The 1838 Reserve is an invitation-only credit card from ICICI Bank and The Times of India Group. Its joining fee is reported at ₹1,75,000 plus GST, which works out to ₹2,06,500.
The fee and the card network are both confirmed on the official teaser image. Beyond those, there is no published benefits list, no annual fee, no eligibility criteria and no official launch date. This page separates what is officially confirmed from what is being reported and what is merely circulating, and shows the arithmetic that decides whether a fee of this size can ever pay for itself.
What is the ICICI 1838 Reserve credit card?
An ultra-premium card being teased at 1838reserve.com. The site is live and confirms only a handful of things:
- It is an invitation-only credit card
- It is issued by ICICI Bank in partnership with The Times of India Group
- The card carries artwork by the Indian painter Krishen Khanna
- The tagline is “For those who script India’s future”
- The only action available is an Express Interest form, which asks for a mobile number and an OTP, nothing else
The teaser image is worth looking at directly. It shows the card in champagne-toned metal on a plinth, with the Krishen Khanna artwork occupying its right-hand portion, a brass plaque crediting the artist, the tagline, the Visa mark and the joining fee. For a launch this tightly controlled, the asset gives away more than the website copy does. It is the only place the fee and network are stated by the issuers themselves. You can see it at 1838reserve.com.
The name almost certainly refers to 1838, the year The Times of India was founded, when it was published as a bi-weekly called The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.
One detail worth noting: the official site serves its social preview image from static.timesblack.com. The 1838 Reserve appears to be built on the same platform as the existing Times Black ICICI Bank Credit Card, which the two partners launched around 20 months ago. This looks like a tier above Times Black rather than a standalone product.
ICICI 1838 Reserve joining fee and annual fee
The joining fee is ₹1,75,000 + GST. This is not a leak. The figure is printed on the official teaser image at 1838reserve.com. At 18% GST that comes to ₹2,06,500 payable upfront.
The annual fee is not known. On cards of this type the renewal fee is often lower than the joining fee, but no figure has been published.
For scale: the GST component alone, roughly ₹31,500, exceeds the entire annual fee of most premium Indian credit cards.
ICICI 1838 Reserve benefits: what is being claimed
No benefits have been officially published. The official site lists none, and we could not locate a single published benefit anywhere. Mainstream reporting and the enthusiast community both state the reward structure is unrevealed.
What follows is the most detailed account currently circulating. Everything in this section comes from a 21 August live stream by The Great Indian Points & Miles Show, which states its information came from a source who has been offered the card and is not official ICICI Bank or Times Group communication. None of it appears on any official page. Treat it as well-sourced rumour, not terms.
The stream describes four categories: club and lifestyle, travel, experiences, and eligibility.
Travel: claimed
- Zero forex markup on international spends
- Unlimited travel-visa assistance with doorstep service. Described as a single line item, with no detail on what it covers or whether it extends to family
- Fast-track immigration for the cardholder and one guest. The hosts note the number of uses is not specified, nor whether it applies only on exit from India or worldwide
- Possible partnerships with Accor and The Leela, with no clarity on form. The hosts speculate about status or membership tiers but stress nothing is defined
Club and lifestyle: claimed
- A welcome benefit offering a choice of three options
- A members-club membership. The audio suggests Quorum, though the auto-transcript garbles the name
- A milestone spend and bonus structure was named as a category, but no figures were given
Experiences: claimed
- VIP access to RCB matches for eligible top spenders
One thing conspicuously absent: no airport lounge programme was described. For a card at this price that is a notable gap, though it may simply not have been part of what the source shared.
ICICI 1838 Reserve eligibility: how do you get it?
Officially, only that the card is invitation-only. No criteria are published anywhere by ICICI Bank or the Times Group.
The same live stream describes a specific bar. Everything in this section comes from a 21 August live stream by The Great Indian Points & Miles Show, which states its information came from a source who has been offered the card and is not official ICICI Bank or Times Group communication. None of it appears on any official page. Treat it as well-sourced rumour, not terms.
| Criterion | Claimed requirement |
|---|---|
| Monthly salary credited | ₹5 lakh+ |
| Income tax return | ₹60 lakh+ annually |
| Credit score | 750+ (standard across most cards) |
| Relationship with ICICI Bank | ₹50 lakh minimum. The hosts note this is undefined as to whether it means investments, balances or something else |
If accurate, that is a strikingly low bar for the price. Cards in this bracket typically target private banking clients with relationship value above ₹10 crore. A ₹50 lakh requirement would put the 1838 Reserve an order of magnitude below that, which fits its fee sitting at the bottom of the ultra-premium range, and points to a far wider target market than a ₹2 lakh price tag implies.
The Express Interest form on the official site screens for none of this. It takes a mobile number and an OTP. Submitting it registers interest; it is not an application and not a qualification check.
Is the 1838 Reserve a Visa or Mastercard?
Visa, and this one is confirmed. The Visa logo appears on the official teaser image alongside the joining fee.
That settles a question that circulated unconfirmed for days, and it aligns the 1838 Reserve with the existing Times Black ICICI Bank card, which is also a Visa product.
The arithmetic: what would ₹2,06,500 have to return?
This is the part that needs no leaks. A joining fee is only worth paying if the value you extract exceeds it. Working backwards from ₹2,06,500:
| If the card returns… | You would need annual spend of… |
|---|---|
| 2% in effective value | ₹1.03 crore |
| 3% | ₹68.8 lakh |
| 4% | ₹51.6 lakh |
| 5% (generous for a premium card) | ₹41.3 lakh |
Those figures are the break-even point: the spend at which you stop losing money on the fee. Anything you value below that is a net cost.
Two things this table deliberately ignores. It excludes non-monetary benefits such as concierge access or status, which some cardholders genuinely value beyond their rupee cost. And it assumes you would have made that spend anyway. A fee that pushes you to spend more to “justify” it has already cost you twice.
How it compares with other ultra-premium Indian cards
Reported fees for the segment, per Esquire India:
| Card | Joining fee | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|
| ICICI 1838 Reserve | ₹1.75 lakh + GST (reported) | Not disclosed |
| Axis Primus | ₹5 lakh + GST | Not listed here |
| American Express Centurion | ₹7 lakh | ₹2.75 lakh + GST |
| HSBC Prive | ₹2.75 lakh + GST | Not listed here |
| HSBC Taj | Not listed | ₹1.10 lakh + GST |
On fee alone the 1838 Reserve would sit at the lower end of the ultra-premium bracket, below Axis Primus, HSBC Prive and Amex Centurion. Whether that reflects lighter benefits is unknowable until the terms are published.
The timing matters. This lands while established super-premium cards, HDFC Infinia among them, are working through reward devaluations. A new card always competes on its launch terms, and the useful question is what those terms look like in year three, once the acquisition push is over.
When will we know the real details?
Esquire India reports an expected launch around October 2026, with no official confirmation of the date.
The documents that will actually settle this, none of which exist publicly yet:
- A product page on icicibank.com. As of writing, the bank’s credit card listing does not mention the 1838 Reserve at all
- The Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC) document, which is where the real fee schedule, interest rates and charges live
- A published rewards and redemption structure, including any caps and exclusions
- Stated eligibility criteria
Until the MITC is out, any benefits list is a claim rather than a term.
Frequently asked questions
What is the ICICI 1838 Reserve joining fee?
Reported at ₹1,75,000 plus GST, which is ₹2,06,500 including 18% GST. ICICI Bank has not officially confirmed the figure.
What are the ICICI 1838 Reserve benefits?
None have been disclosed. The official site lists no benefits, and mainstream reporting confirms there is no information on rewards, lounge access or travel privileges yet.
Who is eligible for the ICICI 1838 Reserve?
The card is invitation-only. No income or relationship-value criteria have been published. Cards in this segment typically target clients with a relationship value above ₹10 crore, but that is category context rather than a stated requirement.
Can I apply for the 1838 Reserve?
Not yet. The official site only offers an Express Interest form that captures a mobile number. That registers interest; it is not an application.
Is the 1838 Reserve the same as the Times Black card?
No, but they are related. Times Black is an existing ICICI Bank and Times Internet card. The 1838 Reserve appears to sit above it and is served from the same web infrastructure.
Is it worth ₹2 lakh?
Unanswerable today, because the benefits are unpublished. What can be said is the spend it would need to justify: roughly ₹40 lakh to ₹1 crore a year depending on the effective return rate.
Sources
Everything above is traceable. Where a claim is unconfirmed, it is labelled as such:
| Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Invitation-only; ICICI × Times of India Group; Krishen Khanna artwork; tagline; ₹1,75,000 + GST joining fee; Visa network | 1838reserve.com | Official |
| ~October 2026 launch; competitor fees; the ₹10 crore segment norm; HDFC Infinia devaluation context | Esquire India, 21 Aug 2026 | Reported, not officially confirmed |
| Benefits, rewards, lounge access, eligibility, annual fee | No source | Not disclosed by anyone |
This page will be updated when ICICI Bank publishes official terms. Nothing here is a recommendation to apply for any credit card, and nIvesting has no commercial relationship with ICICI Bank or the Times Group. See the Disclaimer and Editorial Policy.
Related reading
- Is selling gold jewellery taxable in India?. Another case where the published rule matters more than the marketing.
- Discuss this in the community. If you have been offered the card, the forum is the place to compare notes.
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