Axis Bank made changes to the benefits of several credit cards, which are effective from 20 April 2024. Changes have also come for the Axis Atlas credit card, which has resulted in some degree of Axis Atlas Devaluation.
What’s changing?
Here is the brief of changes to Axis Atlas Credit Card:
- Spends & Milestone Exclusion
- Limit of Earning Edge Miles on Travel Spending
- Milestone Benefits
- Renewal Benefits
- Other Complimentary Benefits
Spends & Milestone Exclusion
Starting 20th April 2024, you will not earn Edge Miles on spending, and this spending will also not be considered for Milestone calculation:
- Gold or Jewellery Purchases
- Rent [Already Excluded]
- Insurance [Already Excluded above INR 5K]
- Government Institutions
- Utilities
- Fuel
Axis has tried to exclude all major spending at a given time. For example, spending on jewellery is always significantly high; some consider insurance or jewellery purchase investments. So, the bank is trying to curb or discourage large spending even though this is a milestone credit card.
Earning Edge Miles on Travel Spending
The biggest benefit of the Axis Atlas Credit card was earning five edge miles on every INR 100 spent on travel spendings. This benefit is still there; however, it is only up to spending INR 2 Lacs monthly. You will earn base two edge miles on every INR 100 spent thereafter.
| Monthly Travel Spending | Edge Miles |
| INR 2 Lakhs | 10000 |
| INR 3 Lakhs | 12000 |
| INR 4 Lakhs | 14000 |
The two lakh limit is good for usual travel. However, this may be too low for a few frequent travellers or group travel people. This will also hit if you plan to spend at hotels for events like weddings.
Changes to Milestone Benefits
Changes to milestone benefits don’t make sense if certain major spending has been excluded. If there had been no milestone benefit changes, the Axis Atlas card would have looked better. Since milestone benefits have been reduced by 50%, the milestone reward rate has been impacted by 40%.
| Milestone | Old Benefits | New Benefits |
| INR 3 Lakhs | 2500 | 2500 |
| INR 7.5 Lakhs | 5000 | 2500 |
| INR 15 Lakhs | 10000 | 5000 |
Changes to Renewal Benefits
The renewal benefits on Axis Atlas credit have also devalued. Again, there are no renewal benefits for the silver tier, and the benefits have been reduced by 50% for the gold and platinum tiers.
| Spending | Old Renewal | New Renewal |
| INR 3 Lakhs | 2500 | Nil |
| INR 7.5 Lakhs | 5000 | 2500 |
| INR 15 Lakhs | 10000 | 5000 |
Capping on Edge Mile Transfer
Axis has also put limitations on edge miles that can be transferred in a calendar year. Further, Axis Bank Transfer partners have also been put in Groups, and this transfer capping is for these groups separately.
| Group A | Group B | Annual Limit |
| 30000 EM | 120000 EM | 150000 EM |
The 30 K mile cap for group A is ridiculous. That means you will get 60K partner miles or points, which isn’t sufficient for even a two-person round-trip flight.
Removing Complimentary Benefits
Starting 20th April 2024, you will not be able to claim or use:
- Airport Meet & Assist
- Airport Transfer
- Complimentary Concierge
Removing airport transfers or meet & assist on a pure travel card is too much since you would like to have a complete travel card in your portfolio. Also, airport transfers were only available for cardholders spending more than INR 15 Lakhs. However, it seems Axis has removed all these benefits from all the cards offered to them, so Axis is probably closing its contracts with the suppliers.
Atlas Devaluation Impact
Is the Axis Atlas Devaluation significant? Firstly, Axis Atlas will now only have a perceived value. Its actual benefit to a customer will be highly subjective. The simplicity of this card is no more there.
There is a 20% reduction in earning edge miles and reward rates. So, if one spends on eligible spending excluding travel, their reward rate will be 5.33% on INR 7.5 Lac or INR 15 Lac.
| Spending | Old Earning | New Earning |
| INR 3 Lakhs | 11K EM | 8.5K EM |
| INR 7.5 Lakhs | 25K EM | 20K EM |
| INR 15 Lakhs | 50K EM | 40K EM |
Changes to milestone and annual benefits impact Axis Atlas by 10% if all spending is on travel-related expenses. However, if someone spends more than INR 2 Lacs in a month, this impact will be between 15%-40%.
| Spending | Old Earning | New Earning |
| INR 3 Lakhs | 20K EM | 17.5K EM |
| INR 7.5 Lakhs | 47.5K EM | 42.5K EM |
| INR 15 Lakhs | 95K EM | 85K EM |
Even if you earn a decent number of edge miles, you now can’t transfer all of it to some amazing transfer partner. Since there is a limit on the transfer of edge miles, the actual usage of miles is highly subjective. You may have to stick to ITC, Flying Blue or IHG. Flying Blue can still be valuable for economy-class travel.
Bottomline
The Axis Atlas devaluation is significant. From now on, the benefit of the Axis Atlas credit card will depend on where and how you use your edge miles. This card still offers value mostly for domestic and economy class travel, but it will not be the only card one looks at while applying for a new card.
