Magnus Credit Card

The Bottom Line

The Magnus Credit Card from Axis Bank offers a net reward yield of 4.0-6.7% on all your spending, making it far and away the best credit card in India for high spenders (> ₹1 lacs per month).

You earn EDGE REWARDS points worth 6% for bookings done via the Axis TRAVEL EDGE platform and 1.2% for all other spends. The card also offers points worth ₹5,000 in each month that your card spend crosses ₹1 lacs.

The basic rewards available on the Magnus are not exciting. 6% for travel bookings and 1.2% for all other spend wouldn’t make this card competitive with the likes of the HDFC Bank Infinia or the Standard Chartered Ultimate, which offer 3.3% and 2.7% net rewards respectively.

However, the milestone reward of 25,000 EDGE REWARDS points every time you charge more than ₹1 lacs to the card in a month, is a game changer. Those points are worth ₹5,000, meaning you earn a reward yield of up to 5% just from the milestone reward. Add in the points earned on regular spend and you could end up north of 6.5%.

But that is not all. Our net rewards calculation values each EDGE REWARDS point at ₹0.20.

However, if you transfer the EDGE Rewards earned on Magnus into Club Vistara Points or KrisFlyer miles with Singapore Airlines at an exchange rate of 5 EDGE Rewards for 4 miles, your net reward yield could be as high as 14-24%.

This is because we estimate each CV Point is worth ₹0.90 and each KrisFlyer mile is worth ₹0.85. So if you transfer the REWARDS points into miles, suddenly they could be worth as much at ₹0.60-70 – a 3-3.5x multiplier.

It is this conversion that can take your effective net rewards yield up to 14-24% instead of an already best-in-the-market 4.0-6.5%.

We think this yield is too good to be true and could be reduced sooner or later. If you are a Magnus Card holder and can use miles on those airline programs you should convert your EDGE rewards while this option lasts.

There are a few other points to note with the Magnus. While you do achieve a net reward yield of up to 6.7%, that is only true if you spend exactly ₹1 lacs a month. There are no more milestone rewards once you cross that threshold, so your yield starts falling as you spend more.

Since you only earn about 1.2% on most spending with the Magnus, any additional spend over ₹1 lacs in a month will only earn 1.2%, bringing down the overall yield. We estimate the yield comes down to about 4% if you spend ₹2 lacs a month on the card.

The Magnus offers a number of other benefits, such as unlimited domestic & international lounge access, and a 24/7 dedicated concierge program. We have not valued these benefits but they are among the best of any card we have seen and could be worth a lot to some people.

Since there are no milestone rewards if you fall short of the ₹1 lacs spend in a month, so this card suddenly becomes a lot less attractive below that level.

If you spending fluctuates around the ₹1 lacs a month mark, higher in some months and lower in others, this card can still make sense for you as long as you can cross the ₹1 lacs mark at least 4-5 times in a year. You could still earn a net reward yield of 3%+ in that case, better than most other cards in the country.

Our list of the best credit cards in India, at every spending level and from every bank, is here. You can find a detailed discussion of our methodology here.

The Rewards

Fees & Charges