American Express is making a lot of effort to make sure your wallet has one of their cards. From setting up sign-up kiosks in airports to introducing new entry-level products, India is one of their focus markets to conquer. One of their more popular cards is the American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card India which has some excellent benefits.
American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card India
This card is one of Amex’s entry-level cards with a minimum income requirement of INR 4,50,000 a year. If you already have another credit card, the chances of your application getting approved get even better.
On a typical day, on an average spend, you would get 1 Membership Rewards point for every INR 50 spent coming into your account. What makes this card worth considering is that you get 1000 bonus Membership Rewards points when you use your card for at least four swipes of a minimum of INR 1000 in a month. That means you can earn up to 12,000 bonus Membership Rewards points in a year, just for spending 48,000 rupees.
Get the American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card India for free
The American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card India usually costs INR 1,000 + taxes for the first year, but American Express is currently waiving off this fee when you apply here.
The renewal fee, which stands at INR 4,500 + taxes, which will be waived off if you do eligible spends of INR 1,50,000 or more during the preceding year. Couldn’t put a lot of spends on the card? Get 50% off on the renewal fee if your eligible spends stand at INR 90,000 or more. Eligible spends do not include Cash Advances, Express Cash transactions, drafts made from the Account, Balance Transfers and fees.
American Express is currently issuing The American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card India in the following cities:
- Ahmedabad
- Bangalore
- Chandigarh
- Chennai
- Coimbatore
- Delhi/NCR
- Hyderabad
- Indore
- Jaipur
- Kolkata
- Mumbai
- Pune
- Surat
- Vadodara
- Visakhapatnam
Like I said ahead, what makes this card great is that you can earn 12,000 bonus Membership Rewards points a year by spending just INR 48,000/year. That gives me a reward rate more than 10%.
What do you guys think of the American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card India? Apply for lifetime free here.
I am a new user for this card and have a question that when do the points expire ?
Ajay there is a recommendation I would like to make that if you feel has substance be forwarded to Amex Team “You seem to have a great relationship with them”.
I am a HNI and use HDFC Infinia and Indusind Pinnacle with overall spending of around 50-60lac per year. My colleague has Amex Platinum Charge Card which is excellent to use in America and UK but is worst than both Infinia and Pinnacle for Indian usage. A fact which was highlighted in our Goa trip where the Amex was rejected half of the places whereas Indusind Pinnacle stopped working half way in Russia because to high usage “Even after alerting my RM about the trip beforehand”.
My recommendation is to give away American express Gold charge card LTF for people with an ITR higher than 20-25lac. Yes I know its similar to the MRCC but being a charge card its better suited for a person who has a higher spending and better for international spending “Europe”.
Let me know what you think about it.
can we get a reward for load money in to wallet like paytm? such wallet transaction are eligible for bonus reward Point (for spending 1k+ * 4 /month)
Is this card eligible for balance transfer?
Amex card is sourced in Kolkata. I have three of them, and my wife has one. Your list of cities don’t include Kolkata.
@SH, thanks. Updated the post.
Please dont mislead. 12k points means Rs3k thats a return of 6%. The joining fee is compensated by 4K points which helps in getting to 18k points worth Rs7.5K. Also 2nd year they easily waive off 50% fees and give 5K points so for Rs.2.5K u are getting 5K points which in turn increase the return when u redeem for 18k or 24k points. They waived for my 3rd year renewal fee too with a condition that i need to spend only30k in 90 days. This card is about points and how wisely u accumulate them. In 2 years i have already reseemed 24k and 18k points. By not spending much. Last year i only spend around 75k and got fees waived off.
If credit card is not ur domain then dont write. Study in depth.
@Prashant, you use the points for redeeming them as cash. So this discussion ends there. We are a points and miles oriented community, so we look at how these points can be used over a larger value. Hope that explains.
I so much agree here with Ajay.
Even though I also redeem my Gold Card MR points for Statement Credit/Amazon Pay credit at close to 11% reward ratio, I do so while being well aware of the fact that I can redeem them at a much higher value for Marriott Bonvoy or other Airline Transfers, esp onnl Intl routes.
Just five star hotels and Business Class Intl travel don’t fit in my overall lifestyle, so I don’t do it.
Love your posts Ajay. Wish you can write once on Maximizing MR points for Indian Travel scenario.
I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it, considering if you do, you’ll get charged 4.5k for the renewal. Assuming you hold it another year, that’s basically 24k points worth 6k for 4.5k of fees…
@JG interested to hear why would you place the points at 25 paise value? They are very worthy in our book. Do share.
Hmm, I think I have always found it tough to redeem MR points for high value, or maybe you haven’t done a detailed enough post on it 🙂
Maybe the best is transfer to Marriott/spg? What else?
@JG Marriott/SPG is one amongst the options. The key is to not redeem them till you don’t have a redemption in mind. The statement credit is instant gratification, nothing else.