ICICI Bank Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card Review

For the first time in the history of ICICI Bank Credit Cards, the bank has introduced a rewarding super premium credit card named Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card. Essentially, ICICI Bank has taken feedback on the previously launched regular Emeralde Credit Card and addressed those shortcomings, such as the reward rate, by making a few changes and launching a new product.

Here’s a detailed review of the newly launched ICICI Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card, which is currently being offered on an invite-only basis.

Overview

Type	Super Premium Credit Card
Reward Rate	3%
Annual Fee	12,499 INR + GST
Best for	Welcome Benefits
USP	Taj Epicure Membership with 1 Night Stay

ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card is a wonderful credit card not only for it’s welcome benefits but also for it’s attractive reward rate.

Joining Fees

Joining / Annual Fee	Rs.12,499+GST
Welcome Benefit	– 12,500 Points (12,500 INR value) – Taj Epicure Membership with 1 Night Stay
Renewal Fee	Rs.12,499+GST
Renewal Benefit	12,500 Points (12,500 INR value)
Renewal Fee Waiver	Spend Rs.10L in the card anniversary year

As you can see, all of a sudden ICICI Bank has become quite generous. I’ve never seen any other Credit Card Issuer being this generous on the welcome benefit. It’s almost 2X the value of what we pay.

Taj Epicure is heavily loaded as you might know and if you use all those benefits you might even get 3X of what you’ve paid.

And fortunately there is also a renewal fee waiver condition of 10 Lakhs p.a. which is very much feasible for most in this segment.

Note: I didn’t receive the welcome points automatically despite receiving an email alert. However, raising a request with wealth support got the points added the same day.

Design

The design is beautiful just like the regular Emeralde Credit Card and it is being issued only on Mastercard network as of now.

While the design looks elegant, I wish they increase the brightness of Mastercard logo a bit as it looks dull now, as you can see above.

It’s a metal card and so don’t forget that the card comes with a 3,500 INR card replacement fee just incase you missed it.

Reward Points

SPEND TYPE	REWARDS	REWARD RATE (FLIGHTS/HOTELS)	Max. Cap ( Per Stmt Cycle)
Regular Spends	6 RP / 200 INR	3%	Nil
Grocery	6 RP / 200 INR	3%	1000 RP (Max: 33K INR spend)
Utilities	6 RP / 200 INR	3%	1000 RP (Max: 33K INR spend)
Education	6 RP / 200 INR	3%	1000 RP (Max: 33K INR spend)
Insurance Spends	6 RP / 200 INR	3%	5000 RP (Max: 1.67L spend)

• Redemption Fee: Nil
• Tax, Fuel & Rent payments are excluded for Reward Points
• 1% fee on Rent Payments
• All Capping are set as per Statement Cycle

You get to enjoy 3% reward rate on most of the spends and those that have limits are quite sensible. Note that Grocery, Utilities & Education Spends will have SEPARATE 1000 RP cap for EACH category.

We’ll have to thank the one who designed this reward system limits because this is probably one of the few cards in the industry that follows the common sense on max caps. Though, I feel Education could have had better limits.

It’s sheer stupidity of some banks to just keep on adding MCC’s every other quarter to exclusion list, instead, setting such decent caps is a good move as most regular spenders wont be affected this way. Well done ICICI Bank!

Redemption

Just like most other super premium credit cards, ICICI Emeralde Private Credit Card is also focused on Flight & Hotel redemptions to extract higher value of 1RP = 1 INR.

So if you’re not interested in travel redemptions, your reward rate will go for a toss. Though, it is to be noted that some branded vouchers like US Polo, Allen Solly, etc are still at 1:1 if redeemed for a higher amount like 10K INR.

Milestone Rewards

SPEND REQUIREMENT	MILESTONE BENEFIT (EaseMYTrip Voucher)	REWARD RATE  (AS POINTS)
4 Lakhs	3,000 INR	0.75%
8 Lakhs	3,000 INR	0.75%

• EaseMYTrip Voucher can be used for Flights Only as per t&c

The milestone benefit is well-designed to provide an additional boost to the reward rate. When combined with regular rewards, it amounts to an impressive 3.75%, which is unheard of in ICICI Bank’s Proprietary Credit Cards portfolio.

The Milestone Voucher was triggered for my account within about a week of completing the transaction. So the milestone fulfillments are pretty quick too.

Points Transfer Partners

• Air India: 1:1

ICICI Bank has started coming up with an option to transfer your points to Air India. You can find the option on the home page of rewards portal.

This is good news, and I hope it leads to partnerships with many other international partners in the future. However, the transfer ratio is not exciting for Air India, as I rarely value Air India Miles at 1 Rs/mile.

Airport Lounge Access

ACCESS TYPE	VIA	LIMIT	GUEST ACCESS
Domestic Lounge Access	MasterCard	Unlimited	–
International Lounge Access	Priority Pass	Unlimited	–

The Domestic & International airport Lounge access benefit is not only for the primary cardholder but also extends to all Add-on cardmembers as well. Upto 3 Add-on Cards are complimentary with ICICI Bank Emeralde Private Credit Card.

Golf Benefit

• Complimentary Games/Lessons: Unlimited
• Coverage: 20 Domestic Golf Courses & 90 International Golf Courses

It’s rare to find Credit Cards with access to international golf courses, so it’s good to see that with a coverage of 90 International Golf Courses.

However, remember that only 1 booking can be held at any point in time. So, practically it’s not unlimited, that’s fine though.

Forex Markup Fee

• Foreign Currency Markup Fee: 2%+GST = 2.36%
• Rewards: 3% (3.7% if you hit milestone)
• Net Gain: 3% – 2.36% = 0.4% (minimum gain)

Similar to most other super-premium credit cards, the ICICI Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card also offers a discounted forex markup fee of 2%, resulting in a net gain of close to 0.5%, leaving a lot of room for improvement.

Other benefits

• Cash Advance Fee: Nil
• Late payment Fee: Nil
• Over-limit Fee: Nil
• Bookmyshow: Buy one ticket and get up to 750 off on the second ticket on movies/sport events/theatre/concert tickets, twice per month
• EazyDiner Prime Membership

My Experience

I asked my new ICICI Wealth RM to inform me about the steps to upgrade as soon as the card goes live. Once it went live, the RM patiently followed up with me almost every week for over a month, which was a bit surprising from ICICI RM’s.

One day, I decided to go for it.

The RM connected me to the representative who handles credit cards at the branch. She took the request for an upgrade from my recently issued ICICI Sapphiro Credit Card, which previously replaced my Intermiles Sapphiro card.

The service request was approved within 3 days and I was able to see the card on my app. I received the physical card in the next few days. All of this happened within a week, and it was super smooth.

Tip: For those who’re stuck with an upgrade, all you need is to find the person who can take the request. Surprisingly it can as well be done by the phone banking officers but maybe not all are aware of it.

I did use the same route to apply for an upgrade for some of my clients and most of them went through successfully, except for one, which we’ll discuss below.

Eligibility

• For Fresh Applications: Invite Only as per Bank
• For Upgrade, Credit Limit on Existing ICICI Bank Credit Card: ~10 Lakhs

Ideally, such invite-only cards are issued to existing customers with a good relationship with the bank. However, the bank may change its requirements from time to time.

For fresh applications, ICICI Bank may not issue the card easily. However, if you have other bank cards with a credit limit of over 10 lakhs, you may give it a try.

For existing ICICI Bank credit card customers, the expected credit limit on the existing card for an upgrade is in the range of 10 lakhs. However, one might need to hold premium cards like Rubyx/Sapphiro to increase the probability of an upgrade, as I’ve seen 1 case getting declined with a 15 lakh limit on the Coral Card.

If you already have the Emeralde Card, you might as well see the upgrade option on the app.

If you couldn’t get the card for any reason, you should first try to get the regular ICICI Emeralde Credit Card and then go for the upgrade, which will be lot easier.

Devaluation Meter

• Devaluation meter reading: Low

Except for the lucrative welcome benefit, all other benefits are well capped, so I’m not expecting any major devaluation. However, since they’re new to a high-rewards card, they might keep optimizing the redemption value for vouchers.

Also, as of now, the bank isn’t issuing the card easily for everyone, which is a good sign. If that continues, it may take well over 2-3 years for any major devaluation to happen.

Bottom line

• Cardexpert Rating: 4.8/5

With the Emeralde Private Credit Card, ICICI Bank has finally introduced a rewarding super premium credit card for those who have been waiting for it. Part of the reason for this achievement is likely because ICICI Bank has exited Payback Rewards and launched its own rewards program.

With pretty good rewards and wonderful joining benefits, it’s certainly one of the best credit card in India for 2024.

While this is a good start, I hope the bank soon brings in more airline/hotel transfer partners and an accelerated reward system like HDFC Smartbuy’s 5X/10X rewards in the future to compete well with the King of Super Premium Credit Cards.