ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card

Overview

Updated On: August 24, 2026 | AB Published by: Amit B | 3 min read

ICICI Bank's Emeralde Credit Card is a premium lifestyle based credit card which comes with host of lifestyle benefits like golf games, domestic and international lounge access, free movie tickets etc. However, the reward rate of the card is not attractive, even compared to low-end credit card. In fact, considering the fee, the lifestyle benefits are also not sufficient to justify the fee. Some notable benefits on this credit card are high limit of free movie ticket value and birthday gift.Please note that this card should not be confused with a similar named called ICICI Bank's Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card. That's a different credit card which comes with a much better benefits and very high reward rate.

Pros

Buy One Get One Free Movie ticket has a discount limit of Rs.750 per free movie ticket which is better than most of such free movie tickets offers
Unlimited airport lounge access both in India and abroad without any minimum spend condition.
Emeralde Credit Card on ICICI Bank's iShop Portal can fetch you 6% valueback on some very useful vouchers like Amazon Pay. Amazon Pay vouchers can be used to make payment on hundreds of third party sites, utility bill payment and Amazon shopping.

Cons

Extremely low reward rate considering the very high fee
A Reward Redemption Fee of Rs.117 (including GST) is applied when you redeem reward points. Its extremely regressive practice specially on such high fee credit card.
No benefit against joining and renewal fees
Golf benefit requires minimum spend in previous month. This is not expected on a credit card which comes with such a high fee.
Birthday gift benefit is provided on American Express variant of this credit card, not on MasterCard variant. But American Express credit cards have serious acceptance issues.

Fees & Charges

Joining / Annual Fee ₹ 14,160

Renewal Fee ₹ 14,160

Annual Spend Target for Fee Waiver ₹ 1,000,000

Minimum Annual Income Required ₹ 1,800,000

Rewards and Benefits

Reward Rate

Base Reward Rate: 1% ; Reduced Reward Rate on Utilities and Insurance Payments: 0.25%, Flights and Brand Vouchers through iShop: 6%, Hotels through iShop: 12%

Base Reward Rate

1%

Accelerated Reward Rate

12%

Welcome Benefits

No Welcome Benefit

Renewal Benefits

No Renewal Benefits

Rewards & Cashback Details

Regular Reward Rate: 4 Reward Points on every Spend of Rs.100 (=1% valueback)
Accelerated Reward Rate: On spend on iShop portal of ICICI Bank
- Hotel Booking: 48 Reward Points on every Spend of Rs.100 (=12% valueback)
- Flight and Bus Tickets : 24 Reward Points on every Spend of Rs.100 (=6% valueback)
- Brand Vouchers (including popular brands like Amazon, Flipkart Myntra, Swiggy, Zomato etc.): 24 Reward Points on every Spend of Rs.100 (=6% valueback)
Reduced Reward Rate: 1 Reward Points of every Rs.100 Spend on Utilities, Insurances and Government related spend (=0.25% Valueback)
Birthday Gift: Rs.5,000 worth Tata CliQ Gift Card on Birthday every year, only on American Express variant of this credit card.

Rewards Redemption

Reward points can be redeemed to get Products from ICICI Rewards Catalogue at 1 Reward Point = Rs.0.25

Reward Redemption Fee: For every reward redemption, there is a fee of Rs.117 including GST.

Additional Benefits

Domestic Airport Lounge

International Airport Lounge

Movie Benefits

Golf Benefits

Railway Lounge Access

Dining Benefits

Lifestyle Benefits Details

Movie and Event Tickets: Buy one movie ticket and get up to Rs. 750 off on a second ticket for movies, theatre shows, concerts, and sports events, available up to twice a month through BookMyShow
Airport Lounge Access
- Unlimited Domestic Airport Lounge Access for Primary and Upto 3 Add-on card holders.
- Unlimited International Airport Lounge Access for Primary and Upto 3 Add-on card holders using Free Priority Pass
Golf: Complimentary round/lesson of golf on every Rs.50,000 spent on the card in the previous calendar month, up to a maximum of 4 rounds/ lessons of golf every month, at popular Golf Courses in India and Abroad
Flight/Hotel/Movie Ticket Cancellation Refund: Cancellation charges upto Rs.12,000 for flight, hotel or movie tickets are refunded through an insurance by ICICI Lombard.
- Only booking done for primary card holder in India is covered if the payment was done using ICICI Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card.
- For hotel booking, only 4 or 5 Star hotels are covered
- For flight booking, only domestic flight tickets are covered
- It can be claimed maximum 2 times in a year
- For complete details of this benefit, Click here

Features & Benefits

Reward Points

Airport Lounge

Utility Bills

Insurance

NPS

Education

Government Payment

Rent

Gift Cards

Jewellery

Wallet Load

Rewards on EMI

Cashback

Airmiles

Fuel

No Cashback / Rewards Categories

No reward points on following spend categories

Fuel

Limited reward points on following spend categories

1 Reward Points on Every Rs.100 Spend on Fuel and Utilities which is o.25% reward rate

Ratings & Reviews

2.8

Overall Rating

Reward Rate

2/5

Lifestyle Benefits

4/5

Ease of Reward Redemption

3/5

Value For Money

1/5

Customer Service

4/5

Detailed Review

ICICI Bank's Emeralde Credit Card is a premium lifestyle offering. While it provides decent lifestyle benefits, the card's reward rate is quite low. It comes with a high joining and renewal fee, but the reward rate is just 1%. The effective reward rate is even lower since reward points can only be redeemed for products and brand vouchers available in ICICI Bank's Reward Catalogue. The lifestyle benefits, given the fee, are insufficient. Additionally, the card offers no perks for offsetting the joining or renewal fees.

Considering the current options in the Indian credit card market, this card is not recommended unless it is offered as a lifetime-free option (which is rare for the Emeralde Card).

Eligibility & Important Info

Eligibility Criteria

Age: 21 years or more
Income:
- Salaries Customer: Rs.1.5 Lacs net in-hand monthly salary
- Self-Employed: Rs.18 Lacs Income Tax Return

Important Links

ICICI Bank's iShop Portal to get Accelerated Reward Points: icicibank.com/ishoplogin
International Airport Lounges List (accessible using complimentary Priority Pass which is provided with this credit card) : Click here
Domestic Airport Lounges List (accessible by simply swiping this credit card): Click here
Golf Program (To book golf games as benefit of this credit card): Click here
Master Card Priceless Special Portal to access special offers for Master Card variant of this credit card: Click here
American Express Experiences Portal to access special offers for American Express variant of this credit card: Click here