RBL halves real spend rewards — 14 categories excluded
RBL Bank's World Safari and Icon cards no longer earn points on education, government, and wallet spends, with 14 categories excluded from milestone counters and 1% fees on utility, education, and fuel spends over certain limits. This effectively drops the reward rate on real-world spend without changing headline numbers.
RBL Bank has stripped points from education, government, and wallet spends for its World Safari and Icon cards. As of 15 October 2024, these cards no longer earn base points on education portals, government payments, wallets, and Bills2Pay. Additionally, milestone counters now exclude 14 spend categories. The changes also introduce 1% fees on utility spends over ₹50,000 per month, education apps, and fuel spends over ₹10,000. This means cardholders will have to pay more for certain transactions, further reducing the effective reward rate. Our take: education, government, wallets and Bills2Pay earn nothing, 14 categories no longer count towards milestones, and 1% fees now land on utility spend above ₹50,000 a month and fuel above ₹10,000. RBL never touched the headline rate on the World Safari or the Icon — it simply removed most of the spend that used to reach it. Price both cards on retail and travel spend only, and if they don’t clear their fee on that basis, you already know the verdict.