Indian credit card rule changes and devaluations

No Membership Rewards points on fuel from 12 June 2025, insurance or cash withdrawals

Utility earn is capped at 10,000 Membership Rewards points per calendar month

The ₹20,000 monthly milestone requires enrollment and both monthly milestones run on the calendar month, not the billing cycle.

Membership Rewards points have no expiry while the cardmember remains enrolled; after card cancellation, accrued points generally must be redeemed within 30 days.

Fuel, insurance, utilities, cash transactions and point-of-sale EMI do not earn Membership Rewards points

Priority Pass membership is complimentary, but the cardmember and accompanied guests pay the prevailing usage fee.

Membership Rewards points do not expire while the card is active and in good standing; after cancellation they are forfeited after 30 days.

Membership Rewards points do not expire while the Card account remains active and in good standing.

Point-of-sale and merchant-site EMI do not earn points; American Express SafeKey EMI and post-purchase conversions remain eligible under issuer terms.

Accelerated partners and caps can change. CardMasters does not apply merchant-only rates to broad spend categories.

LIT has no joining or annual membership fee, but optional features carry separate 90-day fees plus GST and auto-renew unless disabled.

Paid 5X/10X, cashback, fuel-waiver and lounge features are not included in recommendation value unless CardMasters can observe both selection and fee.

Utility and telecom earn one base point per ₹100 but are capped at 100 points per transaction; aggregate monthly inputs cannot reproduce that transaction-level cap.

Utility and telecom earn 1 Reward Point per ₹100, capped at 100 points per transaction; BBPS transactions earn no rewards.

The current AU product page mentions a 1,000-point statement-cycle milestone but does not expose the qualifying spend threshold, so CardMasters does not include it in estimated annual value.

Reward Points expire after 2 years and may be forfeited after 12 months of card inactivity.

Each successful redemption costs ₹99 plus GST.

Utility and telecom spending outside eligible Google Pay bill payments does not earn cashback

The 5% and 4% categories share a ₹500 cashback cap per statement cycle

Airtel and utility cashback caps are dynamic from 12 Apr 2026. With no eligible base spend in a statement month, those two categories earn no cashback.

4 complimentary domestic lounge visits removed entirely.

Zomato, Blinkit and District Movies benefits are partner-wallet value-back, not statement cashback; CardMasters does not infer this merchant-routed value from broad spend.

From 28 Aug 2026, Axis says the DCC markup rises from 1.5% to 3.5%, gift cards remain excluded, and bridge, road and toll spends become excluded.

Apr 2026: transfer ratio cut 1:2 → 2:1

5% cashback on Flipkart and on Cleartrip each capped at ₹4,000/statement quarter (was uncapped).

4 complimentary domestic lounge visits discontinued entirely.

1 Jun–31 Jul 2026: Axis doubles the standard welcome voucher under a limited-period offer; recurring value uses the standard benefit

No rewards or milestone spend credit on government, insurance, utilities/telecom, rent, fuel, jewellery, wallet, EMI, cash-withdrawal, fee or charge transactions

Non-IndiGo UPI earn is capped at 750 BluChips per statement month

1 Jun–31 Jul 2026: Axis doubles the welcome BluChips under a limited-period offer; standard welcome value remains 5,000 BluChips

No annual-fee waiver — ₹5,000 + GST charged every year regardless of spend

No rewards on government, insurance, utilities/telecom, rent, fuel, jewellery or wallet loads

35 EDGE Reward Points per ₹200 apply only to eligible monthly spend above ₹1.5 lakh and remain subject to issuer credit-limit caps.

Travel EDGE acceleration requires issuer-portal routing and is excluded from broad travel-spend estimates.

Axis Bank has announced another Magnus for Burgundy terms update effective 28 August 2026; CardMasters must recheck this record then.

At ₹0.20 per point, base rewards equal about 0.10% before the redemption fee; Neo's main value comes from merchant discounts that CardMasters does not add to generic-spend estimates.

From 1 July 2025, Zomato provides flat ₹120 off at ₹499 minimum order value, twice monthly; RuPay UPI-linked Neo payments are excluded.

Axis may forfeit unredeemed points 30 days after card closure or after minimum amount due remains outstanding for more than 90 days.

Apr 2024 onward: insurance/rent/fuel/utilities/wallet/gold/govt spends excluded from points, milestones and fee-waiver calculation

EDGE miles transfer partners split into Group A (1L pts/yr cap) and Group B (4L pts/yr cap)

Axis Bank has announced another terms update effective 28 August 2026; CardMasters must recheck this record when the revised terms take effect.

Samsung cashback and preferred-partner rewards require eligible merchant routing and are excluded from generic-spend estimates.

EDGE Reward Points expire after three years and can also expire after 365 consecutive days without an earn, redemption or EDGE REWARDS login.

Axis Bank has announced another terms update effective 28 August 2026; CardMasters must recheck this record when the revised terms take effect.

Retail Shopping includes department stores, grocery and apparel, but CardMasters models only grocery because the profile does not capture the other merchant categories.

EDGE Reward Points on EMI-converted purchases are reversed and are not restored if the EMI is cancelled.

Mar 2026: shopping category exclusions added (gift cards, groceries, utilities, subscriptions)

Jun 2026: statement-credit Jewel value cut ~30% (10,000 Jewels = ₹1,400, was ₹2,000)

Cash redemption is worth ₹0.10 per point; catalogue redemptions can be worth up to ₹0.25 per point and incur at least a ₹99 redemption fee.

Rent, fuel, cash, wallet loads, government, financial-institution and quasi-cash transactions do not earn points.

Domestic lounge access requires ₹60,000 qualifying spend in the preceding quarter; international access is limited to two visits per year.

Insurance rewards are capped at 5,000 points/month; utility, telecom and grocery rewards are capped at 2,000 points/month under the issuer's grouped wording.

Total reward accrual is capped at 75,000 points per statement cycle.

Flight/hotel redemptions are capped at 75,000 points/month and may cover at most 70% of the booking; cashback redemptions are capped at 50,000 points/month.

Selected airline and hotel loyalty transfers, including Turkish, Accor and Avianca LifeMiles, convert at 2 Reward Points to 1 loyalty point.

At ₹0.15 per CashPoint, the base return is only 0.075% before the ₹50 redemption fee.

Only transactions of ₹200 or multiples of ₹200 earn CashPoints.

Utility and telecom earnings are each capped at 2,000 CashPoints/month; grocery at 1,000 points/month; RuPay UPI at 500 points/month.

Education payments through third-party apps do not earn rewards; direct school or college payments may earn the base rate.

The old 0.99% introductory interest feature is not available on cards sourced from 1 February 2024 onward.

From 1 Jul 2026, accelerated rewards on SmartBuy brand vouchers through GyFTR/Woohoo are capped at 3,000 RP/month within the overall 15,000 accelerated-RP monthly cap.

Redemption is capped at 2,00,000 RP per statement cycle; flights, hotels and airmiles at 1,50,000 RP/month; statement credit at 50,000 RP/month. Eligible travel, Apple and Tanishq redemptions can cover up to 70% of the transaction.

Insurance rewards are capped at 10,000 RP/month; grocery, utility and telecom rewards at 2,000 RP/month for each published category.

Reward Points expire after three years and are nullified after 365 days without a retail transaction on the card.

Rent, property-management and government spends do not earn rewards. A 1% fee applies from the second third-party rent transaction in a calendar month.

Points redeem only for train tickets through HDFC SmartBuy: minimum 100 points, maximum 70% of fare, and ₹99 + GST per successful redemption.

The recommendation treats generic EMI as ineligible because the profile cannot distinguish eligible merchant-EMI principal from excluded Smart/Dial EMI, interest, processing fees and GST.

Rewards accrue only on settled transactions of at least ₹100 and complete ₹100 multiples; monthly profile totals cannot reproduce per-transaction rounding.

The separate 5% SmartBuy cashback is dynamic and capped at ₹1,000/month and ₹12,000/year, so it is disclosed but not included without routed-spend confirmation.

Marriott Bonvoy points have no issuer-guaranteed cash value. CardMasters uses a conservative ₹0.40 stay valuation only when the user declares travel demand; otherwise recurring reward value is zero.

Points expire after 24 consecutive months without qualifying Marriott Bonvoy activity; eligible earning or redemption activity resets inactivity.

Entertainment and participating-Marriott merchant routing cannot be inferred from the current onboarding categories, so those rates are not applied to generic spend.

1% fee on rent, utility >₹50k/mo and gaming/wallet-loads >₹10k/mo (cap ₹4,999/mo); no reward points on gaming/wallet-load spends.

Only transactions of ₹200 or multiples of ₹200 earn CashPoints.

Grocery earnings are capped at 1,000 CashPoints/month; RuPay UPI earnings are capped at 500 CashPoints/month. These route-specific caps are not separately modeled.

Statement credit is ₹0.20 per CashPoint and costs ₹50 per redemption. Catalogue and SmartBuy travel can be worth up to ₹0.25 per point, with separate redemption restrictions and handling fees.

Education payments through third-party apps do not earn rewards; direct school or college payments may earn the base rate.

Paytm accelerated rates require Paytm-routed spend and are excluded from the estimate because the profile does not capture that route.

Statement cashback requires at least 500 CashPoints, is capped at 3,000 points/month and costs ₹50 per redemption request.

CashPoints are nullified after more than 365 days of card inactivity.

The 2% rate requires eligible bills or travel transactions initiated in PhonePe using the PhonePe card; issuer MCC and VPA/TID rules apply.

The 1% online-brand and QR Scan & Pay routes are disclosed but excluded from the estimate because the profile does not capture those routes.

Statement cashback requires at least 500 points. HDFC's July 2026 MITC states that PhonePe Uno points expire after one year; the older June product FAQ still says two years, so the estimate uses the newer, conservative term.

The current product page advertises lifetime-free issuance, while HDFC's separate fee page still publishes the former ₹500 fee and ₹1 lakh waiver schedule; confirm the pricing displayed in the application journey.

The 5% and 3% rates depend on merchant packs and one platform selected during PayZapp setup; CardMasters does not apply them to generic category spend.

PIXEL CashPoints can be redeemed only after accumulating 1,000 points, into the PayZapp wallet for eligible brand-voucher purchases.

RuPay UPI earns 1%, capped at 500 CashPoints/month; SmartBuy can earn 5%, capped at ₹500/month, but overlapping offers cannot be combined.

1% fee on rent, utility above ₹50,000 and gaming/wallet loads above ₹10,000, subject to issuer caps; gaming and wallet-load spends earn no CashPoints.

base earn cut from 4 RP/₹150 to 5 RP/₹200 (~6% lower reward rate).

domestic lounge now spend-gated — 3 visits/quarter need ₹60,000 spend in the previous quarter.

Flight/hotel, cashback and airmile redemptions are capped at 50,000 points/month; travel bookings permit at most 70% payment with points.

Points are nullified after more than 365 days without a card transaction.

HDFC's product page and milestone PDF conflict on whether both ₹5 lakh and ₹7.5 lakh annual flight-voucher thresholds apply; the current product page lists both.

Cashback is credited as statement credit in the subsequent statement period.

The 10% route requires an eligible Swiggy transaction of at least ₹249; 5% and 1% routes require an eligible transaction of at least ₹100.

Monthly caps are ₹1,500 for eligible Swiggy spend, ₹1,500 for eligible online merchants and ₹500 for other eligible categories.

Ordinary eligible UPI earns 0.5%; the extra 1% requires the RuPay variant and Tata Neu UPI ID. The routes share a 500 NeuCoin monthly cap.

The 5% Tata-brand rate requires an eligible merchant MID/TID and a non-UPI transaction. The separate NeuPass benefit is conditional and is not included in the estimate.

Grocery, insurance, utility, and telecom/cable each have a 2,000 NeuCoin monthly cap. NeuCoins expire 12 months from the end of the month in which they are credited.

The 4-points-per-₹100 accelerator covers flights, published travel-aggregator MCCs and foreign-currency transactions; it is capped at 50,000 points/month then reverts to base earning

Partner conversion ratios and rupee values vary; CardMasters uses an explicitly internal ₹0.30 conservative estimate rather than presenting a dynamic issuer value as guaranteed

Merchant Category Codes control earning; utilities, education, government, jewellery, insurance, tax and several financial transaction types earn no points

Jan 2026 devaluation: charges on Amazon Pay wallet loading

Rent and e-wallet loads do not earn points. Fuel, cash withdrawals, fees and EMI transactions are also excluded under current ICICI terms.

ICICI charges ₹99 plus GST for each reward redemption request; CardMasters includes one such request when points create redeemable annual value.

Unredeemed points expire after three years and are forfeited when the Credit Card account is closed.

ICICI publishes reward-point value as up to ₹1 depending on redemption. CardMasters uses ₹1 only when the user declares travel redemption demand; otherwise recurring reward value is zero rather than assuming an unsupported catalogue value.

Grocery, utility and education earn is capped at 1,000 points per category per statement cycle; insurance is capped at 5,000 points.

Invitation and approval remain controlled by ICICI Bank.

The 400-point essential-spend cap is shared across utilities, groceries, telecom, government, tax and departmental-store transactions

The 1% HPCL surcharge waiver applies only to ₹400–₹4,000 transactions; separate HP Pay Happy Coins require the HP Pay route and are excluded from recurring value

myCash is credited to the primary Cardholder's MakeMyTrip wallet, does not expire, and cannot be encashed or transferred to a bank account.

MakeMyTrip-specific earn is not applied to generic travel spend unless CardMasters can observe the merchant route.

Rent and e-wallet loads do not earn points. Fuel, cash withdrawals, fees and EMI transactions are also excluded under current ICICI terms.

ICICI charges ₹99 plus GST for each reward redemption request.

Unredeemed points expire after three years and are forfeited when the Credit Card account is closed.

Rent and e-wallet loads do not earn points. Fuel, cash withdrawals, fees and EMI transactions are also excluded under current ICICI terms.

ICICI charges ₹99 plus GST for each reward redemption request.

Unredeemed points expire after three years and are forfeited when the Credit Card account is closed.

CardMasters values Reward Points at the published ₹0.40 statement-credit rate, not the up-to-₹1 catalog value.

iShop advertises up to 6X on flights and vouchers and up to 12X on hotels; portal-specific variable rates are not applied to generic travel spend.

From 19 June 2026, 10X is category-based on eligible dining, travel, international and birthday purchases; the old incremental-spend-above-₹20,000 route no longer applies.

Reward Points are valid for 24 months from credit. Some FAQ copy on the issuer page still says points never expire, but the current detailed reward blocks explicitly state the 24-month validity.

Reward Points are earned only on spends up to the credit limit in a billing cycle; transactions beyond the limit do not earn points.

Each reward redemption costs ₹99 plus GST. Utility, insurance, railway and FASTag purchases earn only 1X; railway and FASTag spend are not separately modeled.

Effective 18 June 2026: base unit changed to ₹200, 10X moved to dining/travel/international from first eligible transaction, and points earned from the July 2026 statement cycle expire after 24 months

Utilities, insurance, railway spends and FASTag recharge earn only 1 point per ₹200; rent, government, education and wallet load are outside the 10X categories

Rewards apply only to spends up to the credit limit in each billing cycle; redemption costs ₹99 plus GST

Insurance, utilities, rent, government, wallet load, railways, FASTag and education earn only 1 RP/₹150.

Travel redemption value is ₹1/point and can cover up to 70% of an eligible app booking; other listed redemptions are ₹0.25/point.

Annual reward multipliers apply progressively to incremental anniversary-year spend, not retroactively to all spend.

Fuel earns no points. Utility, insurance, government, education, real-estate and rent transactions do not earn accelerated points.

Cash-credit redemption is capped at 5,000 Reward Points per calendar month.

Low base reward rate (~0.5%) — value is in 0% forex; RBL launched World Safari Lite/Plus variants in 2025-26, watch for benefit restructuring

BPCL fuel rewards require eligible BPCL merchant recognition; generic fuel spend is conservatively excluded from modeled value.

The ₹99 redemption fee plus GST applies to reward-redemption requests; route-specific terms may differ.

Fuel-surcharge waiver applies only to eligible BPCL POS fuel transactions and not UPI fuel payments.

From 1 April 2026, online cashback is capped at ₹2,000 and offline cashback at ₹2,000 per statement cycle, with a ₹4,000 aggregate ceiling.

Cashback does not apply to merchant EMI, Flexipay EMI, utility, insurance, fuel, rent, wallet, education, jewellery, railways, gift-card, digital-gaming, toll and government-related transactions.

Cashback is based on transaction posting or settlement date and is normally credited automatically within two working days after statement generation.

Apr 2026: SBI-wide redemption rule changes apply

Rail, air and e-catering bonuses apply only through the named IRCTC channels and eligible bookings

Since 1 July 2024, cashback has been replaced by equivalent-value Reward Points at ₹1 per Reward Point.

Education and school payments stopped earning Reward Points from 9 March 2026.

All Reward Points are forfeited after 13 consecutive months without a purchase transaction.

Reward Points expire after 24 months; eligible transactions must be at least ₹100.

₹1 crore air-accident insurance was discontinued from 15 July 2025; the ₹1 lakh fraud-liability cover remains.

Reward redemptions for physical products, statement credit and specified physical vouchers may attract ₹99 plus taxes.

Priority Pass use within India, guest visits and visits after the six complimentary international visits are charged up to US$27 plus taxes.

Travel Credits are valued at ₹0.50 through SBI Card travel bookings unless a user can realize a partner transfer value; CardMasters uses the lower published route.

Complimentary ₹1 crore air-accident insurance was discontinued on 15 July 2025.

SBI's current product page still includes Swiggy in its 10X list, but its dated customer notice reduced Swiggy to 5X from 1 April 2025; CardMasters applies the dated revision.

Utility payments made through SBI Card's website or app do not receive 5X rewards; they are valued only at the standard rate.

From April 2026, statement-credit redemption uses fixed 4,000-point blocks and is capped monthly; CardMasters conservatively values points at ₹0.25 through the rewards catalogue instead.

Slice credits 1 monies unit per ₹1 of eligible spend, but cash redemption starts at 1% while the monies balance is up to ₹3 lakh. This conservative 1% cash value is used in recommendations.

The 1.5% and 2% redemption slabs require monies balances above ₹3 lakh and ₹5 lakh. The advertised 3% additionally requires a ₹5 lakh average quarterly Slice savings balance, so none of these higher slabs are assumed.

International transactions have zero bank forex markup but do not earn monies. Spark offers are personalized, activated, capped and time-bound, so they are not included in recurring value.

Oct 2024 devaluation: domestic lounge access cut to 2 visits per calendar year

Utilities, supermarkets, insurance, rent/property management, schools and government payments earn 3 points per ₹150 (2%), not the headline 5 points per ₹150

Fuel earns no reward points; a 1% surcharge waiver is capped at ₹1,000/month

Rent payments also incur a 1% processing fee plus taxes

CardMasters uses the published ₹0.10 statement-credit value; the up-to-₹0.25 flight and hotel value depends on redemption route.

Online travel and airline acceleration is not applied to generic travel spend because the profile does not capture online merchant routing.

A ₹100 plus GST fee applies to each reward redemption request from 15 June 2026.

Originally launched with 3% on online shopping; structure shifted to 6% dining+travel — verify current category list before applying

Approvals reported selective in 2025-26; Uni's earlier pay-later products were wound down after RBI action in 2022 — issuer is now regulated Yes Bank

2026: new issuance moved from Axis Bank to Yes Bank / AU SFB / PNB; existing Axis-Kiwi cards remain active