Axis Magnus Burgandy credit card is the second coming of the popular Axis Magnus credit card. However, like with every other thing in finance, it comes with a lot of asterisks. There is a hefty annual fee, high total relationship value (TRV) requirement, many exclusion categories etc. However, if you can make your way around the maze of exclusions and complex calculations the Axis Magnus Burgandy can be the best airmiles credit card for you. How? Read to find out.
Axis Magnus Burgandy Credit Card
Below is the snapshot of Axis Magnus Burgandy credit card highlighting its annual fees and reward points structure. Have compared the same with Axis Magnus for easy reference.
Thoughts about the Axis Magnus Burgandy credit card
The 5:4 transfer ratio is the highlight of Axis Magnus Burgandy
The highlight of the Axis Magnus Burgandy credit card is its 5:4 transfer ratio. This is the feature that made Axis Magnus so popular. Under this, you can transfer your reward points to a plethora of transfer partners in the ratio of 5:4 i.e. 5 reward points would give you 4 partner miles. The list of transfer partners is shared below.
Accelerated ERs on spends above 1.5lks
Erstwhile Axis Magnus had this superhit feature of 25k bonus reward points on spending 1lk in a month. This feature is now withdrawn from both the Axis Magnus and the Axis Magnus Burgandy. However, Axis Bank has come up with a tweaked feature. You earn 35 reward points on incremental spending above 1.5 lakhs in a calendar month. The 35 reward points are the total reward points you earn, so you get an additional 23 reward points for every 200 spent. The good thing about this feature is there is no capping. Thus, those lumpy spends during festivals, family weddings, kids’ school fees or vacation planning can be done on Axis Magnus Burgandy and earn handsome reward points.
Reward points calculation is a complex maze
While until now the Axis Magnus Burgandy seems to be a simple and good card. For sure it’s a good card for high spenders. But it’s not simple.
The reward structure is complex. Axis Bank in its FAQs has put a formula to calculate the accelerated ERs and further illustrated the same using an example. And even after that, you will be left with multiple questions.
Here is my attempt to explain the rules:
- Only spends above 1.5lk are eligible for accelerated spending.
- Few categories are excluded from earning reward points. Thus, you don’t earn reward points on them and they are not counted toward accelerated reward points. They are wallet spends, spends towards government institutes i.e. tax payments, utilities and telecom payments. Yes, utility payments don’t earn any reward points on Axis Magnus Burgandy.
- Spends on TravelEdge portal will earn 5x ER on spends up to 2lk every calendar month. However, these spends are not counted towards the accelerated spending i.e. excluded from monthly 1.5lk spends. Only spends above 2lakhs on the TravelEdge portal will be eligible for accelerated reward points as spends above 2lk don’t earn 5x ERs.
- Spends on Grab Deals, Gyftr, and GiftEdge that earn up to 5x reward points are excluded from the monthly 1.5lk spends.
- Rent payment of upto 50k is counted towards the 1.5lk spends. I.e. if you spend 70k as rent, only 50k will be counted towards the 1.5lk limit and 20k won’t be counted on your Axis Magnus Burgandy.
- The calculations get further exacerbated by spend level capping. For, reward points on rent payments are capped at 3000 ER i.e. max payment of 50k every month. Further, for insurance payment, there is capping of 6000 reward points per transaction. i.e. max of 1lk per transaction.
However, some good inclusions too in the Axis Magnus Burgandy
Having talked about the complex calculations and exclusions, there are a couple of categories that give reward points. They are fuel spending and educational spending. If you read my article on best fuel cards Magnus does find a special mention. Theoretically, you can earn a reward rate of anywhere between 3.5%-17.5% on your spending on the Axis Magnus Burgandy depending on how you value your reward points.
Burgandy account criteria are lofty and the annual fee is high
You cannot just get the Axis Magnus Burgandy credit card from Axis Bank. You need to open a Burgandy bank account and maintain the eligibility criteria mentioned in the snapshot below. Even after that, the Axis Magnus Burgandy has an annual fee of 30k+GST.
However, I feel there are some tricks to maintain the Burgandy eligibility. Axis Bank requires you to maintain a TRV of 30lks and it doesn’t only include the account balances with Axis Bank. This is where a few tricks exist.
- You may consider a certain asset allocation towards index funds. You can buy these index funds through Axis Bank. Index generally has a low expense ratio and the difference between direct and regular options is not very high, around 10bps. Thus, you are not losing out big on your returns.
- Nearly everyone has a PPF account. You can transfer your PPF account from your existing bank/post office to Axis Bank. The process is mentioned here. This may help you get closer to the 30lks TRV mark.
- Similar to PPF, nowadays many people invest in NPS. You can also shift your NPS account to Axis Bank. The process to do so is mentioned here and here.
- Further, in case you are among the ones who invest in RBI bonds, you may choose to do so through Axis Bank.
Axis Magnus Burgandy Reward Calculator
Below is my new reward rate calculator added with Axis Magnus Burgandy as one of the options. If you look at the cash value of reward points then Axis Magnus Burgandy doesn’t shine as compared to HDFC Infinia or Axis Atlas. However, if you take into account the miles conversion Axis Magnus Burgandy stands heads and shoulders above HDFC Infinia/DCB and nearly every other credit card in the market at the moment.
However, if your monthly spending is below 2lk, HDFC Infinia, HDFC Diners Black Metal(Apply Now) and Axis Atlas(Apply Now) would be better for miles accretion as the accelerated reward points on Axis Magnus Burgandy don’t create much of a difference. It’s only at monthly spends 2.5lk and above Magnus Burgandy outshines. This is based on a particular spend profile, so use the calculator below to check the best card based on your spend profile.
Also, just in case you own the Axis Magnus and looking to upgrade to Axis Magnus Burgandy you need to account for higher fees. Back-of-the-envelope calculations indicate that the upgrade makes sense only if the monthly spending is above 1.2lk.
Further, while calculating the reward rate on your Axis Magnus Burgandy, ensure that you include the annual fees plus the opportunity costs of your investments that you have saved via Axis. For eg, the 10bps higher costs on index funds when invested through Axis Bank compared to going direct.
Also, remember that 1 air mile is NOT ALWAYS EQUAL to INR1. Their value keeps on changing, so better to take a conservative estimate in your calculations.
A quick note on the Axis Magnus
While the article mentions Axis Magnus Burgandy nearly everything is true for the Axis Magnus credit card too. A few differences are highlighted below:
- Eligibility: You can apply for Axis Magnus without having any relationship or opening a bank account with Axis Bank. All you need is an annual income of 24lks.
- Annual fees for the Axis Magnus at 12.5k+GST i.e. 14,750. Waived off on annual spends of 25lks.
- As a welcome bonus you get GVs worth 12.5k
- Reward point to airmiles conversion ratio is at 5:2
- You can only transfer 5lk reward points in a year.
Conclusion
As mentioned at the start, if you can deal with the complex maze of inclusions and exclusions Axis Magnus Burgandy can be a great airmiles credit card for high spenders. Also, the assumption here is you meet the Burgandy account criteria too.
Further, if you are among the few lucky ones who have got the Axis Magnus Burgandy as LTF, treasure it and make it your primary credit card. Swipe it everywhere where you spend money.
If you don’t fit the above 2 segments and still want to airmiles card, consider the Axis Atlas(Apply Now), Amex Platinum Travel(Apply Now), Amex MRCC(Apply Now), Amex Gold Charge(Apply Now), HDFC Infinia(Apply Now) and HDFC Diners Black(Apply Now).
The content was last updated on 9th March 2024.
Disclaimer
In the interest of full disclosure, Credit Cardz may earn a referral bonus for anyone that’s approved through some of the links in this post. However, opinions and views expressed here are of the author's alone and not those of the bank, credit card issuer, or anyone else and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
Update review now