The Equitas Small Finance Bank has been issuing credit cards for roughly a year and a half now, but the credit card portfolio has quietly become a lot more interesting over the past few months. After launching its credit card lineup comprising the Tiga, Selfe and PowerMiles cards, the bank also introduced another dimension to its credit card rewards programme, which changed the value you could derive from points based on the amount of spending you did in the previous quarter. It is truly like playing 3D Chess and allows the card to be used continually. The move adds an element of progression to card ownership, allowing customers to unlock additional benefits as their annual spending increases, rather than relying only on the card’s base features.
This approach has become increasingly popular among card issuers in India. Instead of rewarding only acquisition or milestone spending, banks are now trying to encourage long-term engagement by offering progressively better privileges throughout the year. Equitas has adopted the same philosophy in its Club Xplorer Privileges Programme, where cardholders are assigned to different tiers based on their eligible quarterly spend.
Understanding the Club Xplorer Privileges Programme
Equitas credit cards primarily differentiate themselves by card variant. The Tiga card focuses on everyday digital spends, Selfe introduced customisable rewards, while PowerMiles targets travellers with premium travel benefits.
The Privilege Programme overlays another layer of benefits on top of these existing features. Instead of every cardholder receiving identical privileges throughout the card’s lifetime, members can now advance to higher privilege tiers based on their calendar quarter card spend. Each successive tier unlocks additional lifestyle, travel and shopping benefits. In other words, your quarterly spending behaviour now determines how rewarding your Equitas card becomes.
The Privilege Program now categorises cardholders into multiple spending tiers.
- Entry Tier (Blue) is for spends under INR 20,000 per month in a calendar quarter
- Silver is for spends over INR 20,000 per month in a calendar quarter
- Gold is for spends over INR 40,000 per month in a calendar quarter
- Platinum is for spends over INR 60,000 per month in a calendar quarter
- Diamond is for spends over INR 100,000 per month in a calendar quarter
As customers move higher, they receive incremental benefits across several categories, including reward earning, memberships, travel benefits, vouchers and lifestyle experiences.
Tier benefits explained
Entry Tier
Every new cardholder starts with the base benefits attached to their respective card.
Silver Tier
Once customers reach the first spending milestone of INR 20,000 per month for three consecutive months, they graduate to the Silver tier by the 7th of the first month in the following quarter. This level primarily introduces additional shopping and lifestyle benefits beyond the standard card features. Customers begin receiving incremental partner offers and enhanced access to selected lifestyle privileges.
The exact benefits depend upon the underlying card variant but generally include a wider range of merchant offers and periodic promotions.
Gold Tier & Platinum Tier
The Gold tier marks the point at which Equitas begins rewarding sustained card usage. Members can expect:
- Increase in the value of the points earned for redemption
- Reduction in the Forex Fee (refund made for the previous quarter)
- Vouchers for achieving the Tier
For customers who use the Selfe or PowerMiles cards regularly, this tier begins to add meaningful incremental value beyond standard reward points.
Diamond Tier
Diamond represents the highest recognition level under the Club XPlorer Privilege Programme. This tier is intended for customers with the highest quarterly spending on their Equitas credit cards. Members who make it this far, get the following privileges:
- Flights Redemption at INR 1
- Hotel Redemption at INR 1
- Bus Redemption at INR 1
- Merchandise Redemption at INR 1
- Vouchers Redemption at INR 1
- BillPay Redemption at INR 1
- Cashback/Insta Redemption at INR 0.5
- Forex Mark-up at 0%
- 3 Movie Vouchers worth INR 250
- 3 Amazon Vouchers worth INR 500
- Upto 20 Golf rounds
- 1 One-way domestic airline ticket (per Yr) worth INR 3000
- 1 Room Night (per Yr) worth INR 3500
Rather than simply increasing reward points, Equitas appears to be focusing on providing experiential benefits that are becoming increasingly popular among premium card issuers. For instance, the same 9 points/INR 100 earned on international spends can be worth INR 9 when Diamond and INR 1.35 when a base-tier member.
Why this matters
Tier-based privilege programmes might become increasingly common in India’s credit card market in the coming years. Banks have realised that attracting a customer is only half the battle. Encouraging consistent annual spending is equally important, as Axis Magnus and Axis Atlas showed us back in the day.
Instead of offering one-time welcome benefits, issuers now want customers to use the card year-round. Equitas moved in the same direction very effectively. A customer who spends INR 50,000 annually and another who spends INR 10 lakh annually no longer receive identical experiences. The more valuable the customer, the more privileges they receive.
That creates stronger incentives for customers to consolidate spending onto a single card, while existing card benefits remain unchanged. For example:
- The Tiga card still offers accelerated rewards on UPI and contactless spends.
- The Selfe card still allows customers to select their preferred reward categories and OTT subscriptions.
- The PowerMiles card continues to target frequent travellers with lounge access, airline miles, hotel benefits and travel-focused rewards.
The privilege tiers simply add another layer of value based on spending. And with the quarterly approach, the bank limits its spending as well, because it gives enough time to use earned perks, but perks are not guaranteed for the year once the spend is achieved. It is like a treadmill where the incline keeps going up.
Now, only if they could get their transfer partner act in order- a project that continues to slip quarter on quarter.
Bottomline
Equitas Small Finance Bank has expanded the privileges associated with its credit cards by introducing a structured, tier-based Xplorer Club Program. Cardholders can now progress through multiple spending tiers, unlocking additional lifestyle, travel, and shopping benefits as their quarterly eligible spend increases. The move brings Equitas closer to the engagement models adopted by larger card issuers and makes its Tiga, Selfe and PowerMiles cards more rewarding for customers who consistently use them throughout the year.
What do you think of the additional privileges that Equitas Bank Credit Cards offer compared to other banks?
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