ICICI Bank has launched the Emerald Private Metal Credit Card, which offers all the benefits of the ICICI Emerald Credit Card along with a few additional benefits.
Welcome Benefits:
Earn 6 reward points for every Rs. 200 spent.
No reward points on Tax Payment, Rent payments, EMI and Fuel purchases.
iShop Portal:
ICICI Bank has launched its accelerated rewards portal, iShop. You can book flights, hotels, or purchase gift vouchers on the iShop portal and get up to 36% value back.
Read more about the iShop Portal here: https://www.technofino.in/community...ts-portal-launched-upto-36-reward-rate.37913/
Flights: Earn 6X Reward Points – that’s 18 Reward Points for every ₹100 spent on flight bookings. (Reward Rate: 18%)
Gift Vouchers: Earn 6X Reward Points – that’s 18 Reward Points for every ₹100 spent on gift voucher purchases. (Reward Rate: 18%)
Hotels: Earn 12X Reward Points – that’s 36 Reward Points for every ₹100 spent on hotel bookings. (Reward Rate: 36%)
Reward Points Value:
Flight/Hotel Booking: 1 reward point = Rs. 1
iShop Portal Redemption: 1 reward point = Rs. 1
Gift Vouchers*: 1 reward point = Rs. 1
Rewards Catalogue [other products]: 1 reward point = Rs. 0.60
Statement Credit: 1 reward point = Rs. 0.40
*Brands' Gift Vouchers available under the 1:1 redemption ratio include:
So, in terms of redemption options, I must say this is a decent card. If you want to book a flight or hotel, you should use the ICICI iShop portal—it’s similar to the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal. However, I think iShop is better than HDFC SmartBuy for flight and hotel booking redemptions.
The main downside of the SmartBuy portal for flight or hotel bookings is that you can't use 100% reward points. However, with the ICICI Emeralde Private Metal Card on iShop, you can use 100% reward points for flight bookings and 90% reward points for hotel bookings.
Reward Rate:
iShop Portal: 3%
Gift Vouchers: 3%
Rewards Catalogue: 1.8%
Statement Credit: 1.2%
Reward Redemption:
You can redeem your ICICI Bank Reward Points on the iShop portal for booking flights, hotels, and gift vouchers. For flight bookings, you can use 100% reward points of the order value. For hotel bookings, you can use 90% reward points of the order, and for gift vouchers, you can use 50% reward points.
You can also redeem points across various categories, including movie and travel vouchers, lifestyle products, mobiles, appliances, statement credit, and more.
Redemption of reward points against the statement balance (cashback redemption) is capped at 50,000 reward points per statement cycle.
Reward Capping:
Milestone Benefits:
Spend Rs. 8 lakhs per year and receive 2 air travel vouchers worth Rs. 3000 each (total Rs. 6000) from EaseMyTrip. Reward Rate: 0.75%.
Spends 4 Lakhs and get first EaseMyTrip voucher worth Rs. 3000/-
Spends 8 Lakhs and get your second EaseMyTrip voucher worth Rs. 3000/-
Charges:
Joining Fee: Rs. 12,499 + GST.
Annual Fee: Rs. 12,499 + GST.
Annual Fee Reversal Criteria: Spend Rs. 10 lakhs in the next card membership year to have your annual fee reversed.
Card Replacement Fees: Rs. 3500/-
Opinion:
The ICICI Bank Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card is the flagship credit card of ICICI Bank. When considering the reward rate, I must say this card offers decent value back on spending. Especially after they launched their accelerated reward portal, iShop, this card has become amazingly valuable.
You can earn a minimum of 18% from iShop and up to 36% in cash value. This is no doubt one of the best accelerated reward portals of recent times, I must say.
The main drawback is that ICICI Bank does not offer a reward points transfer feature like HDFC Bank or Axis Bank.
Typically, credit cards of this nature provide the option to transfer points. However, in this case, we can only redeem our reward points for travel bookings or brand gift vouchers.
They have recently added Air India Maharaja Club as a transfer partner, but their transfer rate is horribly low—you'll get 1 point = 0.166667 Maharaja Club Points. Everyone should avoid this option for now.
I hope ICICI Bank will address this issue and introduce better transfer partners soon.
You'll receive 12,500 reward points worth ₹12,500 on joining, so mathematically, you'll only need to pay the GST (Approx. ₹2,250/-) each year, similar to the SC Ultimate credit card.
Additionally, you'll receive Taj Epicure membership for the first year with this card, allowing you to enjoy a complimentary stay at a Taj hotel. This benefit can help offset your card's joining fees effectively.
Overall, this is a very good credit card. If you are seeking a premium credit card but don't plan to redeem your reward points for airline miles and instead prefer gift vouchers or flight/hotel bookings using reward points, then this credit card is for you.
Welcome Benefits:
- Taj Epicure membership for the first year. [You'll get one stay voucher with this]
- Receive 12,500 bonus reward points after annual fee payment each year.
- EazyDiner Prime membership (renewed annually).
- Unlimited golf games/lessons for the primary cardholder.
- Unlimited domestic airport lounge access using the Emerald Private Metal Credit Card for both the primary and add-on cardholders.
- Unlimited international airport lounge access using Priority Pass for both the primary and add-on cardholders.
- Buy one, get one free movie/event ticket from BookMyShow twice per month. Maximum Discount: Rs. 750 per ticket.
- Up to Rs. 12,000 refund for a maximum of 2 transactions per year on tickets booked exclusively with the Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card.
- Discounted markup fees: 2%.
- 1% fuel surcharge waiver for all transactions up to Rs. 4000. Maximum surcharges waiver - Rs. 1000 per statement cycle.
- No Extra Charges/Penalty For: Cash Withdrawal, Over limit, Late payment.
- You can get 3 complimentary add-on cards
Earn 6 reward points for every Rs. 200 spent.
No reward points on Tax Payment, Rent payments, EMI and Fuel purchases.
iShop Portal:
ICICI Bank has launched its accelerated rewards portal, iShop. You can book flights, hotels, or purchase gift vouchers on the iShop portal and get up to 36% value back.
Read more about the iShop Portal here: https://www.technofino.in/community...ts-portal-launched-upto-36-reward-rate.37913/
Flights: Earn 6X Reward Points – that’s 18 Reward Points for every ₹100 spent on flight bookings. (Reward Rate: 18%)
Gift Vouchers: Earn 6X Reward Points – that’s 18 Reward Points for every ₹100 spent on gift voucher purchases. (Reward Rate: 18%)
Hotels: Earn 12X Reward Points – that’s 36 Reward Points for every ₹100 spent on hotel bookings. (Reward Rate: 36%)
Reward Points Value:
Flight/Hotel Booking: 1 reward point = Rs. 1
iShop Portal Redemption: 1 reward point = Rs. 1
Gift Vouchers*: 1 reward point = Rs. 1
Rewards Catalogue [other products]: 1 reward point = Rs. 0.60
Statement Credit: 1 reward point = Rs. 0.40
*Brands' Gift Vouchers available under the 1:1 redemption ratio include:
- Travel Category: MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip, Yatra, ClearTrip, Hyaat, Marriott International, ITC Hotels, Taj Hotels.
- Electronics: Apple
- Luxury Brands: Tanishq, Mothercare [Luxe], G-Star Raw [Luxe], Giorgio Armani [Luxe], Emporio Armani [Luxe], Canali [Luxe], Coach [Luxe], Tumi [Luxe], Scotch & Soda [Luxe], Jimmy Choo [Luxe]
- iShop Portal Redemption: You can redeem your reward points for flight booking, hotel booking and gift voucher purchase on iShop Portal.
So, in terms of redemption options, I must say this is a decent card. If you want to book a flight or hotel, you should use the ICICI iShop portal—it’s similar to the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal. However, I think iShop is better than HDFC SmartBuy for flight and hotel booking redemptions.
The main downside of the SmartBuy portal for flight or hotel bookings is that you can't use 100% reward points. However, with the ICICI Emeralde Private Metal Card on iShop, you can use 100% reward points for flight bookings and 90% reward points for hotel bookings.
Reward Rate:
iShop Portal: 3%
Gift Vouchers: 3%
Rewards Catalogue: 1.8%
Statement Credit: 1.2%
Reward Redemption:
You can redeem your ICICI Bank Reward Points on the iShop portal for booking flights, hotels, and gift vouchers. For flight bookings, you can use 100% reward points of the order value. For hotel bookings, you can use 90% reward points of the order, and for gift vouchers, you can use 50% reward points.
You can also redeem points across various categories, including movie and travel vouchers, lifestyle products, mobiles, appliances, statement credit, and more.
Redemption of reward points against the statement balance (cashback redemption) is capped at 50,000 reward points per statement cycle.
Reward Capping:
- Reward Points earned on Insurance transaction will be capped at 5,000 Reward Points per statement cycle. [Spends required to reach maximum reward- Rs. 1,66,800]
- Reward Points earned on grocery transaction will be capped at 1,000 Reward Points per statement cycle. [Spends required to reach maximum reward- Rs. 33,400]
- Reward Points earned on Utilities transaction will be capped at 1,000 Reward Points per statement cycle. [Spends required to reach maximum reward- Rs. 33,400]
- Reward Points earned on Education transaction will be capped at 1,000 Reward Points per statement cycle. [Spends required to reach maximum reward- Rs. 33,400]
- Reward Points earned on iShop Portal transaction will be capped at 18,000 Bonus Reward Points per statement cycle.
Milestone Benefits:
Spend Rs. 8 lakhs per year and receive 2 air travel vouchers worth Rs. 3000 each (total Rs. 6000) from EaseMyTrip. Reward Rate: 0.75%.
Spends 4 Lakhs and get first EaseMyTrip voucher worth Rs. 3000/-
Spends 8 Lakhs and get your second EaseMyTrip voucher worth Rs. 3000/-
Charges:
Joining Fee: Rs. 12,499 + GST.
Annual Fee: Rs. 12,499 + GST.
Annual Fee Reversal Criteria: Spend Rs. 10 lakhs in the next card membership year to have your annual fee reversed.
Card Replacement Fees: Rs. 3500/-
Opinion:
The ICICI Bank Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card is the flagship credit card of ICICI Bank. When considering the reward rate, I must say this card offers decent value back on spending. Especially after they launched their accelerated reward portal, iShop, this card has become amazingly valuable.
You can earn a minimum of 18% from iShop and up to 36% in cash value. This is no doubt one of the best accelerated reward portals of recent times, I must say.
The main drawback is that ICICI Bank does not offer a reward points transfer feature like HDFC Bank or Axis Bank.
Typically, credit cards of this nature provide the option to transfer points. However, in this case, we can only redeem our reward points for travel bookings or brand gift vouchers.
They have recently added Air India Maharaja Club as a transfer partner, but their transfer rate is horribly low—you'll get 1 point = 0.166667 Maharaja Club Points. Everyone should avoid this option for now.
I hope ICICI Bank will address this issue and introduce better transfer partners soon.
You'll receive 12,500 reward points worth ₹12,500 on joining, so mathematically, you'll only need to pay the GST (Approx. ₹2,250/-) each year, similar to the SC Ultimate credit card.
Additionally, you'll receive Taj Epicure membership for the first year with this card, allowing you to enjoy a complimentary stay at a Taj hotel. This benefit can help offset your card's joining fees effectively.
Overall, this is a very good credit card. If you are seeking a premium credit card but don't plan to redeem your reward points for airline miles and instead prefer gift vouchers or flight/hotel bookings using reward points, then this credit card is for you.
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