HDFC 10X SmartBuy offering 33% Cashback for June 2019 revamped

Update: Read this post for all details.

The HDFC Bank 10X Reward Points for the Smartbuy programme were rumoured to be over last month, and instead, a new 5X Rewards Points programme was implemented for a very brief moment. Then, the 10X Rewards programme was brought back for April 2019 and then renewed for May 2019.

Now, historically, HDFC Bank always does a filler one-month promotion at the turn of the financial year, which is perhaps what we saw launched the last couple of months. While the HDFC Bank 10X promotion website has still not been updated, the new promotion has been already launched in another nook and corner of the HDFC universe.

HDFC 10X Smartbuy

When you click through to the promotion, you would see, the HDFC 10X Smartbuy promotion has the date of May 2019 for now.

a screenshot of a credit card

That means you could earn 10X points for the following activities with HDFC SmartBuy here on:

  • Flight Booking
  • Hotel Booking
  • Shopping via Flipkart and Amazon
  • Comparison shopping via the SmartBuy website

But, when you head to the Diners Club Website, you get the renewed terms and conditions.

a blurry image of a city

The maximum number of reward points you can earn per cycle now is 5,000 Reward Points, and the promotion does not apply to EMI transactions. These are over and above the reward points towards the usual 10X period every month with partner brands for Diners Club products only.

The promotion has been significantly watered down now, and is only 20% as lucrative as its earlier self. Clearly, for the Infinia and Diners Club Black cardholders, they can gain value out of this only till they book or buy worth INR 15,000, which is a pittance now. The new 10X offer runs through June 2019 for the moment/ Your cash backs and points would post within 90 days!

If there is another update on this, I will post, but for now, these are the significant things to know. I don’t fault them for this, given the programme was too lucrative to be true in the first place.

So, if you were wondering, the age of devaluations is here upon us. What do you think about this new move from HDFC Bank Credit Cards?

About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

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Comments

  1. Wanted clarity….on Infinia the 10x is only for EMI transactions ,?

    This is from their terms and conditions section :
    Applicable for EMI Transactions (on flights / Hotels / Flipkart store) on Infinia or Diners or Regalia only. Not applicable on EMI transactions on any other card.

  2. DCB is not all that lucrative now. If anyone qualifies for DCB/Has DCB, they would rather move to Infinia. 10x was the only reason people opted for DCB over Infinia in the first place. I think they should have kept the rewards at 25k points at least for DC Black, also lower acceptance of Diner Club is a major hurdle.. Bad move on their part

  3. Just wanted to confirm if smartbuy 10x is over and above 10x partner brands. What I mean is can I get 10x on partner brands + 10x on smartbuy (25000 + 5000), a total of 30000 points? Assuming smartbuy cap is 5000

  4. They have changed it. 25000 for Infinia, 15000 for Diners Black and 5000 for other Diners & Regalia

    Does it make sense to shift to Infinia now (Infinia doesn’t have 10x partners though)?

  5. They have changed it. 25000 fro Infinia, 15000 for Diners Black and 5000 for other Diners & Regalia

    Does it make sense to shift to Infinia now (Infinia doesn’t have 10x partners though)?

  6. Time to surrender the DCB!
    @ Ajay
    Can you write a detailed post on the Prestige and Amex Plat please.
    Time to relook at other options!

    • I second that. Although with 15k points now + 10x partners, it is not bad at all. I doubt Prestige and Platinum can beat that

  7. They have changed the terms again. It shows 25000 points cap as of now on the Diners website, and yesterday the MMT condition of 10x points limited to certain hotels was not there.

  8. Correction needed for Infinia. You will get 10x points upto Rs 30,000 of spend and not 15,000. It’s 50 points for Rs150 with 10x.

  9. But the 25k cap on Partner Brands still remains intact so – just the smartbuy party is over mainly w.r.t Amazon, Flipkart n travel bookings – Guess the travel bookings now shift to MMT!!

  10. For Infinia it’s 15,000 points, DCB & Regalia 5,000 points and all other HDFC cards it’s 1,000 points.

  11. Not a good move..I will shift my spends after hitting 15K to citi prestige in general and AMEX platinum (only when they run suitable promotions).

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