Author: Rupanshi Thapa
| Axis Ace Credit Card Rating |
| Cashback ★★★★ Annual Fee ★★★★ Ease of Use ★★★★ Additional Benefits ★★★ |
| Overall Rating ★★★★ |
When looking for a cashback credit card, Axis Ace was one of the top choices for me as there was no other card offering 2% flat-rate cashback across all transactions. Even though, this base rate has been brought down to 1.5% after the devaluation by Axis bank, this base rate is still higher than the 1% base rate that other cards generally offer. Also, as this was my first cashback credit card, getting direct credit into the card account instead of reward redemption seemed like a great benefit.
| I got the offer for this card through Google Pay and the application process was smooth. The verification was completed by the next 2 days and, within a week, the card was at my doorstep. |
Here is my first-hand experience on Axis Ace Credit Card to help you decide whether you should get it too, starting with the cashback tiers on this credit card.
- 5% cashback on utility bill payments, DTH and mobile recharges via Google Pay (No cashback if paid on any platform other than Google Pay)
- 4% cashback on Swiggy, Zomato and Ola
- 1.5% cashback on all other spends
Before I got this card, I did not have any platform preference when it came to utility bill payments. I have made payments via Paytm, Amazon Pay and also via Google Pay. However, despite being a major part of my monthly expenses, I was not getting any benefit on such payments via any of the platforms. This is because most credit cards keep utilities as an excluded category and provide low or no benefits on them.
As Axis Ace offers 5% cashback on all these payments, I have started making all utility bill payments via Google Pay as 5% cashback is quite a substantial one.
To give you a clearer understanding of the savings, here is how much I can save with this card:
| Transaction | Amount (in INR) | Cashback Rate | Cashback Amount (in INR) |
| Electricity Bill Payment (via Google Pay) | 5,000 | 5% | 250 |
| Mobile Recharge (via Google Pay) | 2,000 | 5% | 100 |
| Internet Bill Payment (via Google Pay) | 2,000 | 5% | 100 |
| Zomato | 4,000 | 4% | 160 |
| Ola | 1,000 | 4% | 40 |
| Big Basket | 7,000 | 1.5% | 105 |
| Myntra | 3,000 | 1.5% | 45 |
| Nykaa | 2,000 | 1.5% | 30 |
| Firstcry | 5,000 | 1.5% | 75 |
| Miscellaneous Offline Spends | 2,000 | 1.5% | 30 |
| Total | 33,000 | NA | 935 |
No upper limit on cashback earning is the best part. Since utility bills usually make up a larger portion of everyone’s monthly spends, the value-back can be quite impressive, if you make smart use of this card.
| The cashback earned on Axis Ace Credit Card during a billing cycle is credited into the card account 3 days before the date of next statement generation. Also, Axis Bank clearly shows the amount of cashback earned for each transaction in the statement, which is a great feature. I don’t think any other card issuer offers such a transparent view on rewards/cashback earned. |
However, there are some downsides too:
- Bill payments via credit card is a feature offered only in the Android version of Google Pay. So, iOS users will lose out on the 5% cashback benefit.
- The card does not offer any benefits on fuel, insurance, EMIs, jewellery, wallet loading and rent payments.
| As I am an Android user, this card has helped me avail impressive value-back on bill payments. I already have a credit card for fuel, hence no fuel benefit on this card is not a major disappointment for me. Moreover, the excluded categories on most credit cards are the same as Axis Ace so I won’t call it a deal breaker. |
With benefits that surpass its annual fee by a wide margin, Axis Ace is definitely on top of the list of entry-level credit cards in India. Three main things made this card a worthy addition to my wallet:
- High cashback on the most practical category, that is, utility bill payments. While most credit cards keep utilities in their list of excluded categories, Axis Ace made it the top cashback category.
- There is no upper limit on the cashback earning. Since utilities are usually larger bills, the cashback earning is also quite substantial for me.
- The card is easy to use. There is no hassle of accumulating rewards and redeeming them later. The cashback is automatically credited into the card account with complete breakup of how much cashback I earned for each transaction.
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