The Times Black ICICI is issued to ICICI’s HNW relationship customers rather than on the open market — ICICI lists an invite or pre-approved offer among the documents the application requires.
How to get an invitation
- Hold an HNW relationship with ICICI. The card’s own terms describe it as available to ICICI HNW relationship customers and not openly sourced, so the relationship is the route rather than a form.
- Ask your ICICI relationship manager whether a pre-approved offer exists on your profile. A pre-approved offer is one of the two documented ways in, alongside a direct invitation.
- Build a spend and relationship record on a senior ICICI card first. The Emeralde Private Metal sits in the same invite-gated tier, and a clean high-spend ICICI history is what the bank screens before extending either.
What issuers look for
- ₹2,00,000 a month salaried, or ₹24 lakh a year self-employed (ICICI’s product page)
- ICICI HNW relationship — the card is not sold on the open market
- Entertainment-heavy spend profile; the ₹20,000 fee waives only at ₹25 lakh of annual spend
The income figure is the bank’s own, from its Times Black product page; the other points are observed patterns.
Not openly sourced. ICICI’s own Times Black product page is the place to confirm whether a public application route exists today.
In-depth review
Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card
A super-premium metal card built around entertainment access — movies, concerts, events without the ticket counter — wrapped in unlimited lounges and concierge. It is issued to ICICI's HNW relationship customers rather than on the open market. Genuinely brilliant for the person attending ticketed events most weeks; a ₹20,000 indulgence for everyone else. The ₹25 lakh fee waiver and modest rewards mean you should hold it for the access, at volume.
Read the full review →Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
1% on International
2.5 reward points per ₹100 on eligible international spend (~1% at ₹0.40/point) — ICICI writes this as "2.5% ICICI Bank reward points", which at its stated ₹1 point ceiling is 2.5 points per ₹100, not per ₹200
0.8% on Other
2 reward points per ₹100 on eligible domestic spend (~0.8% at ₹0.40/point, up to ~2% if a point is redeemed at its ₹1 ceiling); utility, insurance, education and government payments share one 5,000-point cap a statement cycle; fuel, rent and EMI-converted transactions earn nothing
Airport Lounge Access
Unlimited domestic and international airport lounge access via complimentary Priority Pass for the primary and Plus cardholder
Annual Fee Waiver
Fee of ₹20,000 + 18% GST (₹23,600 all-in)/yr fully waived when you spend ₹25,00,000/year
24x7 Concierge
24x7 lifestyle concierge with curated dining, travel and event privileges
Movie Ticket Benefit
Unlimited complimentary movie and event tickets via BookMyShow, plus priority access to concerts and sporting events
OTT Subscription
Complimentary Times Prime Gold membership bundling subscriptions and partner offers
Milestone Bonus
~₹5,000 in bonus rewards on hitting annual spend milestones
🎬 ENTERTAINMENT BENEFITS
Movies, OTT subscriptions and entertainment perks.
- Unlimited complimentary movie and event tickets via BookMyShow, plus priority access to concerts and sporting events
✈️ TRAVEL BENEFITS
Lounge access, miles, forex rates and travel perks at a glance.
AIRPORT LOUNGE ACCESS
Unlimited visits
Domestic lounges
Priority Pass
International lounges
₹24,000
Estimated annual value
1.49%
Forex markup
- Domestic + international airport lounge access (worth ~₹24,000/yr)
- Low forex markup: 1.5%
👑 PREMIUM LIFESTYLE BENEFITS
Concierge, golf, hotel membership and high-value perks for premium cardholders.
₹5,000
Milestone bonus value
- 24x7 lifestyle and travel concierge
- Tata CLiQ Luxury gift voucher worth ₹10,000 at ₹10 lakh of spend; ₹5 lakh instead unlocks complimentary Avis, Indian Travel House or BLADE airport transfers, and ₹20 lakh an Ayatana Resorts voucher worth ₹20,000
For ICICI HNW customers who attend ticketed events or fly most weeks and will clear ₹25 lakh of spend. For ordinary moviegoers the ₹20,000 fee is hard to justify.
Full reward structure
What you earn on every rupee, per spend category — as of 24 Oct 2026. Rates assume 1 pt = ₹0.40. How we value points →
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| International | reward points | 1%2.5 pts/₹100 × ₹0.40 | — |
| Other | reward points | 0.8%2 pts/₹100 × ₹0.40 | — |
| Utility Bills | reward points | 0.8%2 pts/₹100 × ₹0.40 | ₹2,000one cap shared with Insurance, Education, Government & Tax |
| Insurance | reward points | 0.8%2 pts/₹100 × ₹0.40 | ₹2,000one cap shared with Utility Bills, Education, Government & Tax |
| Education | reward points | 0.8%2 pts/₹100 × ₹0.40 | ₹2,000one cap shared with Utility Bills, Insurance, Government & Tax |
| Government & Tax | reward points | 0.8%2 pts/₹100 × ₹0.40 | ₹2,000one cap shared with Utility Bills, Insurance, Education |
International: 2.5 reward points per ₹100 on eligible international spend (~1% at ₹0.40/point) — ICICI writes this as "2.5% ICICI Bank reward points", which at its stated ₹1 point ceiling is 2.5 points per ₹100, not per ₹200
Other: 2 reward points per ₹100 on eligible domestic spend (~0.8% at ₹0.40/point, up to ~2% if a point is redeemed at its ₹1 ceiling); utility, insurance, education and government payments share one 5,000-point cap a statement cycle; fuel, rent and EMI-converted transactions earn nothing
Utility Bills: Earns the base 2 RP per ₹100 inside one 5,000-point cap a statement cycle shared with insurance, education and government payments, so about ₹2.5 lakh of the four together a cycle, not each
Insurance: Earns the base 2 RP per ₹100 inside one 5,000-point cap a statement cycle shared with utility, education and government payments, so about ₹2.5 lakh of the four together a cycle, not each
Education: Earns the base 2 RP per ₹100 inside one 5,000-point cap a statement cycle shared with utility, insurance and government payments, so about ₹2.5 lakh of the four together a cycle, not each
Government & Tax: House tax, advance tax, fines, court and postal payments are not excluded on this card. They earn the base 2 RP per ₹100 inside one 5,000-point cap a statement cycle shared with utility, insurance and education payments
Earns nothing on: Fuel · Rent · Cash Advances · Wallet Loads · EMI Conversions
These spends earn no rewards at all — not a reduced rate, and not the base rate. They are also normally left out of any milestone or fee-waiver calculation.
Fees & charges
The numbers that matter beyond rewards — verify on the issuer site before applying. Fees below are shown inclusive of 18% GST, as of 24 Oct 2026.
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹23,600 |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹23,600 |
| Forex markup | 1.49% |
| Add-on card fee | ₹3,500 |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹87,000/yr in total.
Complimentary Times Prime Gold membership bundling subscriptions and partner offers
24x7 lifestyle concierge with curated dining, travel and event privileges
Unlimited domestic and international airport lounge access via complimentary Priority Pass for the primary and Plus cardholder
Klook gift voucher worth ₹10,000 at ₹2 lakh of spend, claimed through the Times Black app; valued here at half face value because it is spendable only on Klook experiences
Tata CLiQ Luxury gift voucher worth ₹10,000 at ₹10 lakh of spend; ₹5 lakh instead unlocks complimentary Avis, Indian Travel House or BLADE airport transfers, and ₹20 lakh an Ayatana Resorts voucher worth ₹20,000
1% fuel surcharge waiver at every petrol pump on transactions up to ₹4,000, applied to fuel spend of up to ₹1,00,000 a statement cycle — double the ₹50,000 most ICICI cards get
Unlimited complimentary movie and event tickets via BookMyShow, plus priority access to concerts and sporting events
Milestone ladder
- ₹2,00,000 a year₹5,000 of value
- ₹10,00,000 a year₹5,000 of value
Should you get it?
- Best for: Entertainment power user — 4+ movies + 2+ events monthly, Concert and sporting event attendee, ICICI HNW customer with significant entertainment lifestyle budget, Times Prime Gold power user (Uber/Swiggy/Zomato daily user)
- Super Premium tier — built for high spenders who want top-end perks.
- Strongest value if you spend heavily on International (1% back).
- Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.
Pros & cons
✓ Pros
- Unlimited movie and event tickets via BookMyShow — no cap on complimentary tickets
- Priority access to concerts, sports events, and premium entertainment
- Times Prime Gold membership included — access to Uber One, Swiggy One, Zomato Pro, and more
- Lounge access and premium lifestyle concierge
✕ Cons
- ₹20,000 annual fee — justified only for very heavy entertainment and event spending
- Value is concentration-dependent — BookMyShow unlimited benefits require 8+ events/month to beat the fee
- Available only to ICICI HNW relationship customers — not open market
- The ₹20,000 fee only pays off at heavy entertainment/travel volume and a ₹25 lakh spend
Eligibility
ICICI Bank states one eligibility figure for this card: a monthly income of ₹2,00,000 for salaried applicants (₹24 lakh a year if self-employed), set out in its Times Black product page. Beyond that there is no public application form, so there is nothing else to qualify for in the usual sense. Meeting the figure makes you someone the bank may offer the card to; it does not open an application.
What actually decides an invitation is the relationship behind it — balances held with the bank, spend on an existing card, and the banking segment you sit in. We set those signals out in how to get an invitation above, labelled for what they are: the one published figure, and observed patterns for the rest.
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
- 🎁Transfer to Air India Maharaja Club at 1 point to 1 point (minimum 2,000 points) — one of two ICICI cards on the 1:1 ratio, and the route where a point is worth about ₹1
- 🎁Redeem reward points on the ICICI iShop portal for flights, hotels and vouchers
- 🎁Statement credit and bill payment via the iMobile / Times Black app
- 🎁Catalogue merchandise and gift vouchers
What your ICICI Reward Points are worth
Realistic value per point by redemption route — the difference is what most people leave on the table.
1 RP = ₹0.40 against the statement — ICICI's only published rate
Voucher store; ICICI publishes only an 'up to ₹1' ceiling, never a realised rate
iShop travel; rate is set per card at checkout, so the ₹1 ceiling is not a value
Air India is ICICI's only transfer partner, and the ratio splits 6x by card: Emeralde Private Metal and Times Black convert 1:1 (⇒ ₹1/pt), every other eligible card 6:1 (⇒ ₹0.17/pt — worse than the ₹0.40 voucher route, so on those cards transferring destroys value). Min 2,000 points; credited in up to 5 working days.
✈ Transfer partners
Direct transfers from this card only, ranked by what a point is worth in the destination programme. Full calculator, every currency →
The fee only makes sense at extreme entertainment/travel consumption and a ₹25 lakh spend, and the trims (one 5,000 RP/cycle cap shared by utility, insurance, education and government payments, fuel/rent/EMI excluded) weakened the rewards further.
Frequently asked questions
What reward rate does the Times Black card earn?
Is lounge access really unlimited?
How is the annual fee waived?
What is the BookMyShow benefit?
How has the Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card changed over time?
Has the Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card been devalued recently?
When did the Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card's fees last change?
How did the Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card change in 2026?
The bottom line
Times Black is a lifestyle card with a clear customer: the person attending something ticketed every week. For them the entertainment access, unlimited lounges and Quorum Club can far exceed the ₹20,000 fee. For everyone else, the ₹25 lakh waiver and thin ~0.8% rewards mean you should buy it purely for the access, at volume — not for the earn.
How this page was built
Counted from this card’s own record: 6 earn rules, 4 of them capped, the spends listed as earning nothing and 7 recorded perks. The renewal fee is conditional — it is waived on a published spend target, so the fee you pay depends on what you spend.
Last updated 24 Oct 2026.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card are taken from ICICI Bank's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page. Last updated 24 Oct 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 ICICI Bank. 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.
Compare head-to-head
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Read more
Guides and reviews related to this card.
Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card
A super-premium metal card built around entertainment access — movies, concerts, events without the ticket counter — wrapped in unlimited lounges and concierge. It is issued to ICICI's HNW relationship customers rather than on the open market. Genuinely brilliant for the person attending ticketed events most weeks; a ₹20,000 indulgence for everyone else. The ₹25 lakh fee waiver and modest rewards mean you should hold it for the access, at volume.
Air India Maharaja Club 2026: The Big Revaluation, the Vistara Merger, and What It Means for Your Points
Air India's loyalty programme has changed more in two years than in the previous twenty: Flying Returns rebuilt around spend-based earning, Club Vistara folded in after the 2024 merger, then a sweeping 1 April 2026 award-chart revaluation that cut most economy redemption prices while raising premium-cabin ones. It covers the new Maharaja Club end to end — tiers, earning, who won and lost, Star Alliance sweet spots, feeding points from Indian credit cards, and the old Vistara cards.
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 2024 · last change Mar 2026
2026
- ▼ FeeObserved 19 Feb 2026 · Effective 1 Mar 2026
Minimum Amount Due rebuilt as a two-branch formula
5% of the outstanding amount, plus instalments, the over-limit amount, fee GST and any unpaid previous MAD→100% of GST, EMI principal and interest, fees, the over-limit amount and unpaid MAD, plus 5% of retail spends, cash advances and the finance charge — the finance charge taken in full whenever that 5% falls short of it
From the 1 March 2026 statement onwards ICICI stopped deriving the Minimum Amount Due from a single 5%-of-outstanding line and began building it component by component: GST, EMI principal and interest, fees and charges, the over-limit amount and any unpaid previous MAD are all taken at 100%, and 5% is applied to retail spends, cash advances and the finance charge. Where 5% of those three comes to less than the finance charge alone, the whole finance charge is added instead and only retail and cash are taken at 5%. ICICI illustrates both branches itself — a minimum of ₹11,210 on a ₹37,830 total due, and ₹21,620 on a ₹1,15,810 total due where finance charges dominate. Paying the statement in full is unaffected; the minimum rises only for people carrying a balance or taking cash.
Verification: ICICI Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
- ▼ RewardObserved 15 Jan 2026 · Effective Jan 2026
Early-2026 reward devaluation
6X iShop accelerator; uncapped base earn→base 2%/2.5% only; 5,000 RP/cycle cap; fuel, rent & EMI excluded
As part of ICICI's bank-wide reward cuts, a 5,000 reward-points-per-cycle cap was applied to utility, insurance, education and government payments, and fuel, rent and EMI-converted transactions stopped earning — the card's own terms now state that points credited on a transaction later converted to EMI are reversed. Base earning is 2 reward points per ₹100 domestic and 2.5 per ₹100 international, which ICICI writes as "2%" and "2.5%" against the ₹1 ceiling a point can reach. The caps and exclusions are confirmed in ICICI's MITC and the card's own T&C; the removal of a 6X iShop voucher accelerator is NOT stated in any ICICI document we can find and rests on secondary reporting alone.
Verification: ICICI Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
2024
- ◆ LaunchEffective 18 Dec 2024
Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card launches
ICICI Bank and Times Internet launched this super-premium metal Visa card for HNW customers at a ₹20,000 + GST joining and annual fee (waived at ₹25 lakh annual spend), earning 2% reward points domestic and 2.5% international with a 1.49% forex markup, unlimited lounge access, Quorum Club membership and milestone benefits.
Verification: ICICI Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
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.
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Source: <a href="https://cardadvisor.in/cards/icici-times-black#value-timeline">Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card value timeline</a>, CardAdvisor (CC BY 4.0).