ICAI Exclusive BOBCARD Credit Card
The ICAI Exclusive BOBCARD is gated: it is offered only to active members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. If you are not an ICAI member you cannot apply, whatever your income or credit score. For members who can, it is an unusually well-equipped free card — zero joining and annual fee, a 2% foreign-currency markup where most of the BOBCARD range charges 3.5%, 12 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year, and free professional indemnity cover up to ₹5 lakh. Earning is the modest part: 1 reward point per ₹100 (about 0.25%) on most spends, and 5 points per ₹100 (about 1.25%) on dining, online and utility bills under a single 1,000-point-per-statement cap shared across all three categories. The bigger lever is the quarterly milestone — 4,000 bonus points, roughly ₹1,000, for every quarter you spend ₹1 lakh. The card is issued on both the Mastercard and RuPay rails; the RuPay variant is UPI-linked. Read the exclusions closely: fuel, groceries, rent, education, government and insurance payments earn nothing at all.
Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
Welcome Benefit
~₹125 in vouchers, points or cashback on card activation
1.25% on Dining
5 points per ₹100 (~1.25%) on dining, under a 1,000-point/statement cap SHARED with online and utilities; past it, spends drop to 1 point per ₹100. Fast-food outlets (MCC 5814) earn nothing
1.25% on Online Shopping
5 points per ₹100 (~1.25%) on online spends, under a 1,000-point/statement cap SHARED with dining and utilities; past it, spends drop to 1 point per ₹100. UPI spends earn core points only
️ Airport Lounge Access
3 complimentary visits per quarter at domestic and international airport lounges
Lifetime Free
No annual fee — ever. Keep this card long-term without any recurring cost.
Milestone Bonus
~₹4,000 in bonus rewards on hitting annual spend milestones
UPI Linked
Link to PhonePe, GPay or Paytm and earn credit card rewards on UPI payments
️ Insurance Cover
Free professional indemnity cover up to ₹5 lakh, air accident death cover of ₹15 lakh and non-air accident death cover of ₹5 lakh — contingent covers, not an annual cash benefit; withdrawable by BOBCARD without notice, and lapses if the card is unused for 90 days before death
Full reward structure
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dining | reward points | 1.25% | ₹250 |
| Online Shopping | reward points | 1.25% | ₹250 |
| Utility Bills | reward points | 1.25% | ₹250 |
| Other | reward points | 0.25% | — |
Fees & charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | Lifetime free |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | Free |
| Finance charge (APR) | 3.75% p.m. |
| Forex markup | 2% |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹13,000/yr in total.
️ lounge access ~ ₹6,000 /yr
12 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year (3 per quarter), unlocked only by ₹40,000 of spend in the preceding calendar quarter. No international lounge access
milestone bonus ~ ₹4,000 /yr
4,000 bonus reward points each quarter you spend more than ₹1 lakh (or your credit limit, whichever is higher) — up to 16,000 points (~₹4,000) a year at ₹1 lakh every quarter
fuel waiver ~ ₹3,000 /yr
1% fuel surcharge waiver at all fuel stations on transactions of ₹400–₹5,000 (max ₹250 per statement cycle). Fuel spends themselves earn no reward points
️ insurance
Free professional indemnity cover up to ₹5 lakh, air accident death cover of ₹15 lakh and non-air accident death cover of ₹5 lakh — contingent covers, not an annual cash benefit; withdrawable by BOBCARD without notice, and lapses if the card is unused for 90 days before death
Should you get it?
Best for: Practising Chartered Accountants, Members who spend on dining, online and utilities, Occasional international spenders wanting a low forex markup
Mid tier — a solid all-rounder for steady monthly spend.
Strongest value if you spend heavily on Dining ( 1.25% back).
Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.
✓ Pros
- Lifetime free — no joining fee and no annual fee
- 2% forex markup, well below the 3.5% most BOBCARDs charge
- 12 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year (3 per quarter)
- Free professional indemnity cover up to ₹5 lakh — relevant to a practising CA
- 4,000 bonus points a quarter on ₹1 lakh of spend — the card's biggest reward lever
- Up to 3 lifetime-free add-on cards for family
✕ Cons
- Only active ICAI members can apply — the card is closed to everyone else
- 0.25% base earn rate is weak; the 5X categories are capped at ₹250/month of value
- The 1,000-point 5X cap is shared across dining, online and utilities, not per category
- Fuel, groceries, rent, education, government and insurance payments earn nothing
- Lounge access needs ₹40,000 of spend in the preceding quarter, and is domestic only
Eligibility & documents
Age
21 –75 years
Min. income
₹25,000 /mo
Employment
Salaried · Self-employed
Documents required
- ICAI membership number and proof of active membership
- PAN card
- Aadhaar / valid address proof
- Income proof — salary slips (salaried) or ITR (self-employed)
- Recent passport-size photograph
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
🎁 Cashback / statement credit at 1 reward point = ₹0.25
🎁 Online rewards catalogue (vouchers, merchandise)
What your BOB Reward Points are worth
Realistic value per point by redemption route — the difference is what most people leave on the table.
Statement credit BEST Standard redemption
Gift voucher catalogue BEST Brand & e-gift vouchers
The concern The reward exclusions are unusually wide — fuel, groceries, rent, education, government payments, insurance and wallet loads earn nothing, and the 1,000-point 5X cap is shared across dining, online and utilities rather than granted per category.
The bottom line
As a no-fee card, this one stands out — the 2% forex rate, 12 annual lounge visits and professional indemnity cover would typically carry a price tag elsewhere. As a rewards card, though, it's unremarkable: the 0.25% base rate is unimpressive, and even the accelerated 5X categories cap out at ₹250 of monthly value. The real payoff comes from the ₹1 lakh quarterly milestone and the low forex markup, which means this card rewards a member who travels and maintains steady spending far more than someone using it lightly.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the ICAI Exclusive BOBCARD Credit Card are taken from BOBCARD 's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page . Last verified 15 Aug 2026 . Reviewed by Devchandra Sah . Always confirm current details on the issuer's site before applying. How we research →
Independence. CardAdvisor is an independent editorial publication. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or authorised to act for BOBCARD . All issuer names, product names, and payment-network marks are the property of their respective owners and appear here for identification and comparison only. Card faces shown on this site are our own original illustrations — we do not display or host issuer card artwork or logos.
Value timeline
Every real-world change to this card's rewards, fees and benefits we've tracked — newest first, each linked to its source.
Tracking since 2020 · 8 changes · last change Jul 2025
▲ Revaluation ▼ Devaluation ◆ Neutral / reversed
2025 5 changes — 4 cuts, 1 improvement
▼ Fee Effective 1 Jul 2025
Finance charge raised to 3.75% per month
3.25% per month (39% p.a.) → 3.75% per month (45% p.a.)
Effective 1 July 2025 BOBCARD revised the monthly finance charge on carried balances and cash advances to 3.75% (45% a year) for all card variants except Eterna, Eterna FD and Tiara. This is the change behind the card's current 3.75%/month rate — it only applies if you revolve a balance or take a cash advance.
Verification: BOBCARD ↗ · Confidence: High
▼ Redemption Effective 1 Jul 2025
Minimum redemption raised to 1,000 points
Lower / no fixed minimum → 1,000 points minimum
Effective 1 July 2025 redeeming reward points against the statement balance requires a minimum of 1,000 points, applied across all BOBCARD credit-card variants — a small delay to when points become usable.
Verification: BOBCARD ↗ · Confidence: High
▲ Reward Effective 1 Jul 2025
Utility bill payments earn reward points again
No reward points on utility bills → Core reward points restored on utility bills
From 1 July 2025 BOBCARD restored core reward points on utility bill payments (MCC 4900 — electricity, gas, water) across all variants, partly reversing the July 2024 special-category cull that had zeroed them out. Earning is at the card's core base rate, not an accelerated rate.
Verification: BOBCARD ↗ · Confidence: High
▼ Lounge Effective 1 Jan 2025
Domestic lounge access gated to ₹40,000/quarter spend
3 visits/quarter, no spend gate → 3 visits/quarter after ₹40,000/quarter spend
Effective 1 January 2025 the card's 12 complimentary domestic lounge visits a year (3 per quarter) became conditional on spending ₹40,000 in the preceding calendar quarter, waived only for the quarter the card is issued. BOBCARD names the ICAI Exclusive explicitly in the notice table; previously the visits carried no spend requirement. The ₹40,000 threshold still stands — the later 15 July 2026 raise to ₹75,000 applied only to Eterna, Eterna (FD), Tiara and Varunah Premium, not to this card.
Verification: BOBCARD ↗ · Confidence: High
▼ Fee Effective 1 Jan 2025
Processing fees added on wallet-load, high-value utility and fuel spends
No processing fees → 1% on wallet-load, ₹50k+ utility and ₹10k+ fuel
From 1 January 2025 BOBCARD added processing fees across the portfolio that reach this card: 1% on wallet-load transactions, 1% (maximum ₹3,000) on utility payments of ₹50,000 or more, and 1% on fuel transactions of ₹10,000 or more. Core reward points on wallet-load MCCs were also withdrawn on the same date.
Verification: BOBCARD ↗ · Confidence: High
2024 2 changes — 2 cuts
▼ Reward Effective 15 Jul 2024
Core reward points removed on special-category (Annexure A) MCCs
Core points across most spends → No points on Annexure-A MCCs or fuel
Effective 15 July 2024 BOBCARD stopped awarding core reward points on a defined list of special-category MCCs (Annexure A) — agriculture, contractors, transport, telecom, insurance, rent, education, government, charity, groceries and fast-food — and confirmed the card earns no points on fuel. The ICAI Exclusive is named explicitly in the notice; these categories qualify for neither the base 1X nor the accelerated 5X rate, which is why the card's exclusion list is so wide.
Verification: BOBCARD ↗ · Confidence: High
▼ Welcome Effective 15 Jul 2024
Welcome bonus cut from 1,000 activation points to 500 points on ₹5,000 spend
1,000 points for activation within 30 days → 500 points on ₹5,000 spend within 60 days
The 15 July 2024 revision notice cut the ICAI Exclusive welcome benefit from 1,000 reward points for activating the card within 30 days to 500 reward points earned only after spending ₹5,000 within 60 days of issuance — a smaller bonus now gated behind a spend requirement. The card is named explicitly in the notice.
Verification: BOBCARD ↗ · Confidence: High
2020 1 change — 1 neutral
◆ Launch Effective 29 Sept 2020
ICAI Exclusive BOBCARD launched for Chartered Accountants
BOB Financial (now BOBCARD) and Mastercard launched the ICAI Exclusive on 29 September 2020 as one of four new Bank of Baroda card variants (alongside Eterna, Swavlamban and the ICMAI co-brand), co-branded with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and offered only to its members. It debuted lifetime-free on the Mastercard network with a 2% foreign-currency markup, complimentary domestic airport lounge access, accelerated 5X reward points on dining, online and utility spends, and air and non-air accidental death cover.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High
↓ Show all 8 changes Each change links to the issuer's own document — bank T&C, MITC, notice, press release or product page — where one is public. Where the bank published nothing, it's marked CardAdvisor Research and verified against the card's current terms. Independent of the live terms shown above. This timeline is one card's slice of our market-wide change record across every tracked card.
Embed this timeline on your site Free to use. Facts only — dates, changes and before/after values. Please keep the credit line below the frame: it's the only part search engines can see, and it's what we ask for in return.
Source: ICAI Exclusive BOBCARD Credit Card value timeline — CardAdvisor
“ Cite this timeline Quoting a date or a before/after figure? Copy the HTML version — it credits the record with a working link.
HTML (with link) Plain text Copy
Source: ICAI Exclusive BOBCARD Credit Card value timeline , CardAdvisor (CC BY 4.0).
Want to know if this beats your current card for your spending?
Apply now → Compare with my profile
Applications are submitted to and decided by BOBCARD . CardAdvisor does not issue cards or process applications.
Find your best card
Answer 5 questions. Get a personalised shortlist with ₹ value estimates.
Find my card →
Quick summary
Type Mid credit card
Reward rate 0.25%–1.25%
Best for Practising Chartered Accountants
Joining fee Free
Annual fee Lifetime free
Reviewed by
Devchandra Sah · Cards tested, miles earned, trips booked — for over a decade
Last verified 15 Aug 2026
How we research →
Useful links
Rewards calculator
Estimate any card’s annual value
Points valuations
What each point is really worth
Latest card changes
Live fee & reward-rate tracker
Market insights
The Indian card landscape
Card data study 2026
280 cards analysed — August 2026
Frequently asked questions
Check your eligibility for this card
Answer a few quick questions and our team will reach out with matching card offers based on your profile.