Amex Overhauls Membership Rewards Ecosystem in India with Sweeping Changes
Starting October 11, 2026, American Express will be making significant changes to its Membership Rewards ecosystem in India.
The biggest change is that Membership Rewards points earned on different basic cards will no longer be pooled together. This means that cardmembers holding multiple Amex cards will have separate balances for each card. For example, a cardmember with 30,000 points on one card and 20,000 points on another card will not have a combined balance of 50,000 points.
The 50% annual fee waiver on the American Express Membership Rewards Credit Card (MRCC) is also being removed. This means that cardmembers who spend between INR 90,000 and INR 1,49,999 will no longer get a 50% discount on their annual renewal fee of INR 4,500.
The company is also changing how it calculates milestone eligibility for cards like the MRCC and the Gold Charge Card. Transactions will be counted based on posting dates rather than the date they were made. This means that cardmembers should not leave transactions to the last day of the month as this may affect their milestones.
Additionally, American Express is tightening its system by restricting rewards when an account has an overdue balance and pausing new applications for supplementary cards from September 22, 2026.