.
    Or simply keep for 1 year with fee paid and then cancel it. As i have taken this.

    Thanks

    Reply
    1. Shimul

      SBI will not refund you the joining fee. So keep it for 10/11 Month if you want to use than cancel it

      Reply
  11. Krina Shah

    I referred to this post and thus decided to refuse to take this card for which I had initially applied (that 10% cashback is applicable only for card holder ticket and not for all) .. but customer care is trying to convince me that this information is wrong. They claim that for premier card you will get 10% value back for all the tickets that I book from irctc.. From where and how can I verify the information?

    Reply
  12. Wannabe Frequent Flyer

    Just thought I’d let everyone know – SBI Cards used to automatically transfer the points on the premier card to your IRCTC account, but for the last several months, it has not happened. When I spoke to the call centre, they said that transfer of points to IRCTC has been temporarily stopped till March 31.

    Hopefully it will resume after that, othewise these cards are a complete waste.

    PS: I made some rail bookings, will let everyone know after the journey whether the points are caclucated only for the cardholder, or for all the passengers on the ticket.

    Reply
    1. Mohit

      you are right , even after 31 march rewards points not transferred

      Reply
  13. anwar

    this card is practically useless, the customer care has no idea, they say one thing on calls and completely opposite in emails, they lie through their teeth and give out wrong information, strongly advice not to take this card, i’ve been using it for 6 months and all throughout new issues, and lies, really sad state of affairs!

    they convince you to take this card highlighting benefits, but really its a sham, there’s practically no benefit to the high annual fees charged,

    go for the basic card instead.

    Reply
  14. abhisek

    There are some fine prints for SBI IRCTC card that i realized.
    1. Looks like SBI IRCTC card is providing only 1% waiver of bank charges while bank is charging 1.8% for train ticket booking. That means you have to pay additional 0.8% for train ticket booking through this card.
    2. 10% reward point for traing ticket booking on AC class is only for the cardholder ticket base fare and not for accompanying family members even if they are booked under same ticket.

    Reply
    1. RAGIB

      I was planning for this but dropped it because of the 2nd point mentioned by you.

      Reply
  15. Sri Ram Sai

    I see reward points are given for Utility payment. Is there a monthly capping limitation or unlimited reward points on Utility payments?

    Reply

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