In 2020, IndiGo, India’s largest domestic airline, added a new lifestyle product to their stable of offerings, a co-brand credit card. IndiGo created a new SBU inside the company, called 6E Rewards, where the airline generates and sells points. However, the loyalty programme is not available to all flyers of IndiGo. It is only available for those who have, and spend, on IndiGo’s co-brand credit cards. IndiGo tied up with HDFC Bank and MasterCard to launch their first card in February 2020, and in December 2021, launched the second card, this time with Kotak Mahindra Bank on the Visa platform. The airline got a member base of 300K folks before abandoning the effort to go further with this.

In October 2024, IndiGo launched the BluChip programme, which unlike the 6E Rewards programme, is a full blown loyalty programme, and not just a banking points programme (which was a novel take, honestly). Now, IndiGo has been going on adding partners who grant BluChip points. Swiggy was the first, PostCard Hotels and EazyDiner came next, and now, they have the first co-brand card partner.

IndiGo and Kotak Mahindra Bank launch co-brand credits cards

Switching from 6ERewards to BluChips, Kotak has become the first bank to launch a cobrand partnership with IndiGo BluChip. The cobrand partnership will allow the customers of the cobrand card to earn on all sorts of spends, rather than just on flights. The cards are being issued on both Visa and RuPay platforms.

IndiGo Kotak Premium co-brand Credit Card

The IndiGo Kotak co-brand credit cards come in two variants, the base and premium versions. Here are the prices and benefits of the two versions:

• IndiGo Kotak Premium Credit Card
  • Joining and Annual Fees: INR 3000 + GST
  • IndiGo’s Joining Benefits: 4,000 Bluchips and a 6E Eats voucher as a joining and renewal bonus
  • Earning Rates: 
    • Rewards on IndiGo Spends: 5 BluChips/INR 100 spent
    • Rewards on Merchant Spends (Includes Dining & Entertainment): 3 BluChips/INR 100 spent
    • Rewards on Other Category spend (Wallet excluded): 2 BluChips/INR 100 spent
  • Excluded: Rent, Wallet, Education, Government, Utilities, B2B and Insurance spends are excluded.
  • Milestones
    • 4,000 IndiGo BluChips at every milestone spend of INR 150,000, INR 400,000, INR 750,000 and INR 12,00,000 annually. Excluded categories don’t count towards the milestone.
  • Lounge Access: 2 per quarter
  • Network: Visa and RuPay
• IndiGo Kotak Credit Card
  • Joining and Annual Fees: INR 1500 + GST
  • IndiGo’s Joining Benefits: 2,500 Bluchips as a joining and renewal bonus
  • Earning Rates: 
    • Rewards on IndiGo Spends: 3 BluChips/INR 100 spent
    • Rewards on Merchant Spends (Includes Dining & Entertainment): 2 BluChips/INR 100 spent
    • Rewards on Other Category spend (Wallet excluded): 1 BluChips/INR 100 spent
  • Excluded: Rent, Wallet, Education, Government, Utilities, B2B and Insurance spends are excluded.
  • Milestones
    • 2,500 IndiGo BluChips at every milestone spend of INR 125,000, INR 250,000 and INR 600,000. Excluded categories don’t count towards the milestone.
  • Network: Visa and RuPay

Eventually, the existing 6E Rewards Credit Cards will also be transitioned to this product. Too bad I shut mine just in March 2025.

From an earning perspective, I think you are better off using Atlas or another independent travel credit card as you will earn more valuable points in the process.

Bottomline

IndiGo and Kotak have launched the first of the IndiGo co-brand credit cards. These come in 2 variants: Base and Premium, and on two networks, RuPay and Visa. The higher version (premium) gets you upto 5 BluChips per INR 100 spent and limited amount of Lounge Access, while the lower version gets you upto 3 BluChips per INR 100 spent. There is also a lot of usual excluded categories, and a milestone programme that gets you bonus points over time. You can apply for the card through the IndiGo website only, at the moment.

What do you think about the IndiGo / Kotak co-branded credit cards?

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