ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card

The ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card is considered one of the most premium offerings by the bank and can be seen as a strong competitor to HDFC’s Infinia Credit Card. With this card, ICICI targets HNIs (High Net Worth Individuals) who frequently engage in business travel and do not wish to compromise on their lifestyle.

The ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card provides special benefits such as 24×7 concierge service (assistance with hotel/restaurant reservations, flight bookings, car rentals, etc.), unlimited access to domestic and international airport lounges of significant value, and personal air accident insurance coverage of up to INR 3 crore, among others. Catering to the travel needs of their premium customers, ICICI charges only a nominal 1.5% foreign currency markup fee on transactions made in a different currency and imposes zero cash advance fee on ATM withdrawals.

The ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card is offered in two variants – Mastercard and American Express. However, since both payment networks currently do not allow the inclusion of new customers, the bank has recently launched the card on the Visa platform as well.

A unique feature of the ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card is the option to choose between two membership plans – the Monthly Plan, where cardholders need to pay a monthly fee, and the Annual Plan with an annual membership fee of INR 12,000.

Please note that the provided information is based on the knowledge available up until September 2021, and there might have been updates or changes since then.

• Joining Fee- Rs. 1,000 (plus taxes) for monthly plan, Rs. 12,000 (plus applicable taxes) for annual plan
• Renewal Fee- Rs. 1,000 (plus applicable taxes) for monthly plan, Rs. 12,000 (plus applicable taxes) for annual plan
• Best Suited For- Movies | Travel | Shopping
• Reward Type- Reward Points
• Welcome Benefits- N/A

Rewards and Benefits.

• Movie & Dining- A discount of up to Rs. 750 on BookMyShow second movie/event ticket onwards (max 4 tickets per month), no cancellation charge on movie ticket cancellation (max benefit of Rs. 12,000 per year), a minimum discount of 15% at partnered restaurants under the ICICI Culinary Treats program.
• Rewards Rate- 4 RPs on every Rs. 100 spent on all transactions (except fuel, utilities and insurance categories) and 1 RP on every purchase of Rs. 100 on insurance and utilities.
• Reward Redemption- The earned Reward Points can be redeemed against gifts or cash credit, where 1 Reward Point = Rs. 0.25
• Travel- Complimentary international & domestic lounge visits, no charge (waived up to a max of Rs. 12,000) on cancellation of flight/hotel/movie ticket bookings up to max two cancellations every year
• Golf- Complimentary round/lesson of golf each month on a minimum spend of Rs. 50,000 in the previous month (max 4/month)
• Domestic Lounge Access- Complimentary unlimited domestic airport lounge access under the MasterCard/American Express/Visa lounge program
• International Lounge Access- Complimentary unlimited international airport lounge access under the Dreamfolks program membership
• Insurance Benefits- Credit Shield insurance worth Rs. 50,000, an air accidental death cover worth Rs. 3 crore and many other insurance benefits under travel category (as illustrated later in the article)
• Zero Liability Protection- Get a liability protection cover worth Rs. 50,000 against a lost/stolen card applicable from 2 days before reporting the loss and till 7 days after it.

Fees & Charges

• Spend based Waiver- Monthly fee reversed on the expenditure of Rs. 1,00,000 in the previous month, annual fee reversed on an annual spend of Rs. 15,00,000 in the previous anniversary year.
• Rewards Redemption Fee- Rs. 99 + GST on each redemption request
• Foreign Currency Markup- 1.5% of the total transaction amount
• Interest Rates- 3.40% per month (or 40.80% annualized)
• Fuel Surcharge- 1% fuel surcharge waived on all fuel purchases at all fuel pumps across the country.
• Cash Advance Charge- Nil
• Add-on Card Fee- Nil

Product Details

• Tata CliQ voucher with a monetary value of Rs. 5,000 redeemable for purchases at www.tatacliq.com on your birthday (applicable for AmEx variant only)
• Unlimited complimentary domestic and international airport lounge access along with complimentary spa access at select domestic airports.
• Up to Rs. 750 off on purchase of second ticket onwards (up to max 4 tickets/month) on BookMyShow for all movie and non-movie ticket purchases.
• Complimentary golf round/lesson on every Rs. 50,000 spent on the card in the previous month (up to max 4 rounds/lessons per month).
• Nominal Foreign Currency Markup of 1.5% and a lower interest rate of 1.99% on cash withdrawals.
• Reversal of cancellation charges (up to Rs. 12,000) on a max 2 transactions/year for flight/hotel/movie ticket booking.
• Choice between monthly and annual plans for card membership.
• Get up to 4 Reward Points every time you spend Rs. 100.

ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card Features and Benefits

The Emeralde Credit Card that is offered by the ICICI Bank is one of the bank’s most premium offerings and it is issued only to selected customers having a high income and a good relationship with the bank. It comes with several attractive benefits across various categories, including rewards, travel, insurance, and many more. To understand the card’s benefits & features in detail, refer to the following points:

Spends-Based Waiver:

• The monthly renewal fee is waived if Rs. 1,00,000 were spent in the previous month.
• Annual renewal fee waived on the expenditure of Rs. 15,00,000 in the card anniversary year. The joining fee is reversed if the spends threshold is reached in the first anniversary year.

Travel Benefits:

• Complimentary lounge access to domestic as well as international airports under AmEx/MasterCard/Visa lounge program and the Dreamfolks membership Program.
• Unlimited complimentary domestic airport spa access through Dreamflolks membership.
• Air travel insurance plans including a personal accident (air accidental death) cover worth Rs. 3 crore.
• A nominal forex mark-up fee of 1.5% on international transactions.
• No cancellation charge on hotel/flight bookings (up to Rs. 12,000) for a maximum of 2 transactions per year.

Airport Lounge Access:

You get unlimited complimentary access to lounges at select domestic and international airports across the world with the ICICI Emeralde Credit Card.

Visa/MasterCard/AmEx Lounge Access Program

• You get unlimited complimentary domestic airport lounge access with your Emeralde Credit Card through the lounge access program of the payment network- Visa/MasterCard/AmEx.
• You can find the list of domestic lounges here.

Dreamfolks Lounge Access Program

• ICICI Emeralde Credit Card entitles you to unlimited access to partner airport lounges with complimentary membership of the Dreamfloks lounge access program worth USD 99. You also get access to partner spas at select airports with the Dreamfolks membership.
• Dreamfolks is the world’s largest airport lounge access program with over 1,000 partner lounges across 115 countries.
• You can see the list of airport lounges that you can access for free with the Dreamfolks lounge access program membership here.
• The lounge visit is complimentary only for the primary cardholder. Any accompanying guest including any of the add-on cardholders will have to pay to access the lounge.

ICICI Emeralde Credit Card Golf Privilege:

• You get 1 complimentary round/lesson of golf each month via Golftipz for every Rs. 50,000 spent using the card in the previous month.
• A maximum of 4 rounds of golf can be availed in a given month.
• To avail of the golf benefit and book a complimentary golf game, you must first register your Emeralde Credit Card on the Golftripz website.
• The complimentary round of golf for a given month is visible on Golftripz portal only after the 10th of the next month.
• The complimentary golf game can be played anytime in the next 2 months once it is available in your Golftripz account.

Dining and Movie Benefits:

• Up to Rs. 750 off on movie/event tickets second ticket onwards on BookMyShow (max 4 tickets per month).
• Rs. 750 off second movie/non-movie ticket onwards on BookMyShow for a maximum of 4 tickets in a month.
• Minimum 15% off on dining bills at well-known restaurants under the Culinary Treats program.
• No cancellation charge on movie ticket bookings (max benefit capped at Rs. 12,000 per year).

24×7 Concierge Service:

Being a premium credit card, it offers you a 24×7 concierge service that you can use if you need any assistance regarding-

• Restaurant and hotel reservations.
• Flight referral and reservation.
• Flowers and gifts.
• Car rentals.
• Booking movie tickets.

Apart from these, you also get Medical Concierge privileges, under which, in case you need to be moved to a place for appropriate medical attention, ICICI’s iAssist concierge will help you with the same. The concierge will get you admitted to the required hospital and put you in touch with your doctors.

It should be noted that all these concierge services are available only in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Insurance Benefits:

You get travel-related insurance benefits with this card as illustrated in the chart below:

All these insurance covers are applicable only for international travel (not for domestic travel).

Apart from these travel-related insurance benefits, you also get a Credit Shield cover worth Rs. 50,000, which covers your liability in case of loss of card from 2 days prior to 7 days after reporting the loss of card.

ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card Rewards

Just like most other ICICI credit cards, you earn ICICI Bank Rewards with this credit card. Earlier, the card used to offer Payback Points, but the Payback Program has now been replaced by the ICICI Rewards Program, which is as follows for this card:

• 4 Reward Points on each ₹100 spent on all retail purchases except utilities, fuel, and insurance.
• 1 Reward on every ₹100 spent on selected categories such as utilities and insurance.

Reward Redemption:

The earned Reward Points can be redeemed against gifts or statement credit, where 1 Reward Point is valued at Re. 0.25. To redeem your points for cash back, you can call on 080-40146444, and to redeem them against gifts, you will have to call on 1860-258-5000.

ICICI Emeralde Credit Card Fees & Charges

Since it is a super-premium credit card, the cardholders get a couple of relaxations on fees and charges applicable for the ICICI Emeralde Credit Card. The following table gives an overview of the various fees and charges that one has to pay as an ICICI Emeralde credit cardholder-