IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card vs IRCTC BOBCARD (2026)
IRCTC BOBCARD vs IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card: which wins?
₹26,960ranking value a year at ₹3L a month, to IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card
Skip the duel — the board, ranked → · nothing to sign up for
#130 against #132 on our board, ₹7,030 apart in ranking value at ₹3L a month.
IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card out-earns IRCTC BOBCARD at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
Every metric, row by row — 12 compared
Head to head
| IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card | Metric | IRCTC BOBCARD |
|---|---|---|
| #130 — wins this row | Our rank | #132 |
| ₹500/yr | Fee — joining · annual (+ GST) | ₹500 joining, then ₹350/yr |
| ₹1,50,000 spend | Fee waiver | None |
| 3.5% + GST | Forex markup | 3.5% + GST (standard BOBCARD) |
| 3.75%/mo (45%/yr) | APR | 3.75%/mo (45%/yr) — standard BOBCARD tier (non-Eterna) |
| 1.0% — wins this row | Headline earn rate | 0.5% |
| IRCTC HDFC Bank Reward Points | Currency | BOBCARD Reward Points |
| ₹1.00/pt † | House value | ₹0.25/pt |
| ₹500 gift voucher for one transaction of any amount inside 37 days of issuance — on a FEE-PAYING card. The only lifetime-free card HDFC ever wrote the voucher into was one issued between 1 Oct and 31 Dec 2025, a three-month window now shut; a card issued up to 30 Sep 2025 lifetime-free, first-year-free, or with its fee reversed was excluded outright | Welcome benefit | 500 bonus reward points on spending ₹5,000 within the first 60 days |
| 21 of 793 | Lounge doors opened | 22 of 793 — wins this row |
| ₹25,000+/month net | Income — salaried | ₹3.6L+/yr (community) |
| ITR ₹6L+/yr | Income — self-employed | ₹4.8L+/yr (community) |
† IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card: These points are worth ₹1 and buy exactly one thing: a train ticket, booked through HDFC SmartBuy, using the Points + Pay slider. No catalogue, no statement credit, no airline or hotel partner — and HDFC states in terms that they "cannot be combined with the points accrued on any other HDFC Bank card account", so this is not the currency that reaches KrisFlyer and Avios. Points cover at most 70% of the fare, all passengers and IRCTC's own service charges included, the minimum burn is 100 points, and every successful redemption costs ₹99 + GST — which is a tenth of a 1,000-point burn and the whole of a small one.
Gold marks the better side of a row. House value is our ₹-per-point mark for each card's currency — the full valuation index →
The ₹ face-off at ₹1L/₹3L/₹5L a month
Ranking-value face-off
Everyday spend at each card's base rate plus a realistic ~20% at its best accelerator (less for narrow or capped boosters) — milestones, fee waivers and the redemption haircut all at our house ₹/point. That's why the biggest headline rate doesn't automatically win. This is the ranking model, the one that orders the board; each card page prints the earn-rate-only net annual value instead, which reads lower for any card with an accelerator (both models, side by side). Tune it to your own spend in the calculator.
IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card out-earns IRCTC BOBCARD at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
How the gap moves with spend — a 20-step sweep from ₹0.25L to ₹5L/month
How the gap moves with spend
IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card leads at all 20 steps, but not by the same amount: ₹3,790 at ₹0.25L a month, ₹4,150 at ₹5L — the gap fans out with spend, widest at ₹1L (₹9,910).
IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card's ongoing earn stops at ₹1,00,000 of spend a month, where IRCTC BOBCARD's doesn't; IRCTC BOBCARD charges twice — ₹500 to join, then ₹350 every year after.
IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card draws above the line, IRCTC BOBCARD below · ₹0.25L to ₹5L a month, step by step
| Monthly spend | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card | IRCTC BOBCARD | In front |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹0.25L | ₹6,080 | ₹2,290 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹3,790 |
| ₹0.5L | ₹10,160 | ₹4,930 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹5,230 |
| ₹0.75L | ₹14,240 | ₹6,970 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹7,270 |
| ₹1L | ₹18,320 | ₹8,410 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹9,910 |
| ₹1.25L | ₹19,400 | ₹9,850 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹9,550 |
| ₹1.5L | ₹20,480 | ₹11,290 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹9,190 |
| ₹1.75L | ₹21,560 | ₹12,730 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹8,830 |
| ₹2L | ₹22,640 | ₹14,170 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹8,470 |
| ₹2.25L | ₹23,720 | ₹15,610 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹8,110 |
| ₹2.5L | ₹24,800 | ₹17,050 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹7,750 |
| ₹2.75L | ₹25,880 | ₹18,490 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹7,390 |
| ₹3L | ₹26,960 | ₹19,930 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹7,030 |
| ₹3.25L | ₹28,040 | ₹21,370 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹6,670 |
| ₹3.5L | ₹29,120 | ₹22,810 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹6,310 |
| ₹3.75L | ₹30,200 | ₹24,250 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹5,950 |
| ₹4L | ₹31,280 | ₹25,690 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹5,590 |
| ₹4.25L | ₹32,360 | ₹27,130 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹5,230 |
| ₹4.5L | ₹33,440 | ₹28,570 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹4,870 |
| ₹4.75L | ₹34,520 | ₹30,010 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹4,510 |
| ₹5L | ₹35,600 | ₹31,450 | IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card by ₹4,150 |
Transfer reach — 0 vs 0 live routes
Transfer reach
Full route maps on each card page, best ₹/point routes on the optimizer →
What to watch out for — 6 points
What to watch out for
IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card · 7 more →
- Points redeem ONLY against train tickets on HDFC SmartBuy — no catalogue, no cashback, no transfer partner
- Every redemption costs ₹99 + GST, and points can cover at most 70% of the fare
- The 5% cashback is SmartBuy-only — book on irctc.co.in or Rail Connect and you get the points but not the cashback
IRCTC BOBCARD · 3 more →
- The 40-RP rate is lean-season only (travel 15 Jan–31 Mar & 15 Jul–15 Sep; 16 RP/₹100 the rest of the year) and train earn caps at 250 Travel Points (₹250) per statement cycle
- Reward points are ₹0.25 flat; the departmental-store 4-RP accelerator caps at 1,000 RP per cycle
- 0.5% on everything outside train tickets, SmartDeal travel and departmental stores; 3.5% forex markup and no airport lounge
The call
For the ₹1L/month spender, IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card nets ₹18,320 against ₹8,410 — a ₹9,910 gap. At ₹5L/month, IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card nets ₹35,600 against ₹31,450 — a ₹4,150 gap. Lounge chasers: IRCTC BOBCARD opens 22 of 793 tracked doors to IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card's 21.
Our standing verdicts: IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card — Keep; IRCTC BOBCARD — Downgrade. IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card takes 5 of the 6 rounds we can score — that's the overall call. Your spend pattern can overrule us: run your exact numbers →
Common questions — 5 answered
Straight answers
Which is better, IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card or IRCTC BOBCARD?
IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card. IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card takes 5 of the 6 rounds we can score. IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card out-earns IRCTC BOBCARD at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card or IRCTC BOBCARD — which earns more at ₹3L a month?
At ₹3L a month, IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card nets ₹26,960 against ₹19,930 — a ₹7,030 gap. Those are ranking-value figures: everyday spend at the card's base rate plus a realistic slice at its best accelerator, net of the fee.
Which costs less to hold, IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card or IRCTC BOBCARD?
They cost the same to get: ₹500/yr. IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card waives its fee at ₹1,50,000 of spend; IRCTC BOBCARD at no spend level — there is no waiver.
Which gets you into more airport lounges, IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card or IRCTC BOBCARD?
Lounge chasers: IRCTC BOBCARD opens 22 of 793 tracked doors to IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card's 21. Visit quotas, guest charges and spend gates are per card — the lounge map carries each one.
How current is this comparison?
Card records last re-verified against their issuers' own documents: IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card on 2026-08-16, IRCTC BOBCARD on 2026-08-23. Every figure on this page — the ranking values, the fee rows, the lounge counts, the transfer ratios — is recomputed from those records each time the site builds, so a devaluation changes the call the day we log it.
Verified against HDFC Bank / IRCTC and BOBCARD (Bank of Baroda)'s own documents on · the ranking model, at our house ₹/point
Every document behind this page — 9 of them, each with the day we read it
- official IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card T&C, updated 29 May 2025 — the earn table, every monthly and annual cap, the rail-only redemption rule and the ₹99 + GST redemption fee
- official IRCTC Executive Lounge Programme, updated 29 May 2026 — 8 complimentary visits a year, 2 a quarter, a ₹2 validation charge and a valid train ticket at the door
- official IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card product page — the 5X earn, the eight lounge visits, the eligibility bands, and the FAQ that says the points are non-poolable
- official HDFC Bank personal-cards MITC, version 4.6 dated August 2026 — the IRCTC row at a ₹1.5 lakh annual-spend waiver, and 3.5% on foreign currency
- official BOBCARD IRCTC product page — ₹500 joining / ₹350 annual, 500-RP welcome at ₹5k/60d, seasonal 40 vs 16 RP/₹100 by travel date, 250-TP/1,000-RP per-cycle caps (footnote)
- official IRCTC co-brand loyalty document — 10 TP/₹100 lean-season (15 Jan–31 Mar, 15 Jul–15 Sep) vs 4 TP/₹100 rest of year, 1 TP = 4 RP, 1 RP = ₹0.25, AC classes only
- official BOBCARD Features & Rewards T&C (w.e.f. 15-Jul-2026) — IRCTC core 2 RP/₹100, the 5311 accelerator capped 1,000 RP a cycle, and SmartDeal at 8 RP/₹100 on flights, 20 on hotels
- official Bank-wide KFS (17-Jul-2026) — ₹500 joining and ₹350 annual for IRCTC, both with fee-waiver criteria NIL; 3.5% forex on standard cards
- community CardInsider — corroborates 2 RP/₹100 base, 4 RP departmental (adds grocery), 500 RP welcome at ₹5k/60d, 3.5% forex, eligibility (21–65, ₹3.6L salaried / ₹4.8L self-employed)