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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 the 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.

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 yourself of the golf benefit and book a complimentary golf game, you must first register for your Emeralde Credit Card on the Golftripz website.
• The complimentary round of golf for a given month is visible on the Golftripz portal only after the 10th of the following 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 the 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 080-40146444, and to redeem them against gifts, you will have to call 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 to 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-

Other Credit Cards Similar to ICICI Emeralde Credit Card

HDFC Bank Infinia Credit Card, Axis Bank Magnus Credit Card and Citibank Prestige Credit Card are three other super-premium credit cards that offer similar features and benefits. The following table contains a detailed comparison between the four credit cards-

ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card Eligibility

Since it is an exclusive premium credit card, it has strict eligibility criteria. Salaried applicants need to have a minimum monthly income of Rs. 3,00,000, and self-employed people should have filed an income tax return of Rs. 30,00,000 in the previous year. Along with this, the applicant should have a really good credit history with no records of payment defaults.

How to Apply for ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card?

You can very easily apply for the ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card by visiting the card’s official page on the bank’s website and then submitting all the required documents. You will also need identity proof, address proof for KYC, and proof of income, like salary slips/ITR, in order to complete your application.

Customer Care

ICICI Bank offers 24×7 customer support to its credit card cardholders over the phone and through email. You can contact ICICI Bank’s call center at 18601207777 or drop them an email at their email address, which is [email protected], to report the loss of a card or for any other issue. If your issue isn’t resolved after this, you can contact their higher-ups at [email protected].

Conclusion

Keeping in mind all this card’s benefits, it can be said that this is probably one of the best credit cards in the premium segment and offers tough competition to cards like HDFC Infinia and Standard Chartered Ultimate card. The American Express version of the card certainly has the upper hand as it offers a few additional features like a Tata CliQ voucher worth Rs. 5,000 every year on your birthday, a 15% discount on a gym membership (Anytime Fitness), and complimentary in-flight and airport wifi access. Still, it’s a great deal for high net-worth business persons who frequently fly overseas on business trips. What do you think of this premium offering by ICICI? Do let us know in the comments.