The way you use your HDFC Credit Card can significantly alter your reward rate. For example, suppose you have an HDFC Bank Infinia Credit Card. Your reward rate can vary from 3.3% to 33.3% depending on how you use it. Suppose you want to purchase a T-shirt from the Jockey website. Consider the following 3 scenarios:
Scenario 1: If you visit the Jockey website directly and pay using the Infinia Credit Card, you will earn a 3.3% reward rate.
Scenario 2: When you purchase a Jockey Gift Voucher from the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal using the Infinia Credit Card, you get a 16.67% reward rate. You can then pay on the Jockey website with the voucher.
Scenario 3: When you visit the Jockey website through the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal and complete the transaction on the Jockey website with your Infinia Credit Card, you will earn a 33.3% reward rate.
So, the above are 3 scenarios wherein you buy the same product from the Jockey website using your Infinia Credit Card, but your reward rate can vary from 3.3% to 33.3%. In scenarios 2 and 3, when you use the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal, your 3.3% base reward rate jumps 5X (16.5%) and 10X (33%). So, what is this HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal, and why must every HDFC Bank credit cardholder use it? Let us discuss.
What is the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal?
The SmartBuy portal is HDFC Bank’s customer engagement platform created exclusively for HDFC Bank cardholders. Various merchants offer their merchandise/services like travel booking (flight/train/bus tickets), hotel booking, gift vouchers, products, etc., to HDFC Bank customers through the SmartBuy portal. The customers transacting on the SmartBuy portal receive various benefits in the form of discounts, accelerated reward points, and cashbacks.
An HDFC Bank credit cardholder can access the SmartBuy portal through the following link:
https://offers.smartbuy.hdfcbank.com/v1/foryou
Earning accelerated reward points on SmartBuy
The HDFC Bank credit cardholders can use the SmartBuy portal to earn accelerated reward points and redeem them. Let us first look at how to earn accelerated reward points using the SmartBuy portal.
Merchant-wise reward rate
When you shop with a merchant listed on the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal and pay with your credit card, you earn accelerated reward points or cashback depending on the HDFC Bank credit card you hold. Some of the merchant categories and their benefits include the following.
| Merchant category | Merchant | Benefit |
| Shopping | IGP | 10X reward points or 10% cashback |
| Jockey | 10X reward points or 10% cashback | |
| Pharmeasy | 10X reward points or 10% cashback | |
| Myntra | 5X reward points or 5% cashback | |
| Gyftr | Up to 5X reward points or 5% cashback | |
| Apple Imagine Tresor | Up to 5X reward points or 5% cashback | |
| Flights booking | Cleartrip | 5X reward points or 5% cashback |
| Yatra | 5X reward points or 5% cashback | |
| EaseMyTrip | 5X reward points or 5% cashback | |
| GoIbibo | 5X reward points or 5% cashback | |
| Hotels booking | Cleartrip | 10X reward points or 5% cashback |
| Yatra | 10X reward points or 5% cashback | |
| MakeMyTrip | 10X reward points or 5% cashback | |
| Bus booking | RedBus | 5X reward points or 5% cashback |
| Car rentals | Zoomcar | 5X reward points or 5% cashback |
| Train booking | ConfirmTkt | 3X reward points or 1% cashback |
| Instant vouchers | Instant vouchers from more than 150 merchants across various categories | Up to 5X reward points or 5% cashback |
The reward rate for the same merchant may vary across cards. For example, for instant vouchers, Infinia credit cardholders get a 5X reward rate, but Diners Black credit cardholders get a 3X reward rate. The same is the case with Apple Imagine Tresor. The reward rate for a particular merchant may change from time to time. For example, the usual reward rate for Myntra is 5X reward points. However, during some sale events, the reward rate was increased to 10X reward points for a limited period.
Credit card-wise reward rate
The above table shows the reward rate merchant-wise. Let us now look at the accelerated reward rate/cashback on merchants for various HDFC Bank credit cards.
| Merchant | Infinia | Diners Black, Diners Black Metal, BizBlack Metal | Regalia, Diners Privilege, BizPower | Other credit cards |
| IGP | 10X RP | 10X RP | 10X RP | 10% CB |
| Flights | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5% CB |
| Hotels | 10X RP | 10X RP | 10X RP | 5% CB |
| Trains | 3X RP | 3X RP | 3X RP | 1% CB |
| RedBus | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5% CB |
| Instant vouchers | 5X RP | 3X RP | 5X RP | 5% CB |
| Imagine Tresor | 5X RP | 3X RP | 5X RP | 5% CB |
| ZoomCar | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5% CB |
| Myntra | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5% CB |
| Jockey | 10X RP | 10X RP | 10X RP | 10% CB |
| MMT holiday packages | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5X RP | 5% CB |
| Pharmeasy | 10X RP | 10X RP | 10X RP | 10% CB |
RP – Reward points
CB – Cashback
In the instant vouchers section of the SmartBuy platform, a lot of merchants offer instant discounts on their gift vouchers. The instant discount is in addition to the accelerated reward points.
There is a monthly limit on the amount of gift vouchers of specific brands that can be purchased in a calendar month. For example, a cardholder can buy a maximum of Rs. 1,500 Bigbasket gift vouchers and Rs. 10,000 Amazon Pay gift vouchers in a calendar month. There is a convenience fee on purchase of gift vouchers of specific brands like Amazon Pay, Amazon Shopping Voucher and Flipkart.
Daily and monthly limits on earning reward points
Depending on the HDFC Bank credit card that you hold, there are daily and monthly limits on the accelerated reward points you can earn for SmartBuy portal transactions. The following are the daily and monthly limits.
| HDFC Bank Credit Card | Maximum cap per calendar month | Maximum cap per day |
| Infinia | 15,000 RP | 15,000 RP |
| Diners Black Metal and BizBlack Metal | 10,000 RP | 10,000 RP |
| Diners Black | 7,500 RP | 2,500 RP |
| Regalia, Diners Privilege, BizPower | 4,000 RP | 2,000 RP |
| Other credit cards (cashback) | 1,000 CB | 1,000 CB |
The maximum capping is only on the accelerated reward points. There is no capping on the base reward points. For example, the Infinia credit card earns 5X reward points on instant voucher purchases. In this case, the 15,000 reward points capping will apply only to the 4X accelerated reward points. There is no capping on the 1X base reward rate.
The accelerated reward points are credited within 90 working days from the late date of the transaction month.
Redeeming reward points
In the earlier section, we understood how HDFC Bank credit cardholders can earn accelerated reward points on the SmarBuy portal. Now that you have earned the reward points, let us see where and how you can redeem them on the SmartBuy portal to get good value from them.
The value of each reward point depends on the card you hold and the product/service for which you redeem it. For example, when a Infinia credit cardholder redeems the reward points for booking flight tickets or hotels on the SmartBuy portal, the value of 1 reward point is Rs. 1. But, when the Infinia cardholder redeems the reward points for the purchase of gift vouchers from the SmartBuy portal, the value of 1 reward point is Rs. 0.40 to Rs. 0.50.
Let us understand the valuation of reward points at the time of redemption with the example of the Infinia credit card.
| SmartBuy transaction | Redemption value of 1 reward point |
| Booking flight tickets | Rs. 1 |
| Booking hotel rooms | Rs. 1 |
| Apple products | Rs. 1 |
| Tanishq vouchers | Rs. 1 |
| Other brand vouchers | Rs. 0.40 to Rs. 0.50 |
The cardholder must note the following terms and conditions on redemption of reward points:
- For travel bookings (flights, hotels, and experiences), a maximum of 70% of the transaction value can be paid with reward points. The balance must be paid with the HDFC Bank credit card. The cardholder earns accelerated reward points on the balance 30% or higher amount paid with the HDFC Bank credit card.
- The redemption of reward points for flights and hotel bookings on the Smartbuy portal is capped at 1,50,000 reward points per calendar month.
- For Apple products and Tanishq vouchers, a maximum of 70% of the transaction value can be paid with reward points. The balance must be paid with the HDFC Bank credit card.
- The redemption of reward points for purchasing Apple Products is capped at one product for every calendar quarter.
- The redemption of reward points for purchasing Tanishq vouchers is capped at 50,000 reward points for every calendar quarter.
The reward points can be transferred to various airline frequent flyer programs (FFP) and hotel loyalty programs. HDFC Bank has a tie-up with 20 airline and hotel partners. The reward points can be transferred to each partner in a specified ratio. The transfer ratio depends on the transfer partner where the points are being transferred and the credit card that you hold. For example, the transfer ratio for some partners is 1:1, and for some it is 2:1.
Fees
The HDFC Bank credit cardholder doesn’t need to pay any registration or annual maintenance fee for using the SmartBuy portal. However, there may be a convenience fee for specific transactions like booking flights, train tickets, etc. There may be a rewards points redemption fee for specific transactions.
Should you use the SmartBuy portal?
As an HDFC Bank credit cardholder, you must definitely use the SmartBuy portal. Depending on the credit card you hold and the merchant you transact with, you can earn accelerated reward points in the 3X to 10X range compared to the usual 1X base reward rate.
Once you earn the reward points, you can redeem them through the SmartBuy portal for various redemption options like flight and hotel booking, purchasing gift vouchers, Apple products, or transferring them to airline/hotel partners. The redemption value per point can be up to Rs. 1, which is a good redemption rate. Thus, the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal can help you earn accelerated reward points and redeem them with various options.