SBI IRCTC Credit Cards Review

SBI IRCTC comes with decent welcome benefits on both Platinum and Premier variants. Where 1 reward point = Rs.1,

• Platinum: You get 350 activation bonus reward points on a single transaction of Rs.500 or more within 45 days of card issuance
• Premier: You get 1500 reward points on payment of the first annual fee

It should be noted that, eventually, in the case of the Premier variant, you are getting the annual fee of Rs. 1499 reversed to your card in the form of reward points.

You can benefit from value back points on the Premier variant if your spending is more than Rs. 50,000 every year. If your spending is less than Rs. 50,000, you can use the Platinum variant as it has an annual fee of Rs. 500 whereas the Premier version has an annual fee of Rs. 1,499.

IRCTC SBI Premier Credit Card comes with exclusive milestone benefits. You will get-

• 2,500 reward points on annual travel spend of Rs.50,000
• 5,000 reward points on annual travel spend of Rs.1,00,000

You can also get your annual fee of Rs. 1,499 + GST waived off on spending Rs. 2 lakh or more.

It should be noted that IRCTC SBI Platinum Credit Card does not provide any milestone or annual fee reversal benefit.

Here are some travel offers provided by IRCTC for its credit cardholders. Besides these, you also get discounted travel packages tailor-made for pilgrimage, wildlife, adventure or leisure at IRCTC.

Additionally, if you get the IRCTC SBI Premier credit card, you become eligible for complimentary rail accident insurance worth Rs. 10 Lakh, air accident cover worth Rs. 50 Lakh and fraud liability cover worth Rs. 1 Lakh.

Platinum variant: Enjoy 4 complimentary railway lounge access in a year to participating lounges in India (Max 1 per quarter). This offer is available for primary cardholders only.

Premier variant: Enjoy 8 complimentary railway lounge access in a year to participating lounges in India (Max 2 per quarter). This offer is available for primary cardholders only.

You will get a fuel surcharge waiver of 1% with IRCTC SBI credit cards. However, the spends should be in the range of Rs. 500 and Rs. 3,000 for Platinum cardholders and Rs. 500 – Rs. 4,000 for Premier card holders. The maximum waiver on fuel can amount to Rs. 100 for Platinum and Rs. 250 for the Premier card.

If we talk about the features, IRCTC SBI Premier Credit Card clearly outshines the Platinum version. In an annual fee of Rs.1,499, SBI IRCTC Premier Card gives accelerated rewards on railway tickets, air tickets, and e-catering. The welcome bonus will very well cover the fee you pay for the card. 

IRCTC SBI Platinum Credit Card is a very basic one, suitable for individuals with low travel spending or the ones with seasonal travel expenses only. With the Premier version, you can get more extensive coverage in terms of benefits and rewards. You get a discount on railway tickets, on air tickets, and on e-catering. 

As it is quite evident that IRCTC SBI cards are meant only for travel benefits, you get limited benefits on others. 

• There are no benefits on daily spends such as grocery, shopping, utility bills, etc. Only 1 reward point is provided on every Rs. 125 spent which can easily be the lowest in any category. Amazon Pay ICICI credit card or Flipkart Axis Bank credit card can be your top pick if you book train tickets occasionally.
• There are no complimentary airport lounge accesses on both cards. It is a glaring drawback of this card even if you do not avail of this service too often. You can opt for RBL Platinum Maxima credit card or HDFC Diners ClubMiles credit card.
• There are no movie benefits on these cards. So if you like to watch movies at least once every month, you can opt for IndusInd Bank Platinum Select Credit Card or RBL Bank Popcorn Credit Card.

If you can spend 1 lakh on train tickets in a year, you will be able to save about 20% with the Premier variant. But well, to get the renewal fee waiver you need to spend 2 lakh in a year. If your spendings are lower than Rs.50,000, you should choose the SBI IRCTC Platinum Card. 

All in all, SBI IRCTC credit cards are specialised credit cards for train ticket booking. Two variants of these cards ensure you can opt for the best card as per your spending on IRCTC every year. You should, however, opt for other cards if you want some benefits from every category like shopping, rewards, dining, travel, etc.

Please feel free to share your views on the two variants of SBI IRCTC credit cards in the comments section below.