ICICI Credit Card Changes in December 2026: What Cardholders Lose and Which Cards Are Still Worth Keeping

ICICI has announced another round of changes, most of which involve discontinuing additional benefits that came bundled with the card. If you've also received an email from ICICI, it’s time to reconsider whether the card is still worth the fee.

No single change will perhaps wreck your year. But a perk here, a fee there, and a year later the card in your wallet isn’t the card you signed up for.

This article explains exactly what you lose, on which date, and which cards may still earn their place in your wallet.

TL;DR

• Business cards get a higher currency conversion fee on 25 November.
• Card replacement gets more expensive on 11 December
• Priority Pass replacement stops being free on 12 premium and travel cards.
• On 15 December, air accident cover, cancellation cover, and the INOX movie offer disappear from a long list of cards.
• Most premium cardholders should keep their cards. Holders of cards that were mostly a movie perk should decide now.

Every change, with its date

25 November 2026: business, corporate and purchase cards

• The dynamic currency conversion (DCC) fee rises from 1% to 3.50% of the transaction.
• The replacement fee rises from ₹200 + GST to ₹300 + GST.

11 December 2026: retail cards

• The replacement fee rises from ₹200 + GST to ₹300 + GST on every retail ICICI card except Emeralde Private Metal and Times Black (₹3,500 each, unchanged) and 1838 Reserve (₹5,000, unchanged).
• Priority Pass replacement moves from nil to ₹300 + GST on Emeralde Private Metal, Emeralde Private, Emeralde, Sapphiro, Times Black, MakeMyTrip Signature, MakeMyTrip, Emirates Skywards Emeralde, Emirates Skywards Sapphiro, Adani One Signature, Parakram Select and Diamant World Mastercard.

15 December 2026: benefits discontinued

• Air accident and related insurance cover ends on Emeralde Private Metal, Times Black, Emeralde, Emeralde Private, Diamant, Sapphiro and Rubyx.
• Cancellation For Any Reason (CFAR) cover ends on Emeralde Private Metal, Times Black, Emeralde and Emeralde Private.
• Personal and air accident cover ends on Parakram and Parakram Select.
• The complimentary INOX benefit ends on Rubyx, Coral, Expressions, Chennai Super Kings, MakeMyTrip Platinum, HPCL Super Saver, Emirates Rubyx, MakeMyTrip Signature and MakeMyTrip.

The business card change isn't a forex markup hike

ICICI isn't raising the forex markup on business cards. It's raising the DCC fee, which applies when a foreign merchant offers to bill you in rupees instead of the local currency. From 25 November, that fee matches the 3.50% forex markup.

On ₹1,00,000 of DCC-billed spend, the fee goes from ₹1,000 to ₹3,500. That's ₹2,500 extra for saying yes to paying in INR when abroad.

The affected cards are Business Black Advantage, Business Blue Advantage, Travel Agent Card (BCCL-V), Business Platinum, Business AMEX Essential, Business ASCENT AMEX, the Business Purchase Cards and corporate cards, along with dozens of other business, corporate and purchase card variants that ICICI lists in the notice.

Replacement fees: small money, easy to avoid

The new ₹300 + GST card replacement fee works out to ₹354, up from the earlier ₹236. That's ₹118 more every time you replace a card.

The Priority Pass change is the new one. From 11 December 2026, replacing a lost or damaged Priority Pass membership card costs ₹354 each time. It used to cost nothing on these 12 cards. So, keep the membership card somewhere safe.

What the 15 December cuts are actually worth

INOX

On Coral, Expressions, HPCL Super Saver, Chennai Super Kings, Emirates Rubyx and MakeMyTrip Platinum, the INOX offer is 25% off, up to ₹100. On Rubyx, MakeMyTrip and MakeMyTrip Signature, it's up to ₹150.

You need to book at least two tickets on inoxmovies.com, and you can use the offer twice a month. At the ₹100 cap, that's at most ₹200 a month, or ₹2,400 a year. At ₹150, it's ₹300 a month, or ₹3,600 a year. To get the full ₹100, your tickets need to add up to ₹400 (₹600 for ₹150).

Air accident cover

This is insurance that came free with the card. ICICI's policy lists ₹3 crore on Emeralde, Emeralde Private Metal, Diamant, Sapphiro and Times Black, and ₹1 crore on Rubyx. It pays on death only, and only if you bought the ticket with that card.

Parakram and Parakram Select lose ₹2 lakh of accidental death cover and ₹20 lakh of air accident cover. It was a nice extra.

CFAR

Cancellation For Any Reason cover reimburses the non-refundable ticket cost, up to ₹12,000 per card, on your first two domestic flight, hotel or movie cancellations. You have to cancel at least 24 hours before travel, and hotels must be 4-star or 5-star. It ends on four cards. At that cap, losing it costs you at most ₹12,000, once.

Watch out: ICICI's notice says "Air Accident and related Insurance Cover". The policy it links also lists baggage, flight delay, credit shield and lost-card fraud cover, and the notice doesn't say whether those end too. Until ICICI confirms, don't count on them after 15 December. The notice names no replacement for any of these cuts.

Card by card: what each one loses and whether to keep it

The replacement-fee increase applies to nearly every retail card, so the table lists only what's specific to each card.

So, which card would we actually act on?

If you hold Emeralde, Times Black, Sapphiro or the Emeralde Private cards, do nothing. You paid for lounges, rewards and a low forex markup, and none of those are changing. Buy a standalone travel or personal accident policy if you want the cover back.

If you hold Coral, Expressions, MakeMyTrip Signature or MakeMyTrip Platinum, check your last statement before 15 December. Count how many times you used the INOX offer this year, and set that against the fee.

On a ₹500 card, the INOX offer was worth at most ₹2,400, so a few uses a year means the card has lost its best argument. Check your renewal date, and ask ICICI about moving to a cheaper card.

If you hold a business card and pay in rupees abroad, switch to local-currency billing on 25 November.

FAQs about ICICI December 2026 changes

Which ICICI cards are losing air accident insurance?

Emeralde Private Metal, Times Black, Emeralde, Emeralde Private, Diamant, Sapphiro and Rubyx lose air accident and related cover on 15 December 2026. Parakram and Parakram Select lose personal and air accident cover on the same date.

Which ICICI cards are losing CFAR cover?

Four cards: Emeralde Private Metal, Times Black, Emeralde and Emeralde Private. The date is 15 December 2026.

Which ICICI cards are losing the INOX benefit?

Nine cards lose it on 15 December 2026: Rubyx, Coral, Expressions, HPCL Super Saver, Emirates Rubyx, MakeMyTrip Platinum, MakeMyTrip Signature, MakeMyTrip and Chennai Super Kings

How much will it cost to replace an ICICI credit card from December 2026?

₹300 + GST, which is ₹354, on most retail cards from 11 December. Emeralde Private Metal and Times Black (₹3,500 each) and 1838 Reserve (₹5,000) are exempt from this increase. Business, corporate and purchase cards move to the same ₹300 + GST from 25 November.

Is ICICI raising forex charges on business cards?

Not the forex markup. The DCC fee rises from 1% to 3.50% from 25 November 2026, which affects you when a foreign merchant bills you in rupees.

Should I close my ICICI card because of these changes?

Only if the cut benefit was the reason you held it. For premium cards, the lounges, rewards and forex terms that justify the fee are unchanged. You know your own spending better than any notice does. Check which of these benefits you actually used last year, and keep the cards that still earn their fee.

Disclaimer

This is my honest read, not formal financial advice. I'm not your advisor, and before you act on anything big, run it past a professional. These changes come from ICICI Bank's notice dated 6 November 2026, and ICICI's MITC. Check the notice ICICI sent for your own card.