AU Small Finance Bank is one of the newest players in the credit card space. It was also the first SFB to launch its own credit cards in September 2021. As of today, we have entry-level to premium cards with decent rewards and benefits. In this post, we review the AU Bank Zenith Credit Card. The Zenith is currently the top credit card in AU Bank’s lineup.
Overview
| Segment | Premium |
| Type | Rewards |
| Variant | Visa Infinite |
| Annual Fee | Rs 7999+GST or LTF |
| Rewards | 1.25% to 5% |
Fees and Charges
AU Bank Zenith Credit Card Lifetime Free (LTF) Offer
| Joining Fee | Rs 7999+GST or LTF |
| Joining Fee Waiver | Rs 1.5 Lakhs spend |
| Welcome Benefit | Rs 1000 voucher on 1st POS transaction within 60 days 10000 RP on Rs 1 Lakh spend within 60 days |
| Annual Fee | Rs 7999+GST or LTF |
| Annual Fee Waiver | Rs 5 Lakhs Spend |
Rewards
- Dining at Standalone Restaurants: 20 RP/Rs 100 ~5% Return
- International, Grocery, and Departmental Stores: 10 RP/Rs 100 ~2.5% Return
- All other spend: 5 RP/Rs 100 ~1.25% Return
- Birthday Spends: 2500 RP for doing one retail transaction on birthday
- Excluded spends for rewards: Fuel
For a super-premium card, the return seems to be a little less. But this is AU Bank starting off with credit cards as an SFB. Considering that, this is a good effort.
The 5% benefit on dining spending is also a nice benefit. Dominos, KFC, and most restaurants get tagged with 5% rewards. So, if you don’t have an EazyDiner/DineOut offer this is a good credit card to use for those cases.
Milestone Rewards
- Rs 1000 gift vouchers on Rs 2 Lakhs of retail spends per calendar quarter
- Complimentary Epicure Membership on Rs 8 Lakhs retail spends in a card anniversary year
Rewards Redemption
The reward points can be redeemed on the AU Rewardz portal. Each RP is worth 25 paise.
- Vouchers: Many options including Amazon Pay gift vouchers
- Merchandise: Not recommended as we get a better value in other options
- Mobile/DTH Recharge
- Flight/Hotel/Bus booking
- Movies
- Airmiles: Only Vistara at 4 RP = 1 Airmiles ratio
Complimentary Airport and Railway Lounge Access
- Airport Lounges within India: 4 complimentary visits/quarter directly on the Visa card to this list of lounges
- Airport Lounges outside India: 2 complimentary visits/quarter
- Railway Lounges in India: 2 complimentary visits/quarter at railway stations in New Delhi, Kolkata (Sealdah), Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Agra
All of the above complimentary lounge visits are also applicable to add-on credit card holders. 🙂
Other Benefits
- BookMyShow Offer: 50% off up to Rs 400 once per calendar month. T&C.
- Fuel Surcharge Waiver: Unlimited 1%
- Forex Markup: 1.99%+GST ~2.35%
My Thoughts
There is no value in getting the AU Bank Zenith card by paying Rs 7999 as the annual fee. We have much better cards available at a lesser annual fee. But, if you are getting the Zenith as LTF then may be a good option to get it.
The 5% on standalone restaurants can be handy if you can’t use EazyDiner/Dineout offers. The BMS offer is also pretty decent as it does not have any quotas.
