Estimate Savings: SBI IRCTC Platinum vs HDFC IRCTC vs BoB IRCTC RuPay Credit Cards

[Sourabh_13]

Estimate savings from the SBI IRCTC Credit Card and the HDFC IRCTC Credit Card to decide which suits you the best.

Note: I have considered a single redemption at the end of the second year. A transaction charge waiver is not considered as it applies to both cards.

SBI IRCTC:

1. Set the Variables.
   • irctc_on_spends: AC train ticket bookings through IRCTC for the cardholder during the peak season
   • irctc_off_spends: AC train ticked bookings through IRCTC for the cardholder during the off season
   • non_irctc_spends: All non-IRCTC spends + IRCTC non-AC spends for any traveller + IRCTC AC spends for travellers except the cardholder
   • annual_fee: 356
   • num_years: 2
2. Compute total reward points you would earn.
   • total_reward_points = irctc_on_spends * 0.04 * num_years + irctc_off_spends * 0.1 * num_years + non_irctc_spends * 0.8 * num_yearrs
3. Compute your total savings by using the following formula:
   • sbi_irctc_savings = total_reward_points - annual_fee

HDFC IRCTC:

1. Set the Variables.
   • irctc_spends: Total spends on IRCTC for any traveller for any class of train tickets
   • non_irctc_spends: All other spends
   • num_qmilestones: Number of quarters when total spends crossed Rs. 30000
   • y_milestone: 0 if total spends in year < 15000. 1 otherwise.
   • annual_fee: 590
   • num_years: 2
2. Compute total reward points you would accumulate.
   • total_reward_points = irctc_spends * 0.1 * num_years + non_irctc_spends * 0.01 * num_years + 500 * num_qmilestones
3. Compute the redemption charges.
   • redeemption_charges = (total_reward_points - 500 * num_qmilestones) * 0.7 - 118
4. Compute total savings.
   • hdfc_ircrc_savings = total_reward_points - redeemption_charges - y_milestone * annual_fee

Similarities and Differences:

• SBI IRCTC is a pre-nonsense credit card while HDFC IRCTC is a post-nonsense credit card.
• Both the cards are RuPay Platinum credit cards.
• Joining Fee
  • SBI IRCTC: Rs. 300 + taxes
  • HDFC IRCTC: Rs. 500 + taxes
  • For both the cards, it is easy to get welcome benefits worth their joining fee (excluding taxes)
• Annual Fee
  • SBI IRCTC: Rs. 300 + taxes
    • Fee Waiver Criteria: No
  • HDFC IRCTC: Rs. 500 + taxes
    • Fee Waiver Criteria: Total spends worth Rs. 1,50,000 in a year
• Milestone Benefits
  • SBI IRCTC: No
  • HDFC IRCTC: A gift voucher worth Rs. 500 (of Amazon/Flipkart/Others) on reaching spends of Rs. 30000 in a quarter.
• Pre-nonsense SBI IRCTC Credit Card
  • Rewards are given only for the tickets booked through the IRCTC website.
  • Rewards can be accrued/redeemed only if AC class tickets are booked.
  • Rewards can be accrued only when the cardholder is travelling. No rewards can be accured if the cardholder is not travelling.
    
    • However, the rewards can be redeemed by booking an AC ticket for anyone.
  • Reward Rates
    • IRCTC Ticket bookings during peak season: 4% of the fair of the cardholder
    • IRCTC Ticker bookings during off season: 10% of the fair of the cardholder
    • All other spends: 0.8%
      
      • These spends include all non-IRCTC spends and all IRCTC spends for other people than the cardholder.
  • The rewards are credited to SBI IRCTC loyalty account at the end of the monthly statement.
  • There are no restrictions or redemption charges for redeeming the reward points.
  • The validity of reward points is 2 years.
• Post-nonsense HDFC IRCTC Credit Card
  • Rewards can be accrued by booking train tickets through the IRCTC website or through the SmartBuy portal.
  • Rewards can be accrued by booking a train ticket of any class for any passangers.
    
    • The restriction that the cardholder must be travelling is not here. Similarly, there is no restriction on the class of travel.
  • Reward Rates
    • Train tickets booked through IRCTC: 5%
    • Train tickets booked through SmartBuy: 10% (5% rewards + 5% cashback)
    • All other spends: 1%
      
      • Unlike SBI IRCTC, the minimum transaction amount must be very low. I can see 1% rewards credited for for Rs 10 transactions as well.
  • The rewards can be redeemed for train ticket bookings through the SmartBuy portal.
  • The rewards can be used only to pay maximum of 70% of the ticket fair.
  • Each redemption costs flat Rs. 99 + taxes
  • To get 10% value back, you have to book the train tickets through SmartBuy. If you mostly book tatkal train tickets, booking them through the SmartBuy portal is not an ideal way as it opens for tatkal booking 15 mins after IRCTC (i.e. 10:15 AM for AC seats and 11:15 AM for Non-AC seats).

A quick comparison between SBI IRCTC and BoB IRCTC cards:
Except the differences mentioned below, everything else is same for both the cards.

Differences:
1. BoB card gives 1% reward points on Grocery and Dining, and 0.5% on other spends. While for the SBI card, the reward rate is flat 0.8%. (Depends on the usage patterns. I think there are better (cheap/LTF) cards for grocery and dining spends giving equal/better rewards)
2. Unlike SBI IRCTC card, BoB card rewards can be redeemed as statement credits. (I think this is a great advantage)
3. Joining benefit of BoB is worth ₹250 while the joining bonus for SBI is worth ₹350. (I know it is a minor point, including for the sake of completeness)
4. SBI IRCTC card is a cheapest SBI card. For those who want an SBI credit card for sale offers too, this card does the job. BoB usually doesn't have sale offers on Amazon/Flipkart (w.r.t. SBI).


Help me Choose!

1. Do you mostly travel (alone or with others) in non-AC coaches? HDFC IRCTC
2. Do you mostly travel alone in AC coaches? SBI or BoB IRCTC (See Q6 onwards)
3. Do you mostly travel with others in AC coaches? HDFC IRCTC
4. Do you travel a lot by train and also going to use this RuPay card for other spends (enough to reach Rs. 30K in some of the quarters) like for UPI transactions? HDFC IRCTC
5. Do you mostly book Tatkal tickets? SBI or BoB IRCTC (See Q6 onwards)
6. Will you be using this card for most of your Dining and Grocery spends? BoB IRCTC, SBI IRCTC otherwise.
7. Is it really important for you to have the option to redeem the reward points against your statement? BoB IRCTC, SBI IRCTC otherwise.
8. Don't you have any SBI card for the sale offers and don't want to pay much as a part of annual fee? SBI IRCTC

 

[newinnov]

Addon card holder does not get different loyalty number. It is the same loyalty number of primary card holder. I have two cards (one is mine primary, the top one in the image and the second one is the addon card, the bottom one in the image).

Generally, addon card holders don't accrue points and benefits as the primary card holder (as this will defeat the usp of issuing a new card to a separate person).

Thanks!!

Thanks for appropriate answer.
I had this doubt from many days... Yes it makes sense to not provide loyalty benefits to addon

 

[navdeep22]

5% smartbuy cashback + 1% Reward points

Millenia terms and conditions

 

[iamabhisekagar]

Millenia terms and conditions

Wahi to mai bhi bol Raha hoon 1% milega

 

[navdeep22]

5% smartbuy cashback + 1% Reward points

5% smartbuy cashback , where can we see this? can it be added to normal milennia cashback which can be redeemed with statement?

 

[iamabhisekagar]

5% smartbuy cashback , where can we see this? can it be added to normal milennia cashback which can be redeemed with statement?

5% from smartbuy and 1% from milennia credit card base reward rate. 5% Smartbuy Cashback will be credited in statement in 3-4 days after transactions. 1% Cashback will accrue as usual cash point

 

[iamabhisekagar]

 

[navdeep22]

View attachment 56822


5% from smartbuy and 1% from milennia credit card base reward rate. 5% Smartbuy Cashback will be credited in statement in 3-4 days after transactions. 1% Cashback will accrue as usual cash point

Thanks a lot man. Smartbuy cashback is much better than normal cashback then. Very nice. I think it will take 1-2 days more to reflect

 

[navdeep22]

View attachment 56822


5% from smartbuy and 1% from milennia credit card base reward rate. 5% Smartbuy Cashback will be credited in statement in 3-4 days after transactions. 1% Cashback will accrue as usual cash point

So we have milllenia hence we recv cashback into statement itself. What about people who have regalia/diners/infinia, where do they get reward points

 

[iamabhisekagar]

So we have milllenia hence we recv cashback into statement itself. What about people who have regalia/diners/infinia, where do they get reward points

Reward points h to reward points me hi jaayenge na....

 

[navdeep22]

Reward points h to reward points me hi jaayenge na....

Tere screenshot me statement me hi ja rhe bhai

 

[iamabhisekagar]

Tere screenshot me statement me hi ja rhe bhai

Mera millennia h bro isiliye 5% cashback jiska regalia, DCB, Infinnia h uska reward points credit hota h

 

[navdeep22]

Mera millennia h bro isiliye 5% cashback jiska regalia, DCB, Infinnia h uska reward points credit hota h

Mera bhi millennia hai bhai, meri bhi statement me hi aaya fir. So is is better than redemption wala cashback which needs ₹500 min point in millenia to redeem

 

[ag_vishu48]

No now you can reddem for anybody previously it was not

I am unable to book ticket via redemption portal using my IRCTC rupay card

SMARTBUY portal asks for VISA/ MASTERCARD BUT says IRCTC card at the end and transaction declines everytime. Has anyone done successfully ?

 

[Sourabh_13]

I am unable to book ticket via redemption portal using my IRCTC rupay card

SMARTBUY portal asks for VISA/ MASTERCARD BUT says IRCTC card at the end and transaction declines everytime. Has anyone done successfully ?

View attachment 62082

Which redemption portal are you using? There is only one portal, SmartBuy, which has the IRCTC Cobrand option that takes you to a ticket booking page and you can select number of points to redeem. Below the point selection box is the payment methods option.

 

[ag_vishu48]

Which redemption portal are you using? There is only one portal, SmartBuy, which has the IRCTC Cobrand option that takes you to a ticket booking page and you can select number of points to redeem. Below the point selection box is the payment methods option.

This is the portal I am using
Exactly as the website says

The option to pay the remaining amount via IRCTC card doesn't go through

 

[Sourabh_13]

Have you tried booking a ticket without redeeming any points but paying through the IRCTC credit card? If this also fails, then it would mean the problem is not with the redeemption but with the use of the IRCTC card on SmartBuy for the ticket booking.

 

[ag_vishu48]

Have you tried booking a ticket without redeeming any points but paying through the IRCTC credit card? If this also fails, then it would mean the problem is not with the redeemption but with the use of the IRCTC card on SmartBuy for the ticket booking.

That is smooth. It goes through and It also has option to pay via PAyZapp.

Sadly the redemption portal doesn't allow to use other Credit cards other than IRCTC HDFC credit card and that doesn't work

 

[Sourabh_13]

That is smooth. It goes through and It also has option to pay via PAyZapp.

Sadly the redemption portal doesn't allow to use other Credit cards other than IRCTC HDFC credit card and that doesn't work

So if this really is the following situation that everything else is working but you are not able to redeem max 70% ticket amount worth points on the SmartBuy train ticket booking portal and pay the remaining amount through your IRCTC RuPay credit card, then you are in the same boat as I was in a few months back.

You will have to reach out to both SmartBuy and HDFC support and they will toss you to each other for a while and after you escalate the matter, they will start asking you for proofs (screenshots of the payment page, error that you see after the transaction was done, etc.). After you give them the proofs, they will keep telling you that they will resolve the matter in X days again and again. One day out of nowhere, they will again ask you for the same proofs but for new and latest attempts. Once you do this, they will again take more than X days to finally solve the issue.

In my case, they took more than a 1.5 months to solve this issue.

I really hope you are not in the same situation as I was in.