Kotak Bank and ICICI Bank are two banks that do not have credit cards that can match up to what others offer. Kotak has 20+ credit cards but most of them are not worth applying for because of low rewards and benefits. In this post, we review the Kotak Bank Royale Signature credit card and its rewards & benefits. The Royale is a Visa Signature card and is above the League Platinum in Kotak’s credit card offerings.
Fees and Charges
| Joining Fee | NIL |
| Annual Fee | Rs 1499+GST LTF for Kotak Privy League Optima and Insignia Customers |
| Annual Fee Waiver | Rs 1 Lakh spend in an anniversary year |
Optima and Insignia are Kotak Bank’s premium banking programs under Privy League. The AMB required for these is upwards of Rs 10 Lakhs.
Rewards
The League Platinum card earns up to 4 reward points per Rs 150. There are two earn rates on the card depending on the total spent in a year and the purchase category.
| Purchase Category | Earn Rate | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels and Restaurants, Travel Agencies & Tour Operators, Airlines and Air Carriers, and International Spends | 4 RP/Rs 150 | 1% |
| All other spends | 2 RP/Rs 150 | 0.5% |
This earn rate is less than we have on the lower variant League Platinum credit card. That’s because we have a ‘better’ milestone benefit on this one.
We get 30000 reward points on annual spending of Rs 8 Lakhs. This is worth Rs 7500 and an extra return of 0.94%. The spending required to get this milestone benefit is set too high. With the low rewards, there is no incentive to spend Rs 8 Lakhs just for the milestone benefit.
Rewards Redemption
Accumulated reward points can be redeemed on the Kotak Rewards portal. The value for each reward point is 25 paise for all the options. Redemption options include:
- Domestic Flights and Hotels
- Product Catalog
- Mobile Recharge
- Gift Vouchers including Amazon and Flipkart
Complimentary Airport Lounge Access
- 2 complimentary visits to Dream Folks lounges in India
- The list of eligible lounges is available here.
Key Benefits
- Fuel Surcharge Waiver: 1% for transactions between Rs 500 and Rs 3000. The maximum waiver is capped at Rs 3500 per calendar year.
- Railway Surcharge Waiver: Applicable for IRCTC bookings. The maximum waiver is Rs 500 per calendar year.
Final Thoughts
Kotak Royale Signature is actually a quite good name but the rewards are average. Nowadays, the expectation is to get at least a 1% reward on credit card spending. The Kotak Royale Signature fails to meet this least need.
We have many cards that offer a better reward rate with a statement credit option. A few are the Amazon Pay ICICI, Flipkart Axis, SC Smart, and Axis Ace cards.
Kotak Bank Royale Signature Credit Card
