Category
IRCTC rail
Train tickets booked on IRCTC. Its own category because one card pays many times its normal rate here, and nothing at all on rail booked anywhere else.
No card in your wallet earns rewards on irctc rail yet.
When you add a card that does, it will rank here automatically.
Best in market
One card, and it only pays properly in two windows of the year, so this category needs planning rather than a card recommendation. · Top-tier picks from the whole Indian market, researched 11 Aug 2026.
SBI Card IRCTC SBI Platinum (RuPay)
10% back on rail tickets, but only when the journey date falls in the right months
₹500 + GST, and there is no spend based waiver at all
The only card in the market that meaningfully rewards IRCTC bookings, and there is no cap on the value back. In the two peak windows it pays 10%, which nothing else approaches on rail.
The rate follows the JOURNEY date and not the booking date, and it is 10% only for journeys from 15 Jan to 31 Mar and 15 Jul to 15 Sep. Outside those it drops to 4%. There is also no spend based fee waiver, so the ₹500 is annual and unavoidable.
Your wallet · IRCTC rail
What this category is actually worth
The same checks as the wallet page, narrowed to all 0 cards that earn on irctc rail. Set a monthly figure for it in to put rupees on these.
Earnings here
What each card would return on irctc rail at your spend. raw rates, before caps.
Every card in your wallet is excluded from irctc rail. See the reasons in the table above.
Milestone progress
Milestones on these cards, against your total spend routed to one card.
None of the cards that earn here has a milestone.
Fee check: does each card pay for itself?
Value is still counted across your whole wallet, not just this category. a card earns its fee wherever it wins. Waivers are not assumed.
| Card | Fee | Value/yr | Verdict |
|---|
Where the market beats your wallet
Your best card against the top pick in Best in market, just above. The numbers only, since the pick itself is already on this page.
No market pick with a comparable rate for this category yet.