Amex MRCC loses its 50% renewal waiver between ₹90,000 and ₹1,49,999

From 15 November 2026 the Membership Rewards Credit Card waives its ₹4,500 renewal only at ₹1,50,000 of spend. The half-waiver for ₹90,000 to ₹1,49,999 goes.

11 Sep 2026

What changed

Coming 15 Nov 2026

Fee change · American Express

Before

₹4,500 renewal 100% waived at ₹1,50,000 of preceding-year spend, and 50% waived between ₹90,000 and ₹1,49,999.

From 15 Nov 2026

Only the 100% waiver at ₹1,50,000 survives; a ₹90,000–₹1,49,999 spender pays the full ₹4,500 renewal.

See it with every other change

The card this affects

Amex Membership Rewards Card

American Express

₹19,600 a year at ₹75,000 a month

Keep Paused

Update, 10 October 2026: the date moved from 11 October to 15 November 2026. Amex’s own India consumer-updates page now reads: “The 50% Annual Fee Waiver on spends of ₹90,000 or more in a Card Membership year will not be available, effective 15 November 2026.”

The Membership Rewards Credit Card’s renewal fee is ₹4,500. Today Amex waives all of it at ₹1,50,000 of annual spend and half of it between ₹90,000 and ₹1,49,999. From 15 November 2026 the half-waiver goes. Live From A Lounge and InsideFlyer first reported it from the cardmember notice on 11 September for 11 October; Amex has since moved the date. The full waiver at ₹1,50,000 stays.

Who pays more: only the middle band. If you spend ₹90,000 to ₹1,49,999 a year on the card, your renewal goes from ₹2,250 to ₹4,500. Below ₹90,000 you were already paying in full. At ₹1,50,000 and above you still pay nothing.

The sourcing: Amex’s MRCC page and its Lending MITC still printed both waiver bands when we re-read them on 2 October 2026. The card’s page here keeps both until Amex’s own documents change, and flags the cut as upcoming.

The same notice ends Membership Rewards pooling across cards. That is the bigger change, and it has its own story.

Our take: if you sit in the middle band, reaching ₹1,50,000 is now worth ₹4,500 a year to you, up from ₹2,250. Either push the card past ₹1.5 lakh, or ask whether ₹4,500 still buys enough milestone MR to keep it.