Points & miles
Credit card reward portals, on the record
The highest earn rates in Indian credit cards don’t live on the cards — they live in the issuers’ own booking portals, behind a routing step most cardholders never take. This page keeps the portal accelerators we track in one place: which cards earn what, through which portal, what that’s worth at each card’s point value, and — because issuers rewrite portal terms constantly — the dated record of how these programmes have changed.
39 portal accelerator rows across 31 cards, 8 portals. Sourced from the same catalogue as every card page.
HDFC SmartBuy
HDFC’s portal for flights, hotels, vouchers and merchant offers — the most-searched and most-changed portal in the market. Multipliers differ by card tier and category, and a separate voucher sub-cap applies since July 2026. Read the complete SmartBuy guide for the full mechanics.
| Card | Category | What the portal pays | Effective return | Monthly cap | Card updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDFC Diners Club Black Metal Edition | Travel | 10X points on hotels booked via HDFC SmartBuy (~33%); flights and buses earn 5X (~16.5%) and trains 3X (~10%). General travel earns the 3.3% base. | 33.33% | ₹10,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HDFC Bank Infinia Metal Credit Card | Travel | 5X Reward Points on SmartBuy flights and buses (~16.5%), 10X on hotels (~33%); 1 point = ₹1. HDFC caps the accelerated points at 15,000 a month across all SmartBuy, vouchers included; base points keep earning. Brand vouchers have their own row. | 16.5% | ₹15,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HDFC Bank Infinia Metal Credit Card | Online Shopping | 5X Reward Points on GyFTR/Woohoo brand vouchers bought on SmartBuy (~16.5%). The accelerated points cap at 3,000 a month, inside the 15,000 SmartBuy cap; base points keep earning after that. | 16.5% | ₹3,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HDFC Diners Club Black Metal Edition | Online Shopping | Myntra earns 5X on SmartBuy (~16.5%, the rate modelled here); IGP, Jockey, PharmEasy and FernsNPetals earn 10X (~33%). Brand vouchers have their own row. General online spend earns the 3.3% base. | 16.5% | ₹10,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HDFC Diners Club Black Metal Edition | Online Shopping | 3X points on GyFTR/Woohoo brand vouchers bought on SmartBuy (~10%). The accelerated points cap at 3,000 a month, inside the 10,000 SmartBuy cap; base 5 RP per ₹150 keeps earning after that. | 10% | ₹3,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HDFC Bank Diners Club Privilege Credit Card | Travel | SmartBuy up to 10X — hotels 10X (~10%), flights 5X, trains 3X; accelerated points capped at 4,000 RP a month and 2,000 a day, brand vouchers included. Vouchers have their own row | 10% | ₹2,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HDFC Regalia Gold Credit Card | Travel | SmartBuy: flights 5X (~6.25%), hotels 10X (~12.5%) — capped 4,000 RP/month | 6.25% | ₹2,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HDFC PIXEL Play Credit Card | Online Shopping | 5% on SmartBuy under its own 500-CashPoint monthly cap. Cannot be combined with the 5% pack or 3% platform cashback on the same transaction. | 5% | ₹500 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HDFC PIXEL Go Credit Card | Online Shopping | 5% cashback on SmartBuy purchases, capped 500 CashPoints/month | 5% | ₹500 | 11 Oct 2026 |
| HDFC Bank Diners Club Privilege Credit Card | Online Shopping | 5X reward points on GyFTR/Woohoo brand vouchers bought on SmartBuy (~5%). The accelerated points cap at 3,000 a month, inside the 4,000 SmartBuy cap; base 4 RP per ₹200 keeps earning after that. | 5% | ₹1,500 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| IRCTC HDFC Bank Credit Card | Travel | 5 Reward Points per ₹100 (~5%) on IRCTC rail bookings, capped 1,000 RP a month and 12,000 a year. The extra 5% via HDFC SmartBuy is itself capped at ₹1,000 a month (₹12,000 a year), and the 1% IRCTC transaction-charge waiver has its own ₹1,000 monthly ceiling. | 5% | ₹1,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
ICICI iShop
ICICI’s equivalent storefront. Accelerated earning applies only to bookings routed through iShop while signed in — the same routing discipline as every portal here.
| Card | Category | What the portal pays | Effective return | Monthly cap | Card updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICICI Bank Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card | Travel | 18X on flights, up to 36X on hotels, via the ICICI iShop portal (points ≈ ₹1); capped 18,000 pts/month | 18% | ₹18,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card (Metal) | Travel | 6X on flights, up to 12X on hotels, via the ICICI iShop portal; capped 15,000 pts/month. Valued at ₹0.40/point like every other row on this card — ICICI publishes "up to ₹1" as a CEILING and its iShop FAQ refuses a fixed rate. | 2.4% | ₹6,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
Axis Travel Edge
Axis Bank’s travel portal, where eligible cards earn accelerated EDGE Miles or points on flight and hotel bookings. Read the Axis EDGE rewards guide for the full mechanics.
| Card | Category | What the portal pays | Effective return | Monthly cap | Card updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Axis Bank Atlas Credit Card | Travel | 5 EDGE Miles per ₹100 on Axis Travel EDGE and on direct airline/hotel bookings, capped at ₹2 lakh of such spend a calendar month; above the cap, and on online travel agencies, the rate falls to the base 2 per ₹100. | 10% | ₹20,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| Axis Bank Horizon Credit Card | Travel | 5 EDGE Miles per ₹100 on the Axis Travel EDGE portal and direct airline bookings — hotels and online travel agencies earn the base 2 per ₹100. Miles transfer 1:1 to most partners, 2:1 to British Airways, Finnair, IndiGo BluChip, Vietnam, Qatar, Cathay and Accor. | 5% | — | 11 Oct 2026 |
HSBC Travel with Points / Rewards Marketplace
HSBC’s redemption-and-booking marketplace. Smaller catalogue than the Indian big-bank portals, but the same principle: the accelerated rate exists only inside it.
| Card | Category | What the portal pays | Effective return | Monthly cap | Card updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSBC Premier World Mastercard | Travel | Hotels via HSBC's Travel with Points portal (Hopper) earn 12X — 36 pts/₹100, ~36% at ₹1/pt; cap 18,000 pts/month SHARED with flights (accelerated-points cap per cardholder per calendar month, verified against the HSBC Rewards T&C, archived 2026-08-07) | 36% | ₹18,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HSBC TravelOne Credit Card | Travel | Hotels booked via HSBC's Travel with Points portal (Hopper) earn 6X — 24 pts/₹100; cap 18,000 pts/month SHARED with flights (accelerated-points cap per cardholder per calendar month, verified against the HSBC Rewards T&C, archived 2026-08-07) | 24% | ₹18,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
| HSBC Premier World Mastercard | Travel | Flights via HSBC's Travel with Points portal (Hopper) earn 6X — 18 pts/₹100, ~18% at ₹1/pt; cap 18,000 pts/month SHARED with hotels; ₹300 domestic/₹700 international fee per leg. Split, cap and fees verified against the HSBC Rewards T&C, archived 2026-08-07) | 18% | ₹18,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| HSBC TravelOne Credit Card | Travel | Flights booked via HSBC's Travel with Points portal (Hopper) earn 4X — 16 pts/₹100; cap 18,000 pts/month SHARED with hotels; ₹300 domestic/₹700 international fee per leg. Split, cap and fees verified against the HSBC Rewards T&C, archived 2026-08-07 | 16% | ₹18,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
| HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card | Travel | Hotels via HSBC's Travel with Points portal earn 6X — 12 pts/₹150, ~8% at ₹1/pt (2:1 Accor); cap 18,000 accelerated pts/month SHARED with flights, base points uncapped | 8% | ₹18,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
| HSBC RuPay Platinum Credit Card | Travel | Hotels via HSBC's Travel with Points portal earn 6X — 12 pts/₹150, ~8% at ₹1/pt (2:1 Accor); cap 18,000 accelerated pts/month SHARED with flights, base points uncapped | 8% | ₹18,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
| HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card | Travel | Flights via HSBC's Travel with Points portal earn 4X — 8 pts/₹150, ~5.3% at ₹1/pt; cap 18,000 accelerated pts/month SHARED with hotels; ₹300 domestic/₹700 international convenience fee per leg | 5.33% | ₹18,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
| HSBC RuPay Platinum Credit Card | Travel | Flights via HSBC's Travel with Points portal earn 4X — 8 pts/₹150, ~5.3% at ₹1/pt; cap 18,000 accelerated pts/month SHARED with hotels; ₹300 domestic/₹700 international convenience fee per leg | 5.33% | ₹18,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
IDFC FIRST app / FIRST Rewards Gallery
IDFC’s in-app travel storefront, where the FIRST range earns bonus points or cashback worth several times the card’s base rate on flights and hotels. The hotel leg usually pays about double the flight leg under one shared monthly cap, and the headline rate normally assumes you redeem back into an in-app booking rather than for cash.
| Card | Category | What the portal pays | Effective return | Monthly cap | Card updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IDFC FIRST Gaj Credit Card | Travel | — | 16.67% | ₹15,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| IDFC FIRST Mayura Credit Card | Travel | Hotels booked in the IDFC FIRST app earn 40 reward points per ₹150 and flights 25 per ₹150, but a single 25,000 bonus-point monthly cap is SHARED across both legs — so a hotel booking and a flight booking compete for one pot. This row carries the conservative flight-leg rate. | 8.34% | ₹12,500 | 11 Oct 2026 |
| IDFC FIRST WOW! Black Credit Card | Travel | 10% bonus RP on flights and 16.7% on hotels booked via the IDFC FIRST app, capped at 8,000 bonus RP a month; in-app travel redemption at ₹0.50/point. IDFC's own savings calculator implies double these rates — the benefit copy governs | 5% | ₹4,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
| IDFC FIRST Hello Cashback Credit Card | Travel | About 4% total on hotels and flights booked via the IDFC FIRST app (3% base online rate + 1% bonus; 6% total on the incremental tier above ₹10,000 of online spend); counts toward the shared ₹1,500/cycle total cashback cap | 4% | ₹1,500 | 11 Oct 2026 |
| IDFC FIRST SWYP Credit Card | Travel | Reward points equal to 25% of hotel and 12% of flight booking value via the in-app FIRST Rewards Gallery — modelled at the conservative flight-leg rate (hotels earn roughly double); IDFC publishes no monthly cap on this bonus | 3% | — | 27 Oct 2026 |
| IDFC FIRST EA₹N Credit Card | Travel | 5.5% on hotels and 2.5% on flights booked via the app's FIRST Rewards Gallery (0.5% base plus a 5%/2% bonus). The bonus is over and above the usual cashback, under its own ₹2,000 per calendar month ceiling separate from the ₹500/cycle cap, and pays the statement after you travel. | 2.5% | ₹2,000 | 11 Oct 2026 |
RBL Bank Rewards Portal
RBL’s booking and voucher storefront, including the invite-only Lumière and Nova portals. Flights, hotels, shopping and vouchers earn accelerated points only when routed through it.
| Card | Category | What the portal pays | Effective return | Monthly cap | Card updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBL Bank Lumière Credit Card | Online Shopping | 5X — 20 reward points per ₹200 (10% at ₹1/point) on purchases made through the Lumière rewards portal; portal-gated, not earned on general spends | 10% | — | 24 Oct 2026 |
| RBL Bank Nova Credit Card | Travel | 12 reward points per ₹200 (6% at ₹1/point) on flights and hotels booked through the Nova portal; portal-gated, not earned on general travel spends | 6% | — | 24 Oct 2026 |
| RBL Bank Apex Credit Card | Travel | Unlimited 2% cashback on flights, hotels, shopping & gift vouchers via the RBL Rewards Portal | 2% | — | 11 Oct 2026 |
| RBL Bank World Safari Lite Credit Card | Travel | 5X — 5 reward points per ₹100 (~1.25% at ₹0.25/point) on flights and hotels booked via the RBL Bank rewards portal; portal-gated, not earned on general travel spends | 1.25% | — | 11 Oct 2026 |
Kotak Unbox
Kotak’s in-app booking storefront, where the travel cards earn their accelerated flight and hotel rates — again only on bookings made inside it.
| Card | Category | What the portal pays | Effective return | Monthly cap | Card updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kotak Solitaire Credit Card | Travel | 10 Air Miles per ₹100 on flight & hotel bookings via Kotak Unbox; accelerated earn capped at 1,00,000 Air Miles per statement cycle, base 3/₹100 continues after the cap | 10% | ₹1,00,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| Kotak Air+ Prime Credit Card | Travel | 5 Air Miles per ₹100 on flights & hotels booked via Kotak Unbox; accelerated earn capped at 15,000 Air Miles per statement cycle | 5% | ₹15,000 | 15 Oct 2026 |
| Kotak Air Credit Card | Travel | 3 Air Miles per ₹100 on flights and hotels booked via Kotak Unbox (capped 5,000 miles/statement cycle) | 3% | ₹5,000 | 15 Oct 2026 |
Amex Reward Multiplier / ShopWise
American Express’s partner storefront. You reach the merchant through Amex’s own link while signed in; go direct and the same purchase earns the card’s base Membership Rewards rate.
| Card | Category | What the portal pays | Effective return | Monthly cap | Card updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Express Platinum Card | Online Shopping | 5X Membership Rewards on e-vouchers bought via ShopWise (~7.5%); bonus points capped at 25,000 a month per the ShopWise T&C (Aug 2026). Up to 20X on luxury brands through Rewards Xcelerator. Reward Multiplier's brand links close 30 Sep 2026 | 7.5% | ₹15,000 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| American Express Gold Card | Online Shopping | 5X Membership Rewards on e-vouchers bought via Amex's ShopWise platform (~5% value); bonus points capped at 25,000 a month per the ShopWise T&C (Aug 2026). Reward Multiplier's brand links close 30 Sep 2026 | 5% | ₹12,500 | 24 Oct 2026 |
| American Express Platinum Reserve Credit Card | Online Shopping | 3X Membership Rewards on e-vouchers bought via ShopWise; bonus points capped at 25,000 a month per the ShopWise T&C (Aug 2026). Amazon Pay vouchers limited to ₹20,000 a month, with a 1.5% + GST fee. Reward Multiplier's brand links close 30 Sep 2026 | 3% | ₹12,500 | 24 Oct 2026 |
How the portals have changed
Portal terms are among the most frequently rewritten in the market. These are the portal-related entries from our market-wide change record — dated, sourced, and card by card.
Reward Multiplier discontinued; ShopWise e-vouchers keep their bonus
Reward Multiplier discontinued; ShopWise e-vouchers keep their bonus
Reward Multiplier discontinued; ShopWise e-vouchers keep their bonus
Reward Multiplier discontinued; ShopWise e-vouchers keep their bonus
Reward Multiplier discontinued; ShopWise e-vouchers keep their bonus
Qatar Airways Privilege Club returns as a transfer partner
Qatar Airways Privilege Club returns as a transfer partner
Qatar Airways Privilege Club returns as a transfer partner
Qatar Airways Privilege Club returns as a transfer partner
Qatar Airways Privilege Club returns as a transfer partner
Qatar Airways Privilege Club returns as a transfer partner
Qatar Airways Privilege Club returns as a transfer partner
Questions people ask
What is a bank reward portal?
A booking and shopping storefront run by the card issuer itself — HDFC SmartBuy, ICICI iShop, Axis Travel Edge, Kotak Unbox, the IDFC FIRST app, HSBC’s marketplace — where eligible cards earn several times their normal rate. The catch is the routing: the accelerated rate applies only to transactions made through the portal while signed in, usually confirmed by a label on the payment page. Pay the same merchant directly and you earn the card’s base rate.
How does a portal rate count towards a card’s value?
At the share you actually route through it — not all of your spend, and not zero. Portal earning applies only to bookings you push through the issuer’s own channel, sits under monthly caps, and depends on the portal’s pricing staying competitive. Treating a 10X portal rate as the card’s rate would overstate it for everyone who doesn’t book that way; ignoring it, which is what we did until August 2026, scored a card bought for its portal at exactly nothing. So we estimate the share of a category a typical cardholder books through an issuer portal and credit the rate on that share. It still shows as “up to X% via portal” on the card’s page, and it can lead a category pick when that scaled value genuinely wins.
How current are these multipliers?
Every figure comes from our card catalogue, and each row shows the date that card’s data was last updated — when it last changed, not a claim that someone re-read the issuer’s document that day. Issuers change portal terms often — the dated change list on this page tracks portal-related changes from our market-wide record, and every card’s full history sits on its Value Timeline.