Amex Membership Rewards Card
₹19,600 a year, after fees
₹1,000 joining + ₹4,500/yr · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1%
American Express credit cards: 5 for business, none personal
No American Express card is on offer to a person today. Only its business cards are open to apply. For people who already hold one, the strongest is Amex Membership Rewards Card: ₹19,600 a year after fees at ₹75,000 a month.
₹19,600a year after fees, for existing holders
Closed to new applicants. If you hold it, this is what it is worth to keep.
Points and where they go
American Express's main points currency is Amex Membership Rewards, worth ₹0.50 a point: 8 airline and hotel programmes take them. Its cards earn 3 kinds of points in all.
| Programme | Worth a point | Cards | Partners |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amex Membership Rewards | ₹0.50 | 12 | 8 |
| PAYBACK Points (now Zillion Coins) | ₹0.25 | 2 | none |
| InterMiles | ₹0.20 | 1 | none |
Values are what we think a point is worth in India.
Every American Express transfer partner 8 routes
| Transfer to | Ratio | One point becomes | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 2:1 | ₹0.55 | 1–3 days (SLA 5 working days) |
| The British Airways Club (Avios) | 2:1 | ₹0.50 | 1–3 days (SLA 5 working days) |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club (Avios) | 2:1 | ₹0.50 | 1–3 days (SLA 5 working days) |
| Cathay Asia Miles | 2:1 | ₹0.50 | 1–3 days (SLA 5 working days) |
| Emirates Skywards | 2:1 | ₹0.45 | 1–3 days (SLA 5 working days) |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 5:4 | ₹0.80 | usually immediate (allow 48 h; up to 7 days in exceptional cases) |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 1:1 | ₹0.50 | 24–48 hours (SLA 5 working days) |
| Hilton Honors | 2:3 | ₹0.60 | usually immediate (up to 7 days) |
Ratios read Amex Membership Rewards : the partner's points. One point becomes = what it is worth once it lands, at our value for the partner.
Compare every route, including longer ones through other programmes
Recent changes
- Amex India ends Membership Rewards pooling — each card keeps its own balance Announced · Devaluation · American Express
- Amex MRCC loses its 50% renewal waiver between ₹90,000 and ₹1,49,999 Announced · Fee change · American Express
- Amex Platinum loses Lufthansa Lounge access with no replacement Worse for you · Lounge change · American Express
- Platinum Travel's domestic lounge access gets a ₹1 lakh prior-quarter spend gate Worse for you · Lounge change · American Express
- Amex India discontinues Reward Multiplier — the whole 5X/3X/2X ladder Worse for you · Devaluation · American Express
- Amex guts Platinum Travel's milestone ladder — 30,000 MR out, the Taj voucher doubled Worse for you · Devaluation · American Express
All 20 American Express cards
Fees run ₹495 to ₹66,000. We cannot value 11 of them: American Express publishes no fee or no earn table for those cards, so they are listed as "Not valued". Each card shows what it pays back a year after its fee at ₹75,000 a month, and our verdict: 13 keep, 0 downgrade, 7 cancel.
Business cards 5
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Amex Green Corporate Card
Not valued fee or rewards not published
Fee not published · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1%
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Amex Gold Corporate Card
Not valued fee or rewards not published
Fee not published · Lounges abroad · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1%
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Amex Platinum Corporate Card
Not valued fee or rewards not published
Fee not published · Lounges in India and abroad · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1.3%–2.5%
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American Express Corporate Purchasing Card
Not valued fee or rewards not published
Fee not published
Closed or paused 15 cards
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Amex Membership Rewards Card
₹19,600 a year, after fees
₹1,000 joining + ₹4,500/yr · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1%
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Amex SmartEarn
₹9,100 a year, after fees
₹495 fee · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1%–10%
Ranked higher: its bonus category adds ₹6,400 a year
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Amex Platinum Travel
₹27,600 a year, after fees
₹5,000 fee · Lounges in India · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1%
Its milestone pays only from ₹7 lakh a year — the low end of this range
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Amex Gold Charge
₹10,000 a year, after fees
₹1,000 joining + ₹4,500/yr · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1%
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Amex Platinum Reserve
₹9,600 a year, after fees
₹10,000 fee · Lounges in India and abroad · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1%
Ranked lower: includes ₹12,000 in vouchers
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Amex Platinum Charge
−₹55,900 a year, after fees
₹66,000 fee · Lounges in India and abroad · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1.3%–25%
Ranked higher: its bonus category adds ₹8,600 a year
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Amex MakeMyTrip Credit Card
₹10,000 a year, after fees
₹750 joining + ₹1,500/yr · Reward rate 0.5%–5%
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Amex PAYBACK Credit Card
₹10,000 a year, after fees
₹750 joining + ₹1,500/yr · Reward rate 0.5%
Ranked lower: includes ₹7,000 in vouchers
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Jet Airways Amex Platinum
−₹400 a year, after fees
₹5,000 joining + ₹10,000/yr · Lounges in India · Reward rate 1.1%
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Air India American Express Gold
Not valued fee or rewards not published
Fee not published · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1.3%–6.3%
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Air India American Express Credit Card
Not valued fee or rewards not published
Fee not published · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1.3%
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Amex Gold Credit Card
Not valued fee or rewards not published
Fee not published · 8 transfer partners · Reward rate 1.3%–2%
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Standard charges
The charges American Express words the same way on most of its cards, from each card's most important terms and conditions. A card that differs prints its own figure on its own page.
| Charge | What the bank says | Our read | Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash withdrawal fee | 3.5%, min ₹250 | 5 of 6 |
Cards counts the American Express cards whose terms print this exact wording, out of those whose terms print the charge at all.
American Express in RBI's figures
- Cards in force
- 13,05,768
- 1.1% of India's cards
- Spent in August 2026
- ₹6,204 crore
- 72% of it online
- Spend per card
- ₹47,516
- a month, on average
Source: the Reserve Bank of India's monthly card statistics, August 2026. Every bank's figures
Sources
The American Express documents that state its fees and charges, and RBI's release. Each card's page lists its own sources too.
- Official Lending MITC PDF (31-Mar-2026) — fee table reads ₹5,000 (1st Year) and ₹5,000 (2nd Year onwards) with NO waiver footnote against Platinum Travel (only MRCC and SmartEarn) read
- Official Charge-card MITC PDF (31-Mar-2026), re-downloaded 26 Jul 2026 — Platinum Card "First Year Fee: ₹66,000 Second Year onwards ₹66,000", ₹10,000 add-on beyond the 4 free read
- Official Reserve Bank of India: ATM, Acceptance Infrastructure and Card Statistics for the Month of August 2026 read