Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Rubyx Credit Card

Best for: Occasional Emirates flyers

Mid tier — a solid all-rounder for steady monthly spend.

Strongest value if you spend heavily on Other ( 1% back).

Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.

• Cheapest way into Emirates Skywards Miles
• Complimentary Skywards Blue Tier membership
• Up to 10% off Emirates flights

• Thin 1% flat earn, no welcome miles and no fee waiver
• Only Skywards Blue status and one spend-gated domestic lounge visit a quarter
• The Sapphiro and Emeralde carry the benefits that make the co-brand worth holding

Ways to convert what you earn into real value.

🎁 Redeem Skywards Miles for Emirates flights, upgrades and partner awards via your Emirates Skywards account

Of the three Emirates co-brand cards, this one comes out weakest — a flat 1 mile per ₹100 (about 1%), no bonus miles at signup, entry-level Skywards Blue status, and just one domestic lounge visit a quarter that requires hitting a spend threshold first. The ₹1,000 fee is modest, but the value on offer is modest too; anyone flying Emirates with any regularity is better served by the Sapphiro or Emeralde.

Sources & verification

Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Rubyx Credit Card are taken from ICICI Bank 's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page . Last verified 13 Aug 2026 . Reviewed by Devchandra Sah . Always confirm current details on the issuer's site before applying. How we research →

Independence. CardAdvisor is an independent editorial publication. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or authorised to act for ICICI Bank . All issuer names, product names, and payment-network marks are the property of their respective owners and appear here for identification and comparison only. Card faces shown on this site are our own original illustrations — we do not display or host issuer card artwork or logos.

Every real-world change to this card's rewards, fees and benefits we've tracked — newest first, each linked to its source.

Tracking since 2022 · 5 changes · last change Jan 2026

▲ Revaluation ▼ Devaluation ◆ Neutral / reversed

▼ Benefit Observed 22 Dec 2025 · Effective 15 Jan 2026

BookMyShow movie benefit becomes spend-gated

Complimentary 25% off (up to ₹100), twice a month → Requires ₹25,000 spend in the previous quarter

From 15 Jan 2026, Rubyx's BookMyShow movie discount — 25% off up to ₹100 on a minimum of two tickets, twice a month — is unlocked only if the cardholder spent at least ₹25,000 in the preceding calendar quarter. The Emirates co-brand cards were gated in their own 15 Jan 2026 revision, ahead of the wider ICICI portfolio's 1 Apr 2026 date, moving the last of the card's low-threshold perks from unconditional to spend-gated.

Verification: ICICI Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Reward Observed 17 Dec 2025 · Effective 15 Jan 2026

Insurance, utility, government and education spends stripped of miles

Miles earned on insurance, utility, government and education spends → Those categories earn no Skywards Miles

As part of ICICI's January 2026 portfolio devaluation, from 15 Jan 2026 the Emirates cards stopped awarding Skywards Miles on insurance, utility, government and education payments. Rubyx's headline rate stayed at 1 Mile per ₹100 on other eligible retail spends — unlike Sapphiro (cut from 2 to 1.5) and Emeralde (2.5 to 2) — so for Rubyx the change is a category carve-out rather than a rate cut. ICICI's own Most Important Terms and Conditions set it out plainly: "1 Skyward Mile per ₹100 spent on all eligible retail spends", then "No Miles will be accrued on Insurance, Utility, Government & Education payments", and confirm every other feature of the card was left unchanged.

Verification: ICICI Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Fee Observed 17 Dec 2025 · Effective 15 Jan 2026

New wallet-load, gaming and DCC transaction fees

No fee on wallet loads, gaming spends or dynamic currency conversion → 1% on wallet loads ≥₹5,000; 2% on gaming; tier-based DCC fee

The same 15 Jan 2026 round added transaction fees that hit every ICICI card, Rubyx included: a 1% fee on third-party wallet loads (Paytm, Amazon Pay, MobiKwik and similar) of ₹5,000 or more, a 2% fee on gaming and fantasy-sports platforms, and a tier-based dynamic-currency-conversion (DCC) fee on foreign-currency transactions billed in rupees. These are pure cost additions, independent of the card's reward structure.

Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High

▼ Lounge Observed 11 Oct 2024 · Effective 15 Nov 2024

Airport lounge access gated behind ₹75,000/quarter spend

₹35,000/quarter spend (₹5,000 earlier) → ₹75,000/quarter spend

ICICI's system-wide November 2024 restructure applied to the Emirates co-brand cards too, more than doubling the spend needed to unlock Rubyx's single complimentary domestic airport lounge visit — from ₹35,000 in the previous quarter (itself raised from ₹5,000 in April 2024) to ₹75,000. For a card whose earn is a thin 1 mile per ₹100, the perk moved well out of reach of its typical holder. There is no international lounge access to fall back on.

Verification: ICICI Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

◆ Launch Effective 15 Mar 2022

Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Rubyx Credit Card launched

ICICI Bank became the first Indian bank to partner with Emirates Skywards, launching a three-card co-brand range (Rubyx / Sapphiro / Emeralde) on 15 March 2022. Rubyx is the entry variant, at a ₹1,000 + GST joining and annual fee: a flat 1 Emirates Skywards Mile per ₹100 on all eligible spends, complimentary Skywards Blue Tier membership (no welcome miles), one domestic airport lounge visit a quarter, up to 10% off Emirates flight bookings, a BookMyShow movie discount and a 1% fuel-surcharge waiver. Miles credit directly to the holder's Emirates Skywards account.

Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High

Each change links to the issuer's own document — bank T&C, MITC, notice, press release or product page — where one is public. Where the bank published nothing, it's marked CardAdvisor Research and verified against the card's current terms. Independent of the live terms shown above. This timeline is one card's slice of our market-wide change record across every tracked card.

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Source: Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Rubyx Credit Card value timeline — CardAdvisor

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Source: Emirates Skywards ICICI Bank Rubyx Credit Card value timeline , CardAdvisor (CC BY 4.0).

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Quick summary

Type Mid credit card

Reward rate 1%

Best for Occasional Emirates flyers

Joining fee ₹1,000

Annual fee ₹1,000

Reviewed by

Devchandra Sah · Cards tested, miles earned, trips booked — for over a decade

Last verified 13 Aug 2026

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