Axis Magnus Credit Card Review – 2023 Update

Somewhere in 2019 Axis Magnus credit card was launched by Axis Bank and it was a mediocre card . The recent changes made on Axis Magnus credit card benefits a lot and simultaneous devaluation of the HDFC Infinia and DCB has made Axis Magnus a very good card to hold. In this article, I will list down my views on the Axis Magnus credit card and a comparison with HDFC Infinia and DCB, to see if Magnus is really better than Infinia/DCB.

Axis Bank added various transfer partners (airlines and hotel chains) to Magnus credit cards in August 2022. This step has made Magnus probably the best credit card in India right now.

Axis Magnus Credit Card

Fees and Eligibility:

Joining fees and annual fees are INR10,000 + GST. Fee waived at annual spends of 15lakhs

Rewards and Benefit:

Joining Benefit:
- Joining benefit of 10K Tata Cliq voucher or 10k worth of domestic flight ticket.
- It is Appled on Renewal too, but the annual fee should be paid .
Recurring Benefits:
- BOGO on BMS up to Rs. 500 off on the second ticket for a maximum of 5 movie/non-movie bookings in a month.
Reward Points:
- Standard Reward Rate: 12 reward points on every INR200 spent. 1 Reward point = 0.20 paisa (1.2% reward rate).
- Accelerated Reward Rate: 5x reward points (i.e. 60 RPs) on every INR200 spent on travel spending via Travel Edge (6% reward rate). A monthly cap of 10K points.
- Milestone Reward Rate: 25,000 RPs worth INR5,000 on monthly spends of INR1Lakh (i.e. 5% reward rate)
Lounge Access:
- Domestic: It provides Unlimited complimentary domestic lounge access to primary and add-on card members.
- International: provides Unlimited complimentary lounge access to the primary cardholder. 8 guest visits are allowed in a year.
- Airport Concierge Service: 8 complimentary end-to-end VIP services at the airports within India.

My views on Axis Magnus credit card

In 2019 Axis Magnus credit Card was launched . The Reward rate was 1.2%, high annual fee (10K) and very high fee waiver threshold (15Lakhs) because of it card remained very mediocre. But the change made by Axis Bank in rewards made it interesting . The changes are

Monthly Milestone Benefits: 25,000 RPs worth INR5,000 on monthly spending of INR1Lakh (i.e. 5% reward rate). This one change alone increases the reward rate on the card from 1.2% to 6.2%. Only wallet spends are excluded from the calculations.
Accelerated Reward Rate: 5x reward points (i.e. 60 RPs) on every INR200 spent on travel spending via Travel Edge (6% reward rate). Thru its Travel Edge portal, travel bookings will earn a 6% reward rate
International lounge access: Unlimited international lounge access via Priority Pass for the primary cardholder.
Airlines and Hotels loyalty program as transfer partners: Axis has introduced a range of transfer partners at a very lucrative conversion ratio (5:4). At this conversion ratio, one can easily score almost 7 business class tickets to Singapore.

The introduction of a monthly milestone benefit equivalent to INR5K significantly changes the reward rate of the card to 6%+. Further, since all spending is included, except wallet load, one can seriously think of using this card as a primary card as long as monthly spending is above 1lakh. This can be a boom for people running high utility (read electricity) and fuel bills every month.

Another feature of this card is the airport service in Indian airports. It can be useful for people who travel frequently with heavy luggage or in large groups. For normal travel, I don’t think this service makes any difference.

One another feature that is unique to Axis Magnus is BOGO on BMS for up to 500 for a maximum of 5 movie/non-movie bookings in a month. This is saying that you can literally go to movies every week at 50% off. This feature sounds great on paper, but I feel is impractical in practice, as very few cardholders will tend to watch movies/theatre every week religiously.

Miles transfer can give nearly 7 business class tickets to Singapore: Recently, Axis Magnus announced many transfer partners for most of its card range including Axis Magnus. The outcome of this change is Axis Magnus can potentially give you upto 7 business-class tickets to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. A business class ticket to Singapore on Singapore Airlines starts from 43k miles.

Features where Axis Magnus outscores HDFC Cards

There are a few features that make Axis Magnus stand out in comparison to HDFC twins. Have listed them below

No 70% rule: HDFC cards has this rule that allows only 70% of the booking amount can be set off against points. Axis Magnus as of now has a clean structure.The entire reward balance can be used for hotel/airline booking on the TravelEdge portal.
Airport concierge service: While this is nothing more than a glorified porter service at airports, however, everyone will find this more useful than the complimentary golf rounds that HDFC cards offer.
Number of transfer partners: Axis Bank now has 12 transfer partners against 3 for HDFC Infinia/DCB.

Should you apply for Axis Magnus?

When I first wrote about this card in February, I said that I won’t apply for Axis Magnus as yet. The reason being I was chasing HDFC to upgrade my DCB to Infinia. I was very hopeful of scoring that upgrade. However, HDFC gave neither the upgrade nor any limit increase. Thus, I ended up taking Axis Magnus in May 2022. The logic was since my spending cross 1lk+ a month 2-3 times a year my reward rate on DCB and Magnus will be more or less the same (6-8%). So better, take Magnus and keep DCB until renewal.

With the introduction of new transfer partners on Axis Magnus, the dynamics have changed completely and Axis Magnus is sure to become the most sort after credit card in India. Sort of vindicating my decision.

Should you apply too? If you are in the airmiles game, the answer is straight yes. No second thoughts about it. If you are after the monetary value of points then only apply if you run a monthly bill of 1lk+. If you are not in these 2 camps, use the dynamic calculator and see where you get better returns.