Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. Last Updated 14th Nov 2023.
Axis Ace credit card is a darling of all cashback lovers with its best-in-class unlimited 2% cash back on offline spending and 5% on paying bills via Google Pay.
Here’s an updated review of its benefits amid all the devaluations!
Contents
Charges and Welcome Benefits
| Joining Fees | ₹499 + GST |
| Welcome Benefits | NIL |
| Annual Fees | ₹499 + GST |
| Annual Fee Waiver | Spend ₹2L on your card in a year for an annual fee waiver*. |
| Add-on Fees | NIL |
| Card Category | Cashback |
- *Rental and Wallet Transactions not included in annual fee waiver.
Reward Rate
| Spends Area | Cashback Rate | Capping |
| Bill Payments on Google Pay (Electricity, Internet, Gas, DTH, and Mobile Recharges) | 5% | Maximum cashback of ₹500 per statement cycle. |
| Swiggy, Zomato and Ola | 4% | Same as above combined capping. |
| Other Spends* | 2% | NIL |
- *Cashback cannot be earned on transactions made on Educational Services, Fuel Spends, Rental Payments, Insurance Premium Payments, EMI transactions or purchases converted to EMI, Wallet loading transactions, Govt Payments and Gold/Jewelry Purchases
- Cashback earned for the purchases during the current billing cycle will be credited in the next billing cycle 3 days before the statement generation date
- No cash-back redemption fee is applicable
This card is still a leader for offline spending since it offers 2% unlimited flat statement credit at such a low fee point. This credit card has one of the most clean statements I have ever seen regarding cashback calculations.
Other Benefits
Airport Lounge Access
Domestic Airport Lounge Access
Complimentary Limit – 4 Visits/ Calendar year within India only for primary cardholders.
Access Via – Credit Card
Network – Visa Signature/ MasterCard World
Fuel Surcharge Waiver
1% waiver for transactions between ₹400 to ₹4000. Maximum surcharge waiver of ₹500 per statement cycle.
Forex Markup
Forex markup charges are applicable of 3.5%+GST.
TechnoFino Maximum
Paying bills of ₹10,000 on the Google Pay app or using the card on select merchants ₹12,500 will maximize your savings of ₹500 per month. Rest the card can be used on all offline and online merchants for unlimited 2% cashback.
TechnoFino Recommends
Amid all the devaluations this card still has some steam left especially the 2% unlimited cashback on offline spending. At such a low fee point, easy to achieve fee waiver, and reasonable cappings on a usually low rewarding category like bill payments this card is a showstopper as of now.
Currently, the Axis Bank credit card is being issued only by Google Pay on an invite-only basis. You can also apply it on the Axis Bank mobile app if you have a pre-qualified offer. I had used this card quite extensively along with Axis Flipkart since its launch but got rid of them in 2023 when I started transitioning to travel credit cards. A word of caution for Apple users since GPay doesn’t support bill payments using a credit card on iOS.
Using SBI Cashback for online and Axis Ace for offline is also good if you like to over-optimize your spending. Its direct competitors are Standard Chartered Smart and Axis Flipkart.
Watch Review Video On YouTube: https://youtu.be/6L8_p01OvFM
Are you holding the Axis Ace Credit Card? Tell us in the comments below about your experience.
Chief Editor, TechnoFino.
Personal finance nerd! Physics enthusiast and trainer. When not into Physics, he is minting points and hunting for the next best credit card for himself.
Any way to add this card to google pay in IOS?
I’m using this as axis offered me in their app.
But i could not use to its full potential, only for offline spends i can use.
Not possible on iOS device. But you can add this card to Gpay app on your family member’s android device without inserting your SIM card. OTP will be sufficient.
I was using this card this way since long when it was giving unlimited 5% 🙂
This card offers 4 domestic lounge access apart from 8 number as mentioned by you. Anyway it’s a great card.
Corrected. Thanks for pointing out the typo.