HDFC’s SmartBuy and Axis Bank’s GrabDeals have long dominated the space. Now, ICICI Bank is upping the ante with iShop, its new rewards platform that levels the playing field.
From February, ICICI Bank introduced accelerated rewards—6X on flights, 12X on hotels, and 6X on vouchers—making all its credit cards more rewarding. The exact return varies by card type, as base reward rates differ, but the move significantly boosts its competitiveness in the premium segment.
At the top end, ICICI Bank is betting big on its super-premium Emeralde Private Metal credit card, which offers up to 36% returns on hotel bookings and 18% on flights—one of the most lucrative reward structures in the market.
But is it enough to shake up the market?
Aly Hajiani, a credit card consultant, thinks so. “ICICI Bank has done it better than the others,” he says.
“The highest accelerated reward rate—up to 18% on flights and vouchers, and 36% on hotels—is being offered by (ICICI Bank’s) Emeralde Private Metal. That’s higher than what the current top card, HDFC Infinia, provides.”
HDFC Infinia, by comparison, offers up to 33.3% on hotels and 16.65% on flights and vouchers, with a lower monthly cap of 15,000 accelerated reward points versus 18,000 points on Emeralde Private Metal.
While Infinia remains a dominant force, ICICI’s bet on iShop could be a game-changer. Its appeal lies in the sheer scale of accelerated rewards and flexibility across premium cards.
Here’s a closer look at what iShop brings to the table.
Breaking down iShop’s rewards game
ICICI Emeralde Private Metal credit card benefits the most from the accelerated rewards awarded on iShop platform.
It earns six reward points, on every ₹200 spent on all categories, which makes its base reward rate 3%. On shopping for flight and vouchers or hotels, the accelerated reward rate becomes up to 18% and 36%, respectively.
Along with Emeralde Private Metal, Times Black is another premium card that gains significantly from iShop’s accelerated rewards. Its base reward rate of 2% jumps to 12% on flights and vouchers and 24% on hotel bookings, making it a strong contender for high-value rewards.
Cardholders can redeem rewards earned on their ICICI bank credit cards to book flights and hotels or buy vouchers on the iShop portal. The redemption value of reward points for flights, hotels and vouchers is Re 1 per point.
However, cardholders can use up to 90% of their points to book hotels, while the remaining 10% is to be paid with a card. Flight tickets can be fully purchased with points.
As for vouchers, up to 60% points can be used to purchase while the other 40% is to be paid by the cardholder.
When used to settle the credit card bill, value of reward points is ₹0.4 per point.
The maximum accelerated rewards are capped at 18,000 points per month for Emeralde Private Metal and 15,000 points for Times Black. For Emeralde Private Metal, this translates to 12X rewards on hotel bookings up to ₹54,500 per month, after which the standard 3% reward rate applies.
Similarly, for flights, monthly spends upto ₹1.2 lakh will earn 6X accelerated rewards, which is a generous limit.
Amazon Pay voucher purchases are also capped, with a maximum limit of ₹12,000 per month on the iShop portal.
The one big downside of iShop currently is that it doesn’t have any points transfer partners, except Air India.
However, Hajiani says ICICI bank will release more transfer partners in the future. “I’m not sure of the timing, but it’s a natural progression so I’m confident they will,” he said.
Queries sent to ICICI bank regarding the timeline of launching transfer partners did not get a response. The iShop portal is currently in beta phase, as seen on its website.
Infinia vs Emeralde Private Metal
Both HDFC Infinia and ICICI Emeralde Private Metal (EPM) come at a joining and annual fee of ₹14,750 (including 18% GST). On comparing the reward rates and monthly caps, EPM is a compelling option over Infinia after the launch of accelerated rewards.
The base reward rate of Infinia is higher at 3.33% compared to 3% of EPM, however the accelerated reward rate makes the latter more rewarding on both travel spends and vouchers.
Moreover, HDFC’s Smartbuy platform allows up to 70% of the reward points to be used to book flights and hotels, which is 100% and 90%, respectively, in the case of iShop.
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The maximum monthly accelerated rewards that you can earn on EMP is also higher than Infinia, which is capped at 15,000.
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Even the Amazon Pay voucher limit is slightly higher at ₹12,000 in the case of EMP as compared to ₹10,000 for Infinia.
So, is it time to switch? Experts say not yet.
Testing waters
Most credit card advisors are in wait and watch mode and not advising their clients to go for EMP as yet.
“It is early days for EMP, and while the numerical returns are higher, it is not backed by an elaborate airline transfer program for now,” said Ajay Awtaney, founder and editor of LiveFromALounge.com.
Siddharth Raman, founder of CardExpert said he would not recommend it as the primary credit card right now.
“It has to be time tested for a year or so to see where they (the bank) stand. Within one month the bank added limits, which shows it too is in testing mode and so the benefits become less predictable,” he said.
Raman is referring to the monthly cap of ₹12,000 on Amazon Pay vouchers which was introduced recently after cardholders were seen buying vouchers worth ₹80,000- ₹1 lakh at one go.
EMP is a super premium invite-only credit card given to high-networth individuals who maintain ₹50 lakh or more in deposits and investment value with ICICI bank.
Alternatively, individuals with a monthly salary of ₹3 lakh or more can also qualify for EMP. For those who already bank with ICICI and qualify for it, should definitely get the EMP credit card, said Hajiani. However, he doesn’t recommend switching from Infinia.
“If you have Infinia, I wouldn’t recommend building a relationship with ICICI bank just to get EMP as the return rates are not starkly different for you to switch,” he said.
Awtaney agreed and said, “The card (EMP) is very exclusive and needs a large banking relationship. We usually don’t advise people to switch banks just to get a credit card.”
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Tejas Ghongadi, co-founder, The Points Code says the key question remains whether ICICI can sustain such rewards anywhere near to the timeline HDFC has for Infinia.
ICICI credit cards have not been a favourite for regular credit card users due to their low rewards, with cashback card Amazon Pay ICICI being the only exception.
With the launch of iShop, that changes as all the credit cards from the bank will earn accelerated rewards. In fact, along with credit card, even debit card and netbanking users will be rewarded with iCash for shopping on the iShop portal.
