HDFC Bank has been long offering a large number of points for anyone who uses their white-labelled Smartbuy website to buy almost anything under the sun. A few years ago, they launched a white-labelled gift voucher service as well, along with Gyftr, where you could get 10X points up to the maximum bonus points limit of the card as prescribed by HDFC Bank. This effectively meant you could get up to 33% cash back on over 150 brands, as long as you purchased the vouchers before you used them for your purchase. I never thought the gift voucher business would be very lucrative, but it, sure enough, was for American Express to also launch a similar site.

HDFC Bank cuts down on Smartbuy Gyftr Earnings by half

The reward points are given away every time you purchase something from Smartbuy and are mainly going out of the pocket of HDFC Bank. This is why, as they have gained scale, HDFC Bank has capped earnings on their cards and readjust earnings on their products as the situation evolves. I don’t hold it against them. After all, there needs to be a balance between giving away points and making money. As long as they don’t devalue points, that is.

As it turns out, as of September 1, 2021, the HDFC Smartbuy Gyftr points earning has been devalued. Till August 31, 2021, one could earn 10x points purchasing gift vouchers from Gyftr via HDFC Smartbuy (1X regular earning and 9X bonus earning). However, today, you will see only a 5X points earning on the website.

What this means is that when you buy a voucher from HDFC Smartbuy Gyftr, you will now get 5X points (1X regular and 4X bonus), making it up to 16.5% cashback for their top-end credit cards, including Infinia and Diners Club Black. For the cards that do not get the points, they get a 5% cashback. This wouldn’t be good news for those who used to buy a lot of vouchers, I’d say.

HDFC Smartbuy Gyftr increases Amazon and Flipkart voucher limit per month

As the gift voucher platform gained scale, Gyftr imposed an INR 5000 per calendar month limit on the gift voucher purchase for Flipkart and Amazon vouchers. As the platform has reduced the earning, they have updated the potential to buy up to INR 10,000 worth of vouchers in a month from the earlier INR 5,000. This change is also reflected on the website.

Bottomline

HDFC Bank’s Smartbuy Gyftr proposition remains the most attractive way to buy vouchers to make any purchase, but now instead of 10X points, you will only get 5X points from now on. However, you can buy more Amazon and Flipkart vouchers going forth, as limits have been doubled compared to the earlier limit.

What do you make of the changes to the HDFC Bank Smartbuy Gyftr points earning ratio?

(H/T to Pranav)

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