Axis Magnus HDFC Infinia and Axis Magnus comparison (as of July 22nd 2023)

[Cardmarvel]

Now that Axis Magnus's devaluation is confirmed, I thought of comparing it with HDFC Infinia. I own both the cards (actually both me and wife currently hold Magnus and Infinia). So I've personal interest in the comparison.

Joining/Annual Fees and Benefits

First, regarding the fees. Both have similar joining fees of Rs 12500, though you can get Infinia plastic at a cheaper price of Rs 10000. The cards have similar renewal fees as well. Again, Infinia plastic is actually cheaper. But the significant advantage of HDFC Infinia is that they also give back equal number of points on paying annual fees. Axis Magnus is going to discontinue to that. That way, HDFC Infinia scores above Magnus on joining/annual fee benefits

General Spends

Infinia has a general reward rate of 5 points per Rs 150 spend, while Magnus has a rate of 6 points per Rs 200 spend, upto Rs 200000 per month. After that the rate goes up to 35 points per Rs 200.

		Infinia				Magnus				Magnus + Burdundy
General Spends	Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points
20000	666. (3.33% )	666. (3.33% )	666. (3.33% )		1200 (6% )	240 (1.2% )	480 (2.4% )		1200 (6% )	240 (1.2% )	960 (4.8% )
100000	3330. (3.33% )	3330. (3.33% )	3330. (3.33% )		6000 (6% )	1200 (1.2% )	2400 (2.4% )		6000 (6% )	1200 (1.2% )	4800 (4.8% )
300000	9990. (3.33% )	9990. (3.33% )	9990. (3.33% )		35250 (11.75% )	7050 (2.35% )	14100 (4.7% )		35250 (11.75% )	7050 (2.35% )	28200 (9.4% )

So unless you've Magnus + Burgundy, Infinia does better for general spends. It also scores over Magnus + Burgundy if you are converting points into cash equivalent. But for higher monthly spends and Burgundy and transferring to airline/hotels, Magnus wins hands down. Now remember Burgundy 5:4 is time bound and Axis may change it any day. So I would rather go with Infinia.

TravelEdge/SmartBuy

Magnus offers 5x on TravelEdge for Hotel and flight booking, but now capped at 2L per month. After that the reward rate drops to 35 points per Rs 200. On the other hand, Infinia offers 5x on flight booking and 10x on hotel booking, but caps it to 15000 points per month. There is also a daily cap of 7500 points, so the actual Infinia benefits might even be lower.

Travel Portal		Infinia				Magnus				Magnus + Burdundy
Hotel	Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points
50000	15000 (30% )	15000 (30% )	15000 (30% )		15000 (30% )	3000 (6% )	6000 (12% )		15000 (30% )	3000 (6% )	12000 (24% )
100000	15000 (15% )	15000 (15% )	15000 (15% )		30000 (30% )	6000 (6% )	12000 (12% )		30000 (30% )	6000 (6% )	24000 (24% )
300000	15000 (5% )	15000 (5% )	15000 (5% )		77500 (25.83% )	15500 (5.17% )	31000 (10.33% )		77500 (25.83% )	15500 (5.17% )	62000 (20.67% )
Airline
50000	8250 (16.5% )	8250 (16.5% )	8250 (16.5% )		15000 (30% )	3000 (6% )	6000 (12% )		15000 (30% )	3000 (6% )	12000 (24% )
100000	15000 (15% )	15000 (15% )	15000 (15% )		30000 (30% )	6000 (6% )	12000 (12% )		30000 (30% )	6000 (6% )	24000 (24% )
300000	15000 (5% )	15000 (5% )	15000 (5% )		77500 (25.83% )	15500 (5.17% )	31000 (10.33% )		77500 (25.83% )	15500 (5.17% )	62000 (20.67% )

For higher monthly spends on hotel and airline booking, Magnus + Burgundy beats Infinia by a huge margin. But for spends less than Rs 50000 for hotel bookings and Rs 1L for airline bookings, Infinia does very well. The monthly cap of 15000 points on Infinia makes it less attractive if your monthly (or even one time) spends are significant. If you spend 5-6L on hotel/airline once or twice in a year, you would want to seriously consider keeping Magnus and opening Burgundy account. Otherwise you can live with Infinia.

Gyftr Amazon Pay

Infinia still offers 5x on Amazon Pay vouchers whereas Magnus has scaled it down to 2x. With that context, Infinia scores inline with Magnus + Burgundy and beats Magnus handsomely

Gyftr		Infinia				Magnus				Magnus + Burdundy
APay	Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points
20000	3300 (16.5% )	3300 (16.5% )	3300 (16.5% )		2400 (12% )	480 (2.4% )	960 (4.8% )		2400 (12% )	480 (2.4% )	1920 (9.6% )
ASV
20000	3300 (16.5% )	3300 (16.5% )	3300 (16.5% )		3600 (18% )	720 (3.6% )	1440 (7.2% )		3600 (18% )	720 (3.6% )	2880 (14.4% )

Conclusion

While Magnus has been devalued to a huge extent, it's still a good card for those who can keep Burgundy relationship, especially if monthly spends are significantly higher than Infinia's monthly cap. If you have (like me) multiple Magnus cards in the family, there is no point holding more than one. In fact, it's now detrimental to split expenses on 2 cards. I will surrender one of Magnus cards, but will keep the other and also maintain Burgundy status. Will review this decision a year from now when my Magnus comes for renewal again.

If I missed something or there are errors, please bring to my attention. Will update accordingly.

 

[divyam_taparia]

One question I want to ask Axis fraternity.

Why they are making everything so complicated. They have no proper plans or a strong team management.

Devaluation plan they came up with, how complicated they made. First they leaked there own documents. Then everything on hold drama. Publishing then removing documents from websites. Then official anouncing even worse deval plan.

Is this how you manage a mutli billion dollor company? A company gains its reputation by the decisions they make in the good and bad situations. Take a example of 'Cafe coffee day'. They managed to survive at the lowest point by making toughest decisions.


Even a lay man like me can tell that it's the poorest management.

I have no hopes from Axis now.

they give unrealistic benefits to increase customer base and now is taking them back typical axis strategy

 

[divyam_taparia]

Great effort OP, but honestly anyone with infinia - should just keep it simple and go with Infinia for all use cases unless hitting that accelerated rewards cap consistently. The mental peace infinia provides is unmatched

i agree with reward ratio with infinia is like 3% if axis stil gives u 4.8% (with burgundy) its good or go with infinia

 

[wokrishnahai]

Now that Axis Magnus's devaluation is confirmed, I thought of comparing it with HDFC Infinia. I own both the cards (actually both me and wife currently hold Magnus and Infinia). So I've personal interest in the comparison.

Joining/Annual Fees and Benefits

First, regarding the fees. Both have similar joining fees of Rs 12500, though you can get Infinia plastic at a cheaper price of Rs 10000. The cards have similar renewal fees as well. Again, Infinia plastic is actually cheaper. But the significant advantage of HDFC Infinia is that they also give back equal number of points on paying annual fees. Axis Magnus is going to discontinue to that. That way, HDFC Infinia scores above Magnus on joining/annual fee benefits

General Spends

Infinia has a general reward rate of 5 points per Rs 150 spend, while Magnus has a rate of 6 points per Rs 200 spend, upto Rs 200000 per month. After that the rate goes up to 35 points per Rs 200.

		Infinia				Magnus				Magnus + Burdundy
General Spends	Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points
20000	666. (3.33% )	666. (3.33% )	666. (3.33% )		1200 (6% )	240 (1.2% )	480 (2.4% )		1200 (6% )	240 (1.2% )	960 (4.8% )
100000	3330. (3.33% )	3330. (3.33% )	3330. (3.33% )		6000 (6% )	1200 (1.2% )	2400 (2.4% )		6000 (6% )	1200 (1.2% )	4800 (4.8% )
300000	9990. (3.33% )	9990. (3.33% )	9990. (3.33% )		35250 (11.75% )	7050 (2.35% )	14100 (4.7% )		35250 (11.75% )	7050 (2.35% )	28200 (9.4% )

So unless you've Magnus + Burgundy, Infinia does better for general spends. It also scores over Magnus + Burgundy if you are converting points into cash equivalent. But for higher monthly spends and Burgundy and transferring to airline/hotels, Magnus wins hands down. Now remember Burgundy 5:4 is time bound and Axis may change it any day. So I would rather go with Infinia.

TravelEdge/SmartBuy

Magnus offers 5x on TravelEdge for Hotel and flight booking, but now capped at 2L per month. After that the reward rate drops to 35 points per Rs 200. On the other hand, Infinia offers 5x on flight booking and 10x on hotel booking, but caps it to 15000 points per month. There is also a daily cap of 7500 points, so the actual Infinia benefits might even be lower.

Travel Portal		Infinia				Magnus				Magnus + Burdundy
Hotel	Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points
50000	15000 (30% )	15000 (30% )	15000 (30% )		15000 (30% )	3000 (6% )	6000 (12% )		15000 (30% )	3000 (6% )	12000 (24% )
100000	15000 (15% )	15000 (15% )	15000 (15% )		30000 (30% )	6000 (6% )	12000 (12% )		30000 (30% )	6000 (6% )	24000 (24% )
300000	15000 (5% )	15000 (5% )	15000 (5% )		77500 (25.83% )	15500 (5.17% )	31000 (10.33% )		77500 (25.83% )	15500 (5.17% )	62000 (20.67% )
Airline
50000	8250 (16.5% )	8250 (16.5% )	8250 (16.5% )		15000 (30% )	3000 (6% )	6000 (12% )		15000 (30% )	3000 (6% )	12000 (24% )
100000	15000 (15% )	15000 (15% )	15000 (15% )		30000 (30% )	6000 (6% )	12000 (12% )		30000 (30% )	6000 (6% )	24000 (24% )
300000	15000 (5% )	15000 (5% )	15000 (5% )		77500 (25.83% )	15500 (5.17% )	31000 (10.33% )		77500 (25.83% )	15500 (5.17% )	62000 (20.67% )

For higher monthly spends on hotel and airline booking, Magnus + Burgundy beats Infinia by a huge margin. But for spends less than Rs 50000 for hotel bookings and Rs 1L for airline bookings, Infinia does very well. The monthly cap of 15000 points on Infinia makes it less attractive if your monthly (or even one time) spends are significant. If you spend 5-6L on hotel/airline once or twice in a year, you would want to seriously consider keeping Magnus and opening Burgundy account. Otherwise you can live with Infinia.

Gyftr Amazon Pay

Infinia still offers 5x on Amazon Pay vouchers whereas Magnus has scaled it down to 2x. With that context, Infinia scores inline with Magnus + Burgundy and beats Magnus handsomely

Gyftr		Infinia				Magnus				Magnus + Burdundy
APay	Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points		Points	Cash/Cash Equivalent	Miles/Hotel Points
20000	3300 (16.5% )	3300 (16.5% )	3300 (16.5% )		2400 (12% )	480 (2.4% )	960 (4.8% )		2400 (12% )	480 (2.4% )	1920 (9.6% )
ASV
20000	3300 (16.5% )	3300 (16.5% )	3300 (16.5% )		3600 (18% )	720 (3.6% )	1440 (7.2% )		3600 (18% )	720 (3.6% )	2880 (14.4% )

Conclusion

While Magnus has been devalued to a huge extent, it's still a good card for those who can keep Burgundy relationship, especially if monthly spends are significantly higher than Infinia's monthly cap. If you have (like me) multiple Magnus cards in the family, there is no point holding more than one. In fact, it's now detrimental to split expenses on 2 cards. I will surrender one of Magnus cards, but will keep the other and also maintain Burgundy status. Will review this decision a year from now when my Magnus comes for renewal again.

If I missed something or there are errors, please bring to my attention. Will update accordingly.

Hey, The above screenshot would help you to change the calculations and take in consideration the processing fee charged by HDFC Bank the Amazon pay voucher.

Cheers,

 

[Cardmarvel]

Great effort OP, but honestly anyone with infinia - should just keep it simple and go with Infinia for all use cases unless hitting that accelerated rewards cap consistently. The mental peace infinia provides is unmatched

Yeah. In the last week, I have made all Gyftr expenses on Infinia. Not because of any calculations, but it just seemed easier. I'd hit my Magnus monthly milestone with income tax payment and Infinia seems a better deal for Gyftr once again.

 

[phagocyte536]

Second thoughts.. even infinia users would do well to have Atlas if airmiles interests them more .

How?

Normal spends are better - 4% airmiles vs 3.33%

Traveledge bookings - 20% airlimes vs 16.67 (in reality even lesser than 16.67 as hdfc smartbuy flight booking adds convinirnce fee)

Also there's no cap on how many accelerated ERs one can earn on Atlas. (International bookings on smartbuy will easily exhaust the accelerated ER for that day and month -7.5k and15k limit)

I plan to close my myzone and take atlas soon.

Do correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Cardmarvel]

Second thoughts.. even infinia users would do well to have Atlas if airmiles interests them more .

That maybe true, but Infinia has many other advantages. It has a great priority pass program. I have taken guests with me and even though T&C says they will be charged, HDFC never charged me so far. I have used Golf lessons a few times and they were quite easy to book (and I did not pay anything). I would rather build my Infinia history than running behind Atlas. I might keep Magnus for occasional high value TravelEdge transactions.

 

[phagocyte536]

That maybe true, but Infinia has many other advantages. It has a great priority pass program. I have taken guests with me and even though T&C says they will be charged, HDFC never charged me so far. I have used Golf lessons a few times and they were quite easy to book (and I did not pay anything). I would rather build my Infinia history than running behind Atlas. I might keep Magnus for occasional high value TravelEdge transactions.

I am not suggesting a infinia vs atlas rather a infinia + atlas. Atlas's joining bonus and renewal bonus miles effectively makes it LTF for who value miles highly.

Also what do you mean by infinia history? How does it help

Magnus with ~15k renewal and no renewal benefit but still lower returns than atlas on traveledge ( unless you have burgundy and cross 1.5L ) seems like a huge loser to someone who already has Infinia.

 

[wokrishnahai]

Yeah. In the last week, I have made all Gyftr expenses on Infinia. Not because of any calculations, but it just seemed easier. I'd hit my Magnus monthly milestone with income tax payment and Infinia seems a better deal for Gyftr once again.

Gotcha. I just thought to update you. Because I was following the same process. Magnus done, so using DCB to purchase vouchers. and, then this hit me so I thought to share with you.

 

[HN74]

Second thoughts.. even infinia users would do well to have Atlas if airmiles interests them more .

How?

Normal spends are better - 4% airmiles vs 3.33%

Traveledge bookings - 20% airlimes vs 16.67 (in reality even lesser than 16.67 as hdfc smartbuy flight booking adds convinirnce fee)

Also there's no cap on how many accelerated ERs one can earn on Atlas. (International bookings on smartbuy will easily exhaust the accelerated ER for that day and month -7.5k and15k limit)

I plan to close my myzone and take atlas soon.

Do correct me if I'm wrong.

Atlas doesn't have a 5x multiplier on travelEdge as far as I know. Or anywhere else for that matter.

It does give 5EM per 100 travel spend so 10% airmile return

 

[phagocyte536]

Atlas doesn't have a 5x multiplier on travelEdge as far as I know. Or anywhere else for that matter.

It does give 5EM per 100 travel spend so 10% airmile return

Oh No.. I kept reading it as 5X 🙁 So the max we can get it 10% airmiles. This will be better for people with infinia only if that month's accelerated smartbuy of 15k is exhausted. Atlas gives 10% miles without any caps.

For normal spends ER -- 4% airmiles of Atlas vs 3.33% on Infinia -- this makes serious difference for only the ones with a very large spend. Otherwise 0.67% isn't worth the hassle.

Another advantage of Atlas is non travel edge hotel/flight spends also get 10% airmiles based on MCC. Though I read on the forum that sometimes people don't report right MCC that causes a loss on this.

Overall - Have Atlas along with infinia if travel spends overshoot smartbuy 5X accelerated limits, otherwise not worth the hassle. I would like to still take one as we usually target at least 1 international trip/year and most likely that will exhaust smartbuy 15k points during the flight bookings. The card also pays for itself through joining/renewal beenfits to a large extent

 

[ismail]

i seriously think Atlas devaluation should be on the way
Axis just cannot leave a card untouched during this major devaluation wave

 

[phagocyte536]

i seriously think Atlas devaluation should be on the way
Axis just cannot leave a card untouched during this major devaluation wave

yes won't be surprised. Maybe Axis didn't realise that Atlas will also need huge burn as everyone was using magnus for travel spends instead of Atlas. Now that magnus is gone, Atlas usage will pick up

 

[K.R]

As per my understanding the offer of opening a Brugundy account with existing magnus to get 5:4 is time bound and not getting 5:4 as time bound.
In simple words. below are the scenarios
1)Magnus Card holders do not open Brugundy account or maintain the balance in the existing Brugundy account will be devalued to 5:2
2)Magnus Card holders open a Brugundy account during the offer time for Brugundy account opening offer which they will announce on Sep 1st then their Magnus will be linked with this new brugundy account and will continue to get 5:4. During this Burgundy Account Openeing offer if the customer already has Burgundy account with the required balances for Burgundy will also get 5:4
3) If the Magnus card holders opens Brugundy Account after the Brugundy account offer period they will not get 5:4 and will be at 5:2.

Not in the document :
for point 3, this may also happen that post offer period to get Brugundy customers they may extend this offer as getting a new Brugundy customer is a big thing for them than a credit card customer .

I also feel that they will bring in realtime checks where a check will be done on Brugundy Average Quarterly balance at the time of encashing ER via Airmiles or Hotels to decide if it will be 5:4 or 5:2

 

[wokrishnahai]

As per my understanding the offer of opening a Brugundy account with existing magnus to get 5:4 is time bound and not getting 5:4 as time bound.
In simple words. below are the scenarios
1)Magnus Card holders do not open Brugundy account or maintain the balance in the existing Brugundy account will be devalued to 5:2
2)Magnus Card holders open a Brugundy account during the offer time for Brugundy account opening offer which they will announce on Sep 1st then their Magnus will be linked with this new brugundy account and will continue to get 5:4. During this Burgundy Account Openeing offer if the customer already has Burgundy offer with the required balances for Burgundy will also get 5:4
3) If the Magnus card holders opens Brugundy Account after the Brugundy account offer period they will not get 5:4 and will be at 5:2.

Not in the document :
for point 3, this may also happen that post offer period to get Brugundy customers they may extend this offer as getting a new Brugundy customer is a big thing for them than a credit card customer .

I also feel that they will bring in realtime checks where a check will be done on Brugundy Average Quarterly balance at the time of encashing ER via Airmiles or Hotels to decide if it will be 5:4 or 5:2

Hey, Thanks for the reply. Even my understanding is the same. I went to the bank today and inquired about the whole thing and they are clueless including the CC team head. In fact, as per Axis's post on Twitter Magnus should be free if one opens the burgundy account.

 

[vina]

Hey, Thanks for the reply. Even my understanding is the same. I went to the bank today and inquired about the whole thing and they are clueless including the CC team head. In fact, as per Axis's post on Twitter Magnus should be free if one opens the burgundy account.

View attachment 23790

then why would anyone take Axis Select card?

 

[theneerex]

My spends on magnus were mostly on gyftr gift cards and since gyftr is devalued along with the transfer ratio, magnus does not seem useful to me anymore.

I'd like to apply for infinia, but I'm confused about the salary based criteria. I read that salaried people with income greater than 42 LPA are eligible for infinia. Is that 42 LPA pre tax or post tax? Does someone know?

 

[thedator]

I heard its 2.8L in hand salary criteria.

 

[SM24]

then why would anyone take Axis Select card?

To upgrade 🙂

 

[004archit]

Hey, Thanks for the reply. Even my understanding is the same. I went to the bank today and inquired about the whole thing and they are clueless including the CC team head. In fact, as per Axis's post on Twitter Magnus should be free if one opens the burgundy account.

View attachment 23790

This is new offer from axis? Which is start from 1 sep 2023

 

[vina]

My spends on magnus were mostly on gyftr gift cards and since gyftr is devalued along with the transfer ratio, magnus does not seem useful to me anymore.

I'd like to apply for infinia, but I'm confused about the salary based criteria. I read that salaried people with income greater than 42 LPA are eligible for infinia. Is that 42 LPA pre tax or post tax? Does someone know?

all card salary levels are in-hand.