American Express Credit Cards

American Express issues its own cards and runs its own payment network, and operates in India as a licensed foreign bank.

Being both issuer and network lets it fund the Membership Rewards programme directly, which is why its charge and credit cards lean on rewards, travel credits and lifestyle benefits rather than on low fees. The trade-off is acceptance: merchant coverage in India is narrower than Visa, Mastercard or RuPay, so an Amex card is usually held alongside another card rather than as the only one in the wallet.