ICICI Bank has long been one of India’s top Credit Card issuers. However, with significant P&L comes the great responsibility to protect it. In 2024, ICICI Bank has worked on increasing the business’s bottom-line contribution. A lot of restructuring and chopping had already been done earlier in 2024. Now, a new wide-ranging cut has been implemented.
Changes to Lounge Access Benefits on ICICI Bank Credit Cards, effective November 15, 2024.
So far, many ICICI Bank Credit Cards in the gemstone collection (excluding the Emeralde and the Emeralde Private) have been used to accrue lounge access against INR 35,000 spent on the card per quarter as of April 2024. Before this, you just needed to spend INR 5,000 to earn lounge access. As I’d explained earlier, lounge access is a costly benefit to offer, and just holding a “free” credit card no longer cuts it with the banks to give it away to customers.
As of November 15, 2024, this spending criteria will be hiked to a minimum spend of INR 75,000 per calendar quarter to unlock access in the next quarter. The following cards will be impacted:
- ICICI Bank HPCL Super Saver Credit Card (Visa/MasterCard/RuPay)
- ICICI Bank Coral Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Secured NRI Coral Credit Card
- ICICI Bank NRI Coral Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Coral Credit Card (Visa/MasterCard/RuPay/American Express)
- ICICI Bank Secured Coral Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Rubyx Credit Card (Visa/MasterCard/RuPay/American Express)
- ICICI Bank LeadtheNew Rubyx/Sapphiro Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Secured Rubyx MasterCard Credit Card
- Rubyx VISA expense card
- ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card (Visa/MasterCard/RuPay/American Express)
- ICICI Bank NRI Sapphiro Credit Card
- Manchester United Platinum/Signature Credit Card by ICICI Bank
- Chennai Super Kings ICICI Bank Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Parakram Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Parakram Select Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Expressions Credit Card
- Emirates ICICI Bank Rubyx Credit Card
- Emirates ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Adani One Signature Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Adani One Platinum Credit Card
- MakeMyTrip ICICI Bank Platinum Credit Card
- MakeMyTrip ICICI Bank Signature Credit Card
Since the change goes live on November 15, 2024, people would have to spend in the Oct-Dec 2024 Quarter to receive the benefit in Jan/Feb/Mar 2025.
Airport Spa Benefit to be discontinued
For a long time, ICICI Bank Credit Cards offered an Airport Spa benefit via Dreamfolks, which was popular with some folks. I’d hardly find the time to go to an airport spa and find a slot, but I know many people schedule around it.
Now, ICICI Bank is taking this benefit away. As of November 15, 2024, the following cards will see this benefit go away:
- ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card (All networks)
- ICICI Bank NRI Sapphiro Credit Card
- ICICI Bank LeadtheNew Sapphiro Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Emeralde Private Credit Card
- ICICI BANK DIAMANT WORLD MASTERCARD CHIP CREDIT CARD
- Emirates ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card
- Emirates ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Adani One Signature Credit Card
- ICICI Bank Adani One Platinum Credit Card
- MakeMyTrip ICICI Bank Signature Credit Card
Rewards on Insurance Payments capped
From November 15, 2024, insurance payment transactions will accrue reward points across ICICI Bank Credit Cards (they already do) but will be capped. All the premium gemstone cards will earn rewards for up to INR 80,000 insurance payments per month, and all the other cards will earn rewards for up to INR 40,000 insurance payments per month. The following MCC Codes are for Insurance: 5960, 6300, 6381, 6399.
Rewards on Grocery and Departmental Store Spending to be capped
From November 15, 2024, grocery and departmental store transactions will accrue reward points across ICICI Bank Credit Cards (they already do) but will be capped. All the premium gemstone cards will earn rewards for up to INR 40,000 spends per month, and all the other cards will earn rewards for up to INR 20,000 spends per month in this category. The following MCC Codes are for this header: 3333, 5411, 5412, 5441, 9751, 5311, 5331, 5499
Rewards on Government Spending to go away
The ICICI Bank Emeralde Mastercard Metal Credit Card will see earnings on Government spending go away effective November 15, 2024.
Fuel Surcharge Waiver capped
Fuel bunk spending in India attracts a 1% surcharge from the customer when using a credit card. Many cards waive the 1% under certain conditions. Now, ICICI Bank Credit Cards will cap the fuel surcharge waiver for up to 50,000 INR spent on fuel across its card range, and for the Emeralde Metal, the limit will be capped for fuel spent up to INR 100,000. Again, this goes into effect on November 15, 2024.
Rent/government/education spending is to be excluded from the spending threshold.
In the future, the spending threshold for annual fee reversal and milestone benefits will exclude rent, government, and education payments made via credit card. This change applies to all credit cards, including the top-end ones. However, to account for the taking away of chunky payment categories, the spend threshold for the reversal of the annual fee has been revised to INR 10 Lakh per annum from the current criteria of INR 15 lakh per annum across the Emeralde and Emeralde Private range.
The following MCC Codes apply:
- Rent: 7014, 7407, 5271, 6513
- Government: 6760, 9222, 9211, 9399, 9402, 9405
- Education: 8211, 8220, 8241, 8244, 8249, 8299, 8493, 8494, 7911
1% fee on education fee payments and utility payments
This is a boring update. The credit card follows the current charging trend for educational spending. No fee will be charged when you pay directly to school or college, including international education payments from your credit card. However, 1% of the transaction amount will be charged for education payments made through third-party payment apps.
Also, ICICI Bank Credit Cards will charge a 1% surcharge if you pay more than 50,000 INR in monthly utility bills. The following MCC codes are for Utility: 4899, 4900, 4901, 3887.
Supplementary cards will cost a fee now
In a unique move, ICICI Bank Credit Cards will start charging for supplementary cards. Their announcement says, “Supplementary cardholders will enjoy enhanced benefits with an annual fee of INR 199, which will be levied in the card anniversary month statement.” It does not clarify the enhanced benefits.
Bottomline
ICICI Bank has notified new lounge access policies on credit cards effective November 15, 2024 (read here). The Spa Access benefit has been taken away. Other charges have been introduced, and rewards on chunky categories have been taken away. All the changes go into effect on November 15, 2024.
What do you make of the move from ICICI Bank Credit Cards to rationalise Lounge Access?
Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.
(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)
We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.
Awesome. Further decluttering of lounges..
I think except spa access removal, everything as per industry trends.
Is a card is issued LTF, will supplementary card still incur the fee?
It is a ridiculous thing. 75k per quarter ,with so many caps on spending. No Thank you. I am surrendering my ICICI credit cards. I was keeping them only for Airport lounge access. Now it is useless with these rules.
Don’t take credit card from ICICI Bank