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ICICI BankTimes Black
Visa

ICICI Bank · Visa

Times Black

Joining ₹20,000 · Annual ₹20,000 · Spend ₹25 lakh in the preceding membership year to get the next year's annual fee waived. A bar so high that most holders pay the full ₹20,000 + GST (₹23,600) every year

Fee break-even: ≈₹10,00,000/yr through this card at its base rate. Below that, the fee eats the rewards.

Earns ICICI Reward Points · assumed 1 ₹/point. 1 RP = up to ₹1 when redeemed for flights, hotels, vouchers and merchandise (Times Black is exempt from ICICI's ₹99 + GST redemption fee), or 1:1 into Air India Maharaja Points. Statement credit pays only ₹0.40 per point. So the headline 2% / 2.5% rates hold ONLY on the travel-and-voucher redemption route. A holder who takes cashback is really earning 0.8% domestic and 1% international. Some jewellery vouchers are now NetBanking-only and cannot be bought with the card at all.

Verified 10 Aug 2026
Forex markup1.49%
Concierge24x7 domestic and international concierge, plus CribLife lifestyle management with 6 complimentary requests a year
EMI2.99% capped at ₹299 plus GST at a merchant, up to 2% converting a billed balance processing fee · A converted purchase stops earning rewards · 2.99% of the purchase capped at ₹299 plus GST, so anything above roughly ₹10,000 costs the full ₹299. On No Extra Cost EMI at selected brands the merchant absorbs the interest but this fee still stands. Fuel, gold, jewellery, gambling and cash cannot be converted. · Spend converted to EMI earns no reward points, and points already credited are clawed back on conversion
Fuel surcharge1% waiver on fuel surcharge, capped at ₹1,000 per statement cycle
Domestic loungeUnlimited complimentary domestic lounge access via Visa, with NO spend gate. ICICI's official change notice names Times Black among the cards excluded from the ₹75,000-preceding-quarter lounge requirement. Extends to add-on cardholders. NO complimentary guest access: guests pay the lounge operator's prevailing rates. Layered on top are tiered first-class/business-class lounge entries at Adani, Encalm, Shalimar and Nicobar lounges in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
International loungeUnlimited complimentary international lounge access via Priority Pass (1,300-1,400+ lounges, 600+ cities, 145+ countries), no spend gate, for primary and add-on cardholders. Guests are chargeable.

Milestones

  • ◆ Spend ₹2,00,000 per year → ₹10,000 Klook experiences voucher (usable on overseas experiences per cardholder reports) Worth ₹10,000
  • ◆ Spend ₹5,00,000 per year → Choice of chauffeured luxury airport transfers or a helicopter city-to-airport transfer (Bengaluru only). Up to 2 transfer instances a year Worth ₹10,000
  • ◆ Spend ₹10,00,000 per year → ₹10,000 Tata CLiQ Luxury gift card Worth ₹10,000
  • ◆ Spend ₹20,00,000 per year → One-night luxury stay at Ayatana Resorts or Lohono Stays Worth ₹20,000

Return by category

CategoryReturnNotes
Online spend2%Base rate
Amazon2%Base rate
Flipkart2%Base rate
Subscriptions & OTT2%Base rate
Offline spend2%Base rate
UPI spending0%No RuPay variant. The card is issued only on Visa, so it cannot be linked to UPI at all
Dining2%Base rate
Swiggy2%Base rate
Zomato2%Base rate
Groceries2%Base rate
Quick commerce2%Base rate
Swiggy Instamart2%Base rate
Blinkit2%Base rate
BigBasket2%Base rate
Movies & shows2%Base rate
BookMyShow2%Base rate
PVR INOX2%Base rate
Fuel0%No reward points on fuel. A 1% surcharge waiver applies instead
Travel (general)2%Base rate
Flights12%8,000 bonus RP per day and 15,000 bonus RP per calendar month, shared across all iShop accelerated earning · 6X accelerated rate (12%) on flights booked through ICICI's iShop portal only. Flights booked elsewhere earn the 2% base.
Hotels24%8,000 bonus RP per day and 15,000 bonus RP per calendar month, shared across all iShop accelerated earning · 12X accelerated rate (24%) on iShop hotel bookings only. The 15,000-point monthly ceiling caps this at roughly ₹65,000 of iShop hotel spend a month.
MakeMyTrip2%Base rate
IRCTC rail2%Base rate
International1.01%2.5% reward − 1.49% forex markup
Utilities & bills2%5,000 RP per statement cycle, shared across utilities, insurance, education and government (≈₹2.5 lakh of combined spend) · Widely misreported as a '₹5,000 cap'. It is 5,000 REWARD POINTS, i.e. Roughly ₹2.5 lakh of spend, which is far more generous than the rupee reading suggests.
Rent0%No reward points on rent payments
Education fees2%5,000 RP per statement cycle, shared with utilities, insurance and government
Insurance premiums2%5,000 RP per statement cycle, shared with utilities, education and government
Government & tax2%5,000 RP per statement cycle, shared with utilities, insurance and education · Unusual for ICICI in Aug 2026. The bank's own Times Black product page still lists government payments inside the capped-earning group rather than in the zero-earn exclusions that now apply across most of the portfolio. Treat as earning-but-capped, with some risk this is aligned to the exclusion list at the next revision.
Wallet loads0%1% fee on third-party wallet loads of ₹5,000 or more from 15 Jan 2026, and wallet loads do not earn points
Anything else2%Base rate
Jewellery2%Base rate

Rates are the card's own published rates, before any spend profile. Add this card inMy cards to rank it against the rest of your wallet.

Also worth knowing

  • Welcome benefits (roughly ₹24,000 to ₹26,000 of headline value): a ₹12,000 Lohono Stays voucher OR a ₹10,000 EaseMyTrip hotel voucher, a ₹10,000 Atlys visa-services voucher, a 1-year Zomato Gold membership, a ₹3,000 Toni&Guy voucher, a ₹3,100 Truefitt & Hill Royal Signature service and a ₹1,000 Interflora voucher
  • Airport services: Visa Fast Track lane access and Visa Meet & Greet with no membership needed, plus Mozio chauffeured international airport transfers
  • Quorum Club access with 20% off F&B and the Member's Lounge, plus 20% off Quorum standard membership. Privé by Times Prime premium subscriptions. Priority access to Times-network concerts and ticketed events
  • Air India: 12% instant discount up to ₹10,000, and 1:1 Reward Point to Maharaja Point conversion
  • Dining: DineWithVisa and Visa Dining giving up to 20% off across Asia-Pacific restaurants
  • Complimentary global eSIM connectivity
  • Zero cancellation charges on domestic flight and hotel bookings, reimbursed up to ₹12,000 a year, limited to 2 instances
  • Eligibility is high-income but NOT strictly invite-only: 21+, salaried ₹2 lakh a month or self-employed ₹24 lakh annual ITR, with PAN/Aadhaar video KYC
  • MILESTONE CATALOGUE CHANGES: the four spend milestones recorded here are the set CardExpert and CardMaven agree on, but timesblack.com showed a different live set in Aug 2026 (SoulTree box at ₹10L, up to USD 300 at FARFETCH at ₹20L, 20% off Quorum F&B at ₹25L). The catalogue is evidently refreshed periodically. Verify in the Times Black app before banking on any single voucher. Milestones must be claimed in-app within 6 months of ICICI notifying you
  • HONEST ASSESSMENT. CardExpert rates this card only 3.5/5 and calls it disappointing for the fee. Its criticisms: too many brands and too many terms attached to each benefit, a redemption experience that is confusing rather than concierge-like, no real understanding of the UHNI segment it claims to target, and 'virtually no entry barrier' for something sold as super-premium. Its worked example is a holder spending ₹10 lakh a year receiving roughly ₹38,000 of total benefit against a ₹24,000 net fee. A 1.4% net return, worse than several cards costing a tenth as much. CardAdvisor reaches the same place from a different angle: the ₹20,000 fee only returns for someone attending four-plus ticketed events a month, and the ₹25 lakh waiver bar means almost nobody escapes the fee. Both name Axis Atlas and ICICI's own Emeralde Private Metal as better buys for anyone who qualifies for them
  • Portfolio-wide from March 2026 statements: harsher minimum-amount-due formula (GST on interest and fees, full EMI principal and interest, overlimit amount, and the higher of 5% of spends or the entire finance-charge component)

Other exclusions

  • Spend converted to EMI earns no reward points, and points already credited are clawed back on conversion
  • 2% fee on gaming/skill-gaming platform transactions (Dream11, RummyCulture, Junglee Games, MPL) from 15 Jan 2026
ICICI Bank Times BlackBest for High spenders who fly4.1 / 5

What to mind

  • ₹20,000 a year with a ₹25 lakh waiver
  • The iShop bonuses carry daily and monthly ceilings

Verdict: For wallets where ₹25 lakh a year is normal, the maths genuinely works.

Sources

Every figure above comes from the issuer's own pages and documents. Last verified 10 Aug 2026.

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