Axis Reserve Credit Card Review

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers. Last Updated 28th April 2023.

Axis Reserve is the big brother of Axis Magnus and is the second most sought card right now among CC enthusiasts due to its exceptional reward rate. Till 2021 no one would have ever thought that Axis will bring a storm in the credit card industry and outpace all its competitors and even giants like AMEX, HDFC and Citi with such good earning rates and even better redemption partners!

Getting a card worth ₹60K? Are you outta your mind? This was the first thing that I had got to hear when I told my family members that I have applied for Axis Reserve. One of the most UHNI cards available in India right now. I took the plunge last October just before I had an international vacation planned. But is it worth the fee for you? Let’s check it out!

Charges and Welcome Benefits

 

Joining Fee	₹50,000+GST
Welcome Benefits	50,000 Edge Reward Points on card activation.
Annual Fee	₹50,000+GST
Renewal Benefits	50,000 Edge Reward Points on every renewal even if you manage to fulfil a fee waiver.
Renewal Fee Waiver	Full fee waiver on spending ₹25L* in a year.

• *Rental and Wallet transactions are not valid for the annual spending threshold.

 

Reward Points Accrual

 

Spends Area	Multiplier	Reward Points Earning Rate	Capping
All Domestic Spends*	1X	15 Edge Reward Points/ ₹200	NA^
International Spends	2X	30 Edge Reward Points/ ₹200	NA
Gift Edge	Up to 10X	Up to 150 Edge Reward Points/ ₹200	NA
Grab Deals	Up to 40X	Up to 600 Edge Reward Points/ ₹200	10,000 ER Points/Customer ID/Month

• *Except for Wallet Loads, and EMI.
• ^Rewards on rental spends are capped at ₹1,00,000 per transaction.
• Edge Rewards carry an expiry of 3 years from the date of accrual.
• Grab Deals points are per customer ID and not per card.

Technofino Tip – Always spend in multiples of ₹200 to maximize your earning especially when buying vouchers from Gift Edge or Grab Deals. Add smaller denominations like Swiggy/KFC to round the payable amount.

Reward Points Redemption

 

Redemption Options	Value Per ER Point	Reward Rate (1X)
Cash	20p	1X~ 1.5% 2X~ 3.0% 3X~ 4.5% 5X~ 7.5% 10X~ 15% 40X~ 60%
Travel Edge Redemption	20p	1X~ 1.5% 2X~ 3.0% 3X~ 4.5% 5X~ 7.5% 10X~ 15% 40X~ 60%
Gift Vouchers	20p (Amazon) to 40p (MultiBrand)	1X~ 1.5% to 3.0% 2X~ 3.0% to 6.0% 3X~ 4.5% to 9.0% 5X~ 7.5% to 15% 10X~ 15% to 30% 40X~ 60% to 120%
Transfer Partners	Minimum 80p	1X~ Minimum 6% 2X~ Minimum 12% 3X~ Minimum 18% 5X~ Minimum 30% 10X~ Minimum 60% 40X~ Minimum 240%

So as you can see first three redemptions won’t fetch you much value. Hence this card is basically a travel-oriented card in which the value can only be extracted if you consider transferring your points to the partner hotel and airlines. Even going by the conservative value of ₹0.80 per point (ITC Transfers) the reward rate comes out to around 4.8% flat and if you are into the miles game then you can take this value anywhere depending on your expertise.

If you wish to explore transfer partners of this card then we have compiled master lists for both Airlines and Hotels transfer partners on TF Community. Also, you can excess our Axis Edge Transfer Guide to know what expected value you can get out of your Axis Edge Rewards earned on the Axis Trifecta.

Milestone Benefits

Axis Reserve offers no milestone benefits which is highly surprising for this fee point.

TechnoFino Maximum

 

If you are holding this along with Axis Magnus then give this card a rest till you complete the ₹1L Milestone on it. After that, you can put all your spending on Reserve. Also, I would recommend that if you have a regular spend of more than a lakh per month then instead of buying different vouchers from Gift Edge or shopping via Grab Deals using Magnus give Reserve this chance since the base earning rate of Reserve is much more than that of the Magnus.

Maximize the 10,000 Edge points using Axis Grab Deals first using any of the 30X-40X partners like M&S, Jockey and Jack Jones.

Another thing to do is buy 10K Amazon Pay Vouchers, 20K Amazon Shopping vouchers and 10K Flipkart vouchers if required from the Axis Gift Edge portal and route the maximum of your online spending to your Amazon wallet if possible. There are 100s of other options available there like Uber, Domino’s Pizza, Apollo Pharmacy, Swiggy, Zomato and Croma for your everyday spending.

For travel, you can simply buy the Yatra vouchers and remember not to use Axis Reserve on travel edge since 5X there is valid only for Magnus. Sadly!

Lounge Access

 

• Domestic Airport Lounge Access: Unlimited for Primary as well as add-on cardholders and 12 Complimentary visits per card anniversary year for accompanying guests.
• International Lounge Access: Unlimited Lounge Access using Priority Pass for Primary as well as add-on cardholders and 12 Complimentary visits per card anniversary year for accompanying guests.

I would call this a one-stop credit card for you and your entire family for airport lounge access that too anywhere in the world.

Also even if you access the domestic lounges using Priority Pass offered by Reserve then the charges are reversed later on. The same applies to its small brother Axis Magnus as well.

Luxury Airport Transfers

How about a luxury (Merc/BMW/Audi) chauffeured car standing right outside your home ready to take you to the airport for your next flight that too for free? Welcome to the world of Luxury Airport Transfers. Axis Bank is giving this facility on Reserve in a tie-up with DreamFolks Services.

In my opinion, the number of transfers is quite low if compared to the fee paid for this card.

Airport Meet and Greet

 

• 8 Complimentary Meet and Greet Access per Calendar Year.

Airport Meet and Greet also known as an airport concierge service is the USP of this product since only a very limited set of cards in India are providing this service. In this service, you get a dedicated person right at the gate to take care of all your luggage by providing a dedicated buggy and a porter service. With this, they also provide check-in via express counters, security checks via Business class sections and also immigration assistance even if you are travelling economy.

Since Magnus is providing the same I had expected Axis Bank to at least provide double the access on this card!

 

Complimentary Memberships & Other Hotel Benefits

 

Club ITC Culinaire

This card provides a toned-down version of Club ITC Culinaire and doesn’t offer the Free Night Stay instead they give a 3rd night stay on booking two revenue nights. It also offers just 1 room upgrade voucher instead of two. But it does provide two 50% and 20% off F&B Vouchers each.

• Complimentary third-night stay.
• 50% savings on published room tariff for suites on weekends.
• 25% Green Points on Food & Beverage spending.
• Bouquet of 10 certificates and more.

Accor Plus Membership

Axis offers automatic enrolment to the Silver Tier membership of Accor Plus which comes with various benefits and which is generally achievable by spending 800 € which is roughly around 70,000 INR. 

• 2-night complimentary stay across the Asia Pacific region.
• Complimentary room upgrade.
• Up to 50% off on dining.
• Complimentary lunch buffet for 2 across Accor hotels in India.

Club Marriot Asia Pacific Membership

• 20% off on food and beverage.
• 20% off on the best available rates at participating Marriott hotels in India and on Weekend rates in Asia Pacific.

Oberoi Hotels Benefits

• 15% savings on Room Only Rate and Room with Breakfast Rate or 3rd Night complimentary.
• 50% savings on the Best Available Rates on suites.

The Postcard Hotel Benefits

• 15% off on the best available room rate.
• Anytime check-in and check-out.
• A complimentary lifestyle consultation (applicable at our hotels in Goa).

Golf Benefits

 

Axis Bank Reserve Credit Card entitles you to 50 complimentary rounds of golf games or lessons every year at some of the most premium golf destinations in the country. Never tried this but would soon give it a shot!

Movies & Entertainment

 

BookMyShow Offer

This card provides Buy 1 Get 1 on Movies and Events for a maximum of up to ₹500 and ₹1,000 per ticket respectively on bookings made on BookMyShow that too 5 times a month. Other than this you can also use the Visa Infinite benefits on this card. The availability for the Magnus offer is better than the Visa Infinite offer since the quota looks huge.

EazyDiner

Complimentary membership of the Eazydiner Prime dining program under which you up to 25% off plus a 40% card discount up to ₹1,000 at premium restaurants across the country. It is one of my favourite benefits on both Reserve and Magnus which I eagerly look forward to enjoying while dining out with my friends and family at fancy places.

Fuel Surcharge Waiver

 

1% fuel surcharge waiver at all the fuel stations for transactions ₹400 to ₹4000 with a maximum surcharge waiver of ₹400 per month.

Forex Markup

 

This card provides a reduced forex markup charge of only 1.5% + GST and with an accelerated reward rate of 12% on international spending this card is the crown prince for forex spending!

Insurance Benefits

 

Comprehensive insurance cover including purchase protection up to ₹2L, a 500 USD cover for loss/delay in baggage. Also, you are provided with an Air Accidental Insurance of ₹4.5Cr and complete lost card liability lies with the bank in case you misplace the card.

Eligibility

 

• Indian Resident, aged 21 to 65 years of age.
• Minimum ₹36LPA ITR or ₹4L credit limit on other banks’ credit cards for C2C basis application.

TechnoFino Recommends

 

Currently, Axis Magnus is the hottest card available in India but many people are taking the plunge into Reserve as well even though the fee is quite hefty. The reason is that spends on Magnus are not meaningful beyond ₹1L milestone hence putting all your spends on Reserve after that is a no-brainer since no other luxury card comes close to it currently. Not even HDFC Infinia. Hence this card is highly recommended if you have a lot of forex spending or your monthly expenses are much over ₹1L. Else if your family member is eligible then two Magnus in a family also makes a lot of sense.

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With this deadly combo, you can rake up points like anything. I would say this combo is currently the best in the world if you want to indulge in luxury travel all over the world. We have done a Value Proposition of the Axis Reserve on the community here.

 

Do you hold this magnificent card? How are planning to redeem the truckloads of your ER points? Share your plans in the comments below.