The Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) by the Indian Railways has launched a co-branded credit card with SBI Card on the RuPay platform, designed to reward frequent rail travellers. The card was launched by Shri Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, on Tuesday.
The contactless credit card will enable customers to transact by merely tapping their card at POS machines, without any need for swiping the card. The card will offer several benefits in retail, dining and entertainment, in addition to transaction fee waivers and other savings. Shri Piyush Goyal said that the contactless credit card would be in line with making Indian Railways ‘Aatmanirbhar’, and in keeping with the ‘Make In India’ initiatives as envisaged by our PM.
All bookings made on the IRCTC website will give cardholders a 10% value back on all 1st AC, 2nd AC, 3rd AC, executive chair car and AC chair car bookings made. An online transaction fee waiver will also be granted, currently charged at 1% of the transaction amount. Further, cardholders will also benefit from a 1% waiver on fuel surcharge, and access to premium lounges at railways stations four times a year (once per quarter).
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In addition to the above benefits, the card users will also receive 350 bonus reward points on activating the card with a minimum amount spent. These accumulated reward points can be redeemed against the purchase of train tickets on the IRCTC ticketing website. The credit cardholders can also avail discounts while shopping at e-commerce sites.
The Ministry of Railways said in a release, “To offer a safe transaction environment to the customers, the new RuPay credit card is equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology whereby the users can expedite their transactions at the POS machines by just tapping the card on the machines without requiring to swipe the card.”
The release further added that the new co-branded credit card substantiates the commitment of IRCTC, SBI Card and RuPay for promoting Digital India initiatives while aiming to ensure a safe, convenient and improved travel experience for rail passengers.
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