Axis Bank Launches Burgundy Private Credit Card for the Ultra HNI – Review

By | December 21, 2019

Axis bank has recently launched a new credit card named Burgundy Private Credit Card for its Private banking customers. Its targeted for the Ultra Rich (Ultra HNI) Indians with high net relationship value. This card is designed for the segment of customers holding cards like Amex Centurion & Citi Ultima.

So as usual, do not expect more “rewards”, because customers in such profiles aren’t attracted towards those reward points but happy if a card makes their busy life a easy one.

  • Eligibility: 5Cr + Net Relationship Value
  • Joining/Annual Fee: Nil (Rs.50,000 if customer downgrades the account)
  • Welcome/Renewal Bonus: 30,000 Points (not updated on site yet)

Features & Benefits

  • Form Factor: Its a Metal Card
  • Card Network: Visa Infinite
  • Rewards Earn Rate: 1.5% on all txns (15 EDGE REWARD points for every Rs. 200 spent on your card.)
  • Forex Markup Fee: Nil
  • Cash w/d charges & Interest Charges: Nil
  • Airport Meet & Assist: 8 Complimentary Airport Meet & Greet Services
  • Domestic Airport Lounge Access: Unlimited via Visa (primary & Add-on cards) + 12 Free Visits for Guests on Primary card
  • International Airport Lounge Access: Unlimited via Priority Pass (primary & Add-on cards) + 12 Free Visits for Guests on Primary PP card
  • Movie benefit: Bookmyshow Buy1 Get1 Offer, both movie & non-movie tickets like events, activities, etc. Limits: 5 times in a month for movies (upto Rs.500 per ticket) & 5 times for Non-movies (upto Rs.1000 per ticket)
  • Dining Benefit: Taj Epicure, EazyDiner Prime membership for savings up to 25% or more at fine dine restaurants.
  • Golf benefit: 50 complimentary rounds of golf per year.
  • Hotel Benefit: Save 15%-50% on Oberoi. Club Marriott (APAC) & Accor Plus (APAC) Memberships
  • Airport Transfers: 25% OFF on international transfers, 30% Off on Domestic transfers via concierge.
  • Concierge Services: 24/7 concierge for travel/dining/gifting/ shopping/events

That’s a decent set of benefits and not to mention, its fulfils one of my wishes for 2020 as well (0% markup fee) 🙂

USP of the Card

Just incase if you don’t know,

  • This is the First Credit Card in India with 0% markup Fee
  • This is the First Credit Card in India with 0% charges on “cash withdrawal & interest charges”

So the USP of this card is its Nil fee on Foreign Currency markup Fees, Cash w/d & Interest charges. What this means is a single card can act as a Credit/Debit & Forex card.

This is a BIG move considering the fact that the bank would miss out a significant revenue on markup fee, which is one of the major revenue stream for credit card companies.

Is it Worth it?

There are two ways to look into this,

First, as someone who prefers to have convenience while travelling across multiple countries. In this perspective, its very well worth it for the convenience it comes with as one could goto any country, swipe anywhere and withdraw cash like a local with one card. No charges, nothing. 

Let me tell you, its an amazing feeling to use a card like that as I’m able to achieve this even without this card by using Indusind Signature Debit card which also comes with 0% markup fee.

So i save a lot of time, energy & money in converting INR to other currencies and all that, but the problem is its a DEBIT card so you miss out on the extra layer of security which a credit card has.

Second, as someone like us on Cardexpert where we usually chase the reward rate one way or other. In this perspective, simply put – its not worth it.

Bottomline

  • Cardexpert Rating: 4/5 [yasr_overall_rating]

Its undoubtedly an amazing card for world travellers moving in & out of multiple countries frequently and wishes to have a convenient option for making payments.

But that aside, it doesn’t sound attractive with other benefits. For ex, it could have had more complimentary meet & greet benefit as even Axis Magnus has same limits, better Hotel memberships & more complimentary services like Airport drop, etc. But then its a free card compared to Centurion at ~4L fee and Ultima at ~1.5L fee.

So this is not a great stand-alone card, but a very good addition to your existing ones. If you’re someone who’s eligible to get this card, here’s how your strategy would be like,

  • Use Amex Centurion/Plat Charge for Hotel benefits & concierge
  • Use Infinia if you love 2X/10X rewards
  • Use Axis Burgundy Private Card for convenience

Overall a good innovation from Axis bank by finally introducing 0% markup fee concept to India, yet could have done better for a card that demands 5Cr NRV.

What’s your take on the new Axis Burgundy Private Credit Card? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Author: Siddharth

Helping Indians to choose right credit cards, pick right offers and enjoy luxury vacations for less. Day & night exploring the spiritual reality of our human existence.

29 thoughts on “Axis Bank Launches Burgundy Private Credit Card for the Ultra HNI – Review

  1. SH

    Interesting times for sure. The market is heating up at both ends.

    They are offering zero markup on FX, so it is a signal that this is for globe totters, but they are not offering any status with chains like Marriott or Hilton. So that in an inherent contradiction.

    Also this is not my cup of tea. I am happy with what I have…:-)

    Reply
    1. saurav

      They are giving various other benefits…. Hotel Membership is also there and BTW this metallic card comes in a safe box which is OTP protected and has lock access to it. Inshort this is for people whose networth is more than 100 cr not for AAM JANTA and hence a niche product.

      Reply
      1. Vikram K

        @saurav : Do you work with the bank or were you just one of the first customers to be delivered the card 🙂

        Please do provide more details on the hotel memberships and a hands on review

        Reply
      2. Neo

        Could you elaborate on the same ? Looks like you already have the card with you

        Reply
  2. Natarajan

    Simply put most of us here can’t even get the card even if we wish for.

    Reply
  3. Ankit

    Indusind debit card isn’t exactly “no fees”. I’ve been charged fees which they claim is the difference in forex rates. How can that be if it’s a debit card? Doesn’t the money get debited immediately? Nobody at Indus could confirm this so I shut down the account.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Those 2 digit charges are usually insignificant in my experience. Or, were you getting any big difference?

      Reply
  4. Ismail

    Instead of keeping 5cr in various products at Axis bank why not buy property with 4cr and get rent of atleast 50k?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      TG are those who’ve 100-200 crs, so they’ll have some investments with bank of 5Cr range, for diversification.

      Reply
    2. Nischal

      No might be a bad choice . 5 crore invested in bonds they say Net relationship value which includes demat account also . So secured bond like UP power finance will give 9.5% interest quarterly so you will be making 12 lakhs every 3 months or 4 lakhs a month now decide yourself which is better 50k a month or 4 lakhs a months.

      Reply
  5. Ankit Malhotra

    For somebody with 5Cr NRV, the fee waiver for both POS usage and cash withdrawal is really an insignificant benefit given the fact that the bank and the card in particular has not much USP. This really doesn’t make sense, unless the bank had done a use case analysis for their existing customers to ask them if they want this benefit compared to losing a significant amount to super premium cards like Centurion and Ultima which come loaded with features which someone at that NRV would really value and be able to utilize if they travel a lot internationally. If this is a product of bank analysis of target customer requirements, this honestly demonstrates, the penny wise pound foolish attitude demonstrated by some Indian customers in their overall financial planning.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Looks like they didn’t design it to replace Centurion. But yes, wish they come up with a card with all those memberships. Hope that happens in future as they’re stepping into this game only now.

      Reply
  6. The Outrigger

    Would having a 5cr business loan qualify for this? Love the 0% markup fee and meet & greets.

    Reply
      1. Neo

        Guess demat is out of NRV calculations . Recd a mail from Citi.Dont remember the date from though..

        Reply
  7. Jambui

    Lets calculate

    This card 1.5% rewards – 0%forex = 1.5% return
    Infinia/diners = 3.33% + 1%(global value prog) – 2% + 0.36%gst -3 = 1.97% return(upto 1 lac per month billing spend for global value, after that 0.97%).
    Unless your forex spending exceeds 12lacs pa this card is not worth chasing for.

    For Citi prestige users who value each point @ Re.1
    8(8points for int txn) – 3.5(con) -.63(gst)% = 3.87% return however it’s a different game altogether.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      You’re right. But this card is targeted to those who don’t like to do these calculations 😉

      Reply
      1. Ankit Malhotra

        Ppl dont reach where this card is positioned without being very good at calculations.

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          True. But they no longer interested in calculations that gives small returns. They’re aiming on big numbers u know 🙂

          Reply
          1. AM

            Very rightly said someone who value his time 100 usd per hour won’t waste time in saving 200 or 300 INR

  8. Praveen Krishnakumar

    I feel the program is little rushed . I tried to get few details regarding this program but none of them have any idea regarding this program . May be they are focusing only on existing hni in Axis bank customers .

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Not really, someone I know got an invite for this and he already applied for it. Ask RM/BM to cross check with the metro cities, if you’re away.

      Reply
  9. Roy

    Those cards are yet to be delivered to people who hold active burgundy cards (debit and credit). I personally prefer that card because when you make multi-million offshore transaction, it saves a whole lot of money. Just to give you a brief idea, two years back I had buy something worth ~1.2 crore. This card would have had saved me ~4.2L on that same purchase. Hence, my point being, when someone hold that card, it may not make sense to make small purchase, (although people hold the card will be making purchase of 6-7 figure only) but it will definitely make sense to targeted customers who make big transaction. Nonetheless, it’s the best credit card so far. As for benefits.. I personally don’t need benefits like Centurion because it will overlap my active Centurion. Whoever designed the schemes, they/he/she knew, it’s meant to compliment Centurion .. not replace it. If their idea was to replace Centurion, these card would have been big flop. Because Centurion has the best flex value.

    Reply
  10. Unni Krishnan

    Can you please compare Axis Burgundy and DBS treasures accounts and suggest your choice Thanks

    Reply
    1. Krishna

      Axis let’s you get into this program around 3cr Nrv. The debit card gives you BookMyShow bogo and domestic lounge access . You get premium class banking services , much better than Imperia . Regarding the credit card they are very serious about 5cr nrv ! As said in the review the credit card will supplement if you have infinia or Amex plat or diners .

      Reply
  11. AG

    Hi,

    What would the account opening cheque amount be? And can we apply for the credit card right away?
    And how long can one stay in this program before being downgraded to another varient on not maintaining the NRV.

    Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Subhankar

      5 Cr but can be negotiated to 3 Cr. You need to maintain for 3 months, then apply through RM. If you don’t maintain for straight 1 year, account will be downgraded.
      If you’re planning to get downgraded and keeping it, it’s a bad choice. No fee waiver for it. It’s a card which doesn’t come with any pre-set credit limit. I’d rather say get Reserve, better card if you’re ok with 1.5% forex markup. With 7 cr+ NRV in Burgundy Private, you can actually have it without any pre-set limit.

      Reply
  12. NDR

    I hold a Axis burgundy private Debit card…Can anyone explain me about the benefits of the card please 🙃

    Reply

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