Ratcheting is a phenomenon of the progressive accumulation of permanent strain under stress controlled cyclic loading. In cyclic loading at very high stresses, large permanent strains get accumulated in certain materials leading to ductile failure in material, which is different from a usual fatigue fracture. To apprehend the behaviour of 15CDV6 steel in repeated stress control tensile loading at high-stress levels, experiments were carried out on uniaxial flat specimens. Different test parameters were varied to see their effect over the ratcheting behaviour of the material. Significant time-dependent inelastic behaviour is seen in the material and strain hardening during loading-unloading-reloading is prominent in the material. No fracture is observed during the entire test exercise. © 2019 Author(s).