• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

LOYALTY CARD: Mr S.K. Malik (left), MD, IRCTC, with Mr Roopam Asthana, CEO, State Bank of India, at the launch of co-branded credit cards for rail passengers in the Capital on Monday. - - Kamal Narang

New Delhi , Feb. 20

IF you are a regular, Internet friendly traveller in the high-end AC segments of the Indian Railways, you could now earn reward points on your travel and use them to buy a ticket in those very segments!

The points are awarded for all categories of AC travel with the exception of AC III tier, provided the tickets are booked through the Indian Railways' Web site for Internet booking - managed by Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

The Railways on Monday launched its first ever loyalty programme, which would be executed through SBI Cards. Two cards were launched - Shubhyatra and the co-branded SBI Railway Card. Both provide free access to their users to all Railway platforms — that is they can be used as platform tickets.

About 30 per cent of the total of 10,000 tickets sold every day through IRCTC on an average are in those AC categories that could earn reward points, said Mr Amitabh Pandey, Group General Manager, IRCTC.

The Shubhyatra card can be used to garner loyalty points for all bookings irrespective of the bank used for making payments. IRCTC has tied up with about 17 banks through which passengers can pay while booking their tickets through the Internet, said Mr S.K. Malik, Managing Director, IRCTC, in a conference.

But in order to avail themselves of the benefits, passengers would be required to pay a membership fee to own the card — Rs 500 in the first year and Rs 300 in the subsequent years.

The SBI Railway credit card comes with all benefits of an SBI credit card and also incorporates the features of Shubhyatra, the SBI Card CEO, Mr Roopam Asthana, said.

Moreover, the reward points earned on this card through other retail purchases can also be used to buy train tickets.

This card has some other benefits such as the waiver of membership fees of Shubhyatra and 1.8 per cent surcharge on ticket bookings, flexi-payment options through equal monthly instalments, personal accident insurance of up to Rs 10 lakh, amongothers.

Conditions: Now a look at the conditions. The accumulated reward points can be used to buy tickets in the high-end AC segments only like AC I class, AC II tier, executive chair car and AC chair car.

More Stories on : Railways | Promotions & Offers | E-Commerce & E-Business

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Jet Airways to raise $800 m through FCCB, GDR issues

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line