IRCTC RBL Bank Credit Card Review 2026: ₹1 a Point on Rail, Railway Lounges & FAQs
IRCTC RBL Bank Credit Card charges ₹500 and pays 5 Reward Points per ₹200 on IRCTC bookings at ₹1 a point — 2.5% — with 2 railway lounge visits a quarter. Caps, the booking surcharge, fees and FAQs.
The IRCTC RBL Bank card is a RuPay card built for rail travel: 5 Reward Points per ₹200 on IRCTC bookings, points worth ₹1 each for rail tickets, and two railway lounge visits a quarter.
Being RuPay, it also links to UPI — so QR-code payments earn, which most credit cards cannot do.
IRCTC RBL Bank Credit Card Quick Overview
| **Card type** | Rail travel co-brand card |
|---|---|
| **Best for** | Regular train travellers booking through IRCTC |
| **Joining / renewal fee** | ₹500 + GST, same on renewal |
| **Network** | RuPay |
| **Base reward rate** | **0.5%** |
| **Top reward rate** | **2.5%** — IRCTC train ticket bookings |
| **Reward currency** | RBL Bank Reward Points, valued at ₹1 each |
| **Lounge access** | 2 domestic visits per quarter (8 a year) |
| **Forex markup** | 3.5% |
Reward Structure: How You Earn
RBL states the rate directly: 'For bookings from IRCTC Rail Connect App / Website, value of one reward point is INR 1.' Redeeming any other way is worth materially less, so the percentages below hold for rail travel specifically.
5 Reward Points per ₹200 on IRCTC rail bookings — 2.5%. 3 per ₹200 on select categories — 1.5%. 1 per ₹200 on everything else — 0.5%.
RBL stopped paying rewards on a whole category block on 13 November 2023 — Fuel & Auto, Utilities, Insurance, Quasi-Cash, Real Estate and Rental, Education, and Wallets. The same list is excluded from milestone spend.
| Spend | Effective rate |
|---|---|
| IRCTC train ticket bookings (capped at 1,000 points a month) | **2.5%** |
| Dining and other select categories (capped at 1,000 points a month) | **1.5%** |
| Everything else | 0.5% |
| Fuel, rent, wallet loads, government, gaming | **0%** |
The caps that actually bind
Headline rates mean little until you know where they stop. These are the limits on this card:
| Cap | Limit |
|---|---|
| Product | 1,000 points per calendar month |
The accelerated bands cap at 1,000 Reward Points a month. RBL's terms say that once 'the capping of the product feature of 1,000 Reward Points' is reached, further spend earns the base rate.
The lounge access is a RAILWAY lounge, not an airport lounge — two visits a quarter at IRCTC executive lounges. Any structured comparison will show these in the domestic airport lounge field because the schema has no railway lounge equivalent, so read the eligibility text rather than the count.
Rail booking carries its own surcharge of up to 1.8% plus IRCTC service charges, levied by the merchant bank rather than RBL. On a rail co-brand that is worth reading twice: the card earns 2.5% on bookings that cost up to 1.8% extra to make.
RBL rounds down on every transaction. A ₹350 spend at 1 point per ₹100 earns 3 points and the ₹50 is lost — every time, not cumulatively.
Milestone Benefits
| Spend | Benefit | Value |
|---|---|---|
| ₹75,000 a quarter | 500 Reward Points | ₹500 |
Category Restrictions: Where You Won't Earn
- Where you earn nothing: Earns nothing at all: Fuel & Auto, Utilities, Insurance, Quasi-Cash, Real Estate and Rental, Education, and Wallets and Service Providers — RBL's own category list, excluded from earning AND from milestone spend calculation, with effect from 13 November 2023. Railways and Government are excluded on some cards additionally. Base Reward Points are also NOT accrued on EMI conversion of retail transactions, including Split-N-Pay and EMI requests placed at the point of sale.
- Point expiry: Reward Points expire after the validity period RBL prescribes and are forfeited on card closure. Points transferred to a partner programme are governed by that programme's expiry rules, not RBL's.
- Redemption fee: ₹99 per redemption.
- Product cap: 1,000 Reward Points a month is the product cap on the accelerated bands. RBL's terms say that once 'the capping of the product feature of 1,000 Reward Points' is reached, further spend earns at the base rate.
Fees and Charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Joining fee | ₹500 + GST |
| Renewal fee | ₹500 + GST |
| Finance charges | Up to 3.99% per month (47.88% per annum) on both revolving credit and cash advances. |
| Interest-free period | Up to 50 days from the date of purchase, only when the previous balance is paid in full. |
| Minimum amount due | 5% of the total amount due, subject to a minimum, plus any EMI, fees, charges and over-limit amount. |
| Cash advance fee | 2.5% of the cash amount, subject to a minimum of ₹500. |
| Cash advance interest | Up to 3.99% per month (47.88% per annum), charged from the date of withdrawal with no interest-free period. |
| Forex markup | Up to 3.5% of the transaction amount. Markup also applies to transactions in Indian rupees at an international location, or at merchants located in India but registered overseas. |
| Dynamic currency conversion | Charged at the same rate as the foreign currency markup — RBL treats dynamic and static conversion transactions identically. |
| Late payment | 12.5% of the outstanding amount, subject to a minimum of ₹5 and a maximum of ₹1,300. |
| Overlimit | Nil. RBL charges no over-limit fee. |
| Payment return | ₹500 for a returned or dishonoured cheque, and ₹500 for an auto-debit reversal where the bank account is out of funds. |
| Rent payment | 1% of the transaction amount on all rental transactions (MCC 6513). |
| Utility payments | 1% of the transaction amount on utility spends above ₹50,000 per month per card (MCC 4900). |
| Education payments | 1% on education payments made through third-party apps — CRED, PhonePe, Cheqedu, Paytm, MobiKwik, NoBroker, Housing.com and others. Payments made through a school or college website or its POS machine carry no fee. |
| Fuel transactions | 1% for each transaction exceeding ₹10,000 on fuel and auto (MCC 0032, 2541, 4001, 5172, 5541, 5542), capped at ₹3,000. |
| Add-on card | ₹0 to ₹5,000 per add-on cardmember, depending on the card variant. |
| Reward redemption | ₹99 plus GST per redemption. Waived on Lumière, Nova, Insignia, Insignia Prime, World Xclusive, Apex, Aspire Banking and Signature Banking. |
| EMI processing | 1.5% of the amount or ₹150, whichever is higher, on all merchant EMI conversions done at the time of the transaction. |
| GST | 18% on all fees, interest and charges. |
Is the IRCTC RBL Bank Credit Card Worth It?
At ₹500 with a 2.5% rail rate and a ₹500-per-quarter milestone, this card pays for itself on modest rail spending. ₹75,000 of quarterly spend earns 500 Reward Points — ₹500 at the rail rate — so up to ₹2,000 a year.
The railway lounges are the underrated part. Eight visits a year at major stations, on a ₹500 card.
The UPI capability matters more than it looks. A RuPay credit card on UPI earns on QR payments where a Visa or Mastercard credit card earns nothing.
The 1.8% booking surcharge eats most of the 2.5% on the bookings themselves. The card's real value sits in the milestones, the lounges and the UPI earning rather than in the headline rail rate.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the IRCTC RBL card earn rate? 5 Reward Points per ₹200 on IRCTC rail bookings, 3 per ₹200 on select categories and 1 per ₹200 on everything else — 2.5%, 1.5% and 0.5% at the ₹1 rail redemption rate.
What is a point worth? ₹1 for train tickets booked on the IRCTC Rail Connect app or website. Other redemptions are worth materially less and RBL does not state how much.
Is the lounge access at airports? No — railway lounges, two visits per calendar quarter. RBL maintains a separate IRCTC executive lounge list.
Can I use it on UPI? Yes. It is a RuPay card, so it links to UPI apps and QR-code payments earn rewards.
What is the quarterly milestone? 500 Reward Points on ₹75,000 of eligible spend in a calendar quarter — ₹500 at the rail rate, so up to ₹2,000 a year.
Are there extra charges on rail bookings? Yes — up to 1.8% of the ticket plus IRCTC service charges, levied by the merchant bank rather than RBL.
Cards Mentioned in This Article
