ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card Review

Within 45 days of paying the joining fee, you will get welcome vouchers of shopping and travel worth Rs. 9,000+

• Tata CliQ Voucher worth Rs.3,000
• EaseMyTrip Vouchers worth Rs.4,000 (Four vouchers worth Rs.1,000 each)
• Uber Vouchers worth Rs.1,000 (Four vouchers worth Rs.250 each)
• Zomato Pro 12 Month Membership voucher worth Rs.800
• Croma Voucher worth Rs.1,000

Annual Fee Waiver: If you spend more than 6 lakhs in the previous year then your annual fee will be waived.

A maximum of 20,000 PAYBACK Points can be earned in a year. Where 1 PAYBACK point = Rs.0.25, ICICI gives-

ICICI Bank Sapphiro MasterCard-

• 2 PAYBACK Points per Rs. 100 spent domestically, not valid on fuel purchases
• 4 PAYBACK Points per Rs. 100 spent internationally
• 4 PAYBACK Points are worth Re. 1

Bonus Reward Points – 

• Earn 4,000 PAYBACK Points on spending Rs. 4.00 lakh
• Earn additional 2,000 PAYBACK Points per Rs. 1.00 lakh

You can visit the Payback portal to redeem your points for gifts. Alternatively, you can redeem these points in the form of cash as well (4 Payback Points = Rupee 1).

You can book one ticket through BookMyShow and get a discount of up to Rs. 500 on the second ticket twice every month.

This facility is suitable for those who like to watch movies quite frequently. As most credit cards provide discounts of up to Rs. 250 only, ICICI Sapphiro Credit Cards offer a better deal to their customers.

However, if you want a credit card primarily for movie benefits, and do not want to pay a huge amount as an annual fee, you can opt for RBL Popcorn credit card or Kotak PVR Platinum credit card having an annual fee of just Rs. 1,000.

Domestic lounge access on Sapphiro is provided by MasterCard. You get 2 complimentary access per quarter to select airport lounges in India on spending a minimum of Rs 5,000 or above in a calendar quarter on your ICICI Bank Sapphiro Credit Card to avail this facility in the next calendar quarter.

ICICI Sapphiro is featured among premium cards and only 4 complimentary domestic airport lounge accesses is less than what most other cards in the category provided. Even HDFC Regalia credit card, which has an annual fee of Rs. 2,500 provides 6 complimentary international lounge accesses and 12 free domestic lounge accesses.

Dreamfolks DragonPass program allows you to avail special privileges on Sapphiro credit card. It is an alternative to the Priority Pass membership. You get 2 complimentary international lounge accesses to more than 450 lounges across 115 countries. In addition to that, you get 2 complimentary spa visits to domestic airport spas every year.

If you spend Rs. 50,000 on retail purchases, you get one complimentary golf round/lesson which can be availed anytime within the next two months. You can avail a maximum of 4 golf rounds every month. You can see the complimentary golf rounds available in your Golftripz account after the 10th day of every month.

If you spend the minimum required amount, you will get access to the golf course for free otherwise you may have to pay for each round. However, if you opt for HDFC Diners Club Black credit card, you can get unlimited free golfing lessons at select golf courses in India. Apart from that, your green fee is also waived off and you can enjoy unlimited free golf games at more than 40 golf courses worldwide.

Dining benefit on ICICI Sapphiro is provided under the ICICI Bank Culinary Treats programme. You can save a minimum of 15% on dining bills when you dine at the participating restaurants.

Every credit card provider has a dining program or the other that gives more or less similar discounts. ICICI Culinary Treats is no different but if you dine frequently at a partner restaurant, you can avail benefits provided with this card.

ICICI Sapphiro Credit Card offers the benefits of two cards with one account. It has the most unique range of deals to send to the cardholder, ranging from complimentary lounge access to complimentary golf rounds. ICICI Bank provides a relatively better reward program on Sapphiro credit cards. You will get 2 Payback Points on every Rs. 100 spent using the MasterCard variant. Points double when the card is used internationally. With a high joining fee of Rs.6,500 and an annual fee of Rs.3,500, the rewards rate is solid but not the best in the market. This card can be a considerable option for you if you are spending approximately Rs.50,000 every month.

ICICI Bank Sapphiro can be a very good credit card in a number of ways, but it lacks behind on a number of factors.

Being a premium credit card, it is expected that the cardholder would get a good air mile conversion rate but it is not the case here. If you want your credit card to provide a good air mile conversion, you can opt for Citi PremierMiles credit card.

ICICI Sapphiro provides very few offers on third party websites. If you want to avail offers and deals from time to time, you can go for SBI Elite credit card. SBI Elite has an annual fee of Rs. 5,000 but it is a complete card in itself that provides better benefits to cardholders.

ICICI Sapphiro credit card can be used while travelling abroad. You can avail international lounge facility on this card. But you may have to pay more on international spends as it has a high foreign currency conversion fee of 3.5%. RBL Bank World Safari credit card can be a very good option in this case as it has zero foreign currency conversion fee.

ICICI Bank Sapphiro is a good credit card especially because you get back the amount you paid as annual fee in the form of various vouchers. You also get reward points on paying the renewal fee every year. However, with many other limitations, it can be a burden for you if you do not use the benefits provided by this card specifically.

If you already have the ICICI Bank Sapphiro credit card, please feel free to share with us what you think about this card.