HDFC Bank and Indigo Launches 2 Co-brand Credit Cards

By | February 28, 2020

HDFC BANK, the largest credit card issuer in the country and Indigo, the largest airline in the county have partnered together to offer a co-brand credit card to Indians, powered by Mastercard. This is one of the major partnership in the industry given the size of both the brands and their respective spending capacity.

This is a great deal not only for the brands but also for the consumers, as after jet airways shut down, there is no attractive credit card in the country giving access to airlines with great connectivity, like Indigo.

So the card is named as “Ka-ching” (no comments!) and there are two variants: basic & premium with returns as good as 5% on Indigo spends. Now let’s get into the details,

HDFC Bank & Indigo Launches Ka-Ching 6E Rewards Credit Cards

Base Variant – 6E Rewards

  • Fee: Rs.750+GST (Rs.1500 welcome benefit)
  • Return on Indigo Spends: 2.5%
  • Return on Dining/Grocery/Entertainment Spends: 2%
  • Return on all other Retail spends: 1%
  • 6E Prime Add-on (priority check-in, choice of seat, and a complimentary meal)

Premium Variant – 6E Rewards XL

  • Fee: Rs.2500+GST (Rs.3000 welcome benefit)
  • Return on Indigo Spends: 5%
  • Return on Dining/Grocery/Entertainment Spends: 3%
  • Return on all other Retail spends: 2%
  • 6E Prime Add-on (priority check-in, choice of seat, and a complimentary meal)

The premium variant is definitely a good option as savings as good as 5% on flights is not easy to get on flights and 2% on all spends too is a decent number.

Yes, there are other benefits as well which I’ll cover in a detailed review sometime later. Above are the notable points for now.

The 6E Rewards

Now the question is, how these earn/burn system works? Well, on discussing it in detail, I was said we could get 1:1 most of the time and sometimes even 1:2 just like airmiles – so it has DYNAMIC value.

Hence, the 6E Rewards behaves more like a cashback type, but also works like airmiles and end of the day, it can also be seen as a wallet cash (like indigo cash) as this will be a new payment option on Indigo where you can also buy sandwich, etc.

Yes, its indeed complicated and we may need to wait for a while to clearly understand how the whole thing works in reality.

How to Apply?

Invitations will be rolled out in a phased manner because banks would get too much volume in a short time if they open for public from Day 1. So its currently an invite only card and the invitations are initially sent to Indigo customers and will be extended to others shortly.

If I guess it right, it might take 2-4 months to be open for public and that’s only an assumption.

Bottomline

No matter what kind of flyer you are, Indigo is an inevitable airline if you’re flying within India – for its right timing & connectivity across India & abroad.

That said, HDFC bank Indigo co-brand credit card is a great value addition to Indigo customers on top of their already affordable fares.

For HDFC bank, their co-brand credit card portfolio which would have seen a dip after Jet shut down, now would get stronger both in numbers and in spends.

So if you fly Indigo often, HDFC bank 6E rewards XL credit card is undoubtedly a wonderful product to hold.

Now you may ask, “What if I hold other HDFC Credit cards already, will I get a 2nd one?” Yes, just like in the past (when they were issuing Jet cards), it’s relatively easy to get a co-brand credit card (than regular cards) as a 2nd card from HDFC. However this also depends on the profile as well, as HDFC allocates separate credit line to 2nd card and that’s not something a bank would do easily. So it depends, as always!

What do you think about the newly launched HDFC Bank Indigo 6E Rewards credit cards? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

55 thoughts on “HDFC Bank and Indigo Launches 2 Co-brand Credit Cards

  1. RM

    Seems like a great card especially the XL variant. Indigo has a lot more flights compared to Vistara and the likes especially from Bangalore. Now the question is whether it will will possible to get this card if you already have Infinia and DCB from HDFC. Hopefully HDFC allows it. The prime add-on and the 3000₹ offer covers the fees.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      2nd card is likely possible to most, as floor limit of Indigo cards may not be high. And if approved, you should also be ready to split the limit on existing card.

      Reply
      1. Pranav Sharma

        I recently got credited 2k with name October fas what is that for what this cashback ,i did reliance transaction with were supposed to be 1500 in festive treats but this is 2k

        Reply
  2. Nikhil

    No renewal benefits….. Thats sad… And i guess add on benefit is only applicable when you buy on indigo website using the card…. So no benefits for dcb/Infinia card holders as such….

    Reply
  3. Anand

    My only doubt:
    Will we get 6E prime ONLY if we book through Indigo portal using this card or on using this card on booking tickets in HDFC smartbuy portal
    Or using this card on booking Indigo tickets on Any OTA too?

    Reply
    1. Amex Guy

      You will get ONE (not on every booking) 6E Prime voucher as a welcome gift. You will be able to use it regardless of how you book your ticket. You can add Prime to your booking via website or by calling them before official check-in begins at airport.

      Reply
  4. Raj P

    I like this design HDFC is taking with this and their Millennia CC Line-Up

    Reply
  5. hrishig

    If you are paying less than 45/50 k per months DCB will still give you better returns than this card on ANY airline.

    Reply
  6. Santosh Kumar

    Does holding this card make sense while also holding infinia or DCB?

    Reply
  7. Nihar Das

    Thanks Sid for quickly putting it out .
    Would wait to see – is it an Airmiles card or Cashback card + 6E prime benefits .

    Reply
  8. nik

    Well i did check, it says we have to login to Indigo account to check if we are invited for the application or not. Only on invite model for now! No offer enabled for me yet.

    Reply
  9. neil

    Detail T&C are up on the indigo website:

    Major one’s are:
    – Complimentary IndiGo air ticket will be available for redemption towards base fare post doing three (3) transactions every month for first three (3) calendar months. (WTF!)
    – Insurance spend is allowed upto Rs 125K in a billing cycle (for XL) and Rs 250k for regular
    – 6E Rewards redemption fee is INR 100 per pax per flight booking
    – No restriction or blackout dates on redemptions. 1 6E Rewards = 1 INR.
    – 6E Rewards are valid for 24 months from the date of accrual on a ‘first in first out basis’.

    Reply
    1. Pratik

      Hi,

      I recently got this card.

      Complimentary IndiGo air ticket will be available for redemption towards base fare post doing three (3) transactions every month for first three (3) calendar months – Once the card is setup and visible on indigo website (really nice website to track all the spends and rewards received !!!), it says that the ticket is available only on 3 “SWIPES” per month and not 3 transactions. (this is not mentioned anywhere before application)

      CSR is also clueless on the same. Not sure how I’ll get it done since I have only received card details in pdf and not the physical card. Hope it comes before Oct end.

      PLEASE CHECK WITH RESPECTIVE TEAM BEFORE APPLYING.

      Reply
  10. Pragyan

    HDFC should allow existing cardholders to transfer points to 6E Rewards. Though this might not be a great benefit as premium cardholders can anyway buy flight tickets using points but in-flight meals and such can be somewhat usable.

    Reply
  11. Aman Bindra

    When this card was initially in conception stage, they have a very nice unique design with a transparent cutout in the shape of a airplane window in the middle of the card. Now they have gone for something more cost effective.

    Reply
  12. Sanchit Khandelwal

    This card has turned out to be a disappointment for me. Firstly, you can easily get 10-33% discount on the flight ticket depending upon your card and OTA. Secondly, the max cap for free flight ticket is 3k on this card, which is again subjected to lot of conditions. Compared to this, Axis/SBI Vistara cards give free flight tickets without such restrictions and overall spend based return is much better than that of this card!

    Reply
  13. Abhi

    I know you already said no comments but could not stop my self… Ka-Ching ??

    Reply
  14. Shivi

    It’s derived from the sound of an old fashioned, mechanical cash register when an amount is rung up.

    Reply
  15. George Mathews

    I wish they modelled this card more along the lines of sbi air india or axis vistara and had milestone based tickets.

    Looks like they have done cost benefit analysis and ensured that they don’t end up giving away more than 3k of the joining bonus; what with the 3000 cap per ticket redemption etc.

    Sigh! Was looking for a good cars to make the most of rental payment through RedGirrafe. Axis vistara seems like the best option.

    It would be great if someone had any suggestions for alternate cards. I already have an Infinia and was looking for higher rewards than the 3.3%

    Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Abhi

      You already answered yourself. Better than Infinia could be Axis Vistara, if you can use it or you may look for SBI AirIndia one.

      Reply
  16. Hardik

    I have a Regalia and a recently acquired Infinia. Does it make sense to replace Regalia with 6E Rewards XL?

    Reply
    1. Praveen Katiyar

      @ Hardik
      Booking flight (indigo/others) on smartbuy you would get 10x reward on Infinia i.e. 33% return. I don’t think u need to replace any card when you have Infinia.
      Am I missing something ?

      Reply
      1. Hardik Parikh

        No, I intended to replace the Regalia. What can I replace the Regalia.

        Reply
        1. Sobhan

          Is 10X not applicable for Regalia/Regalia First cards while doing a transaction in smart buy to purchase flight tickets?

          Reply
  17. Anish Gupta

    My dad has to retire his jet wala HDFC card.
    Please rate the card he should take
    1 Infinia ( if he gets it )
    2 Regalia
    3 Ka Ching premium
    4 Other (suggestion)

    Preference order example
    1-3-4 (amex travel) – 2

    PS: he has an amex Pt travel card

    Reply
    1. Praveen Katiyar

      @Anish
      My preference would be:
      1- Infinia
      2- Diners Club Black
      3- Axis Privilege (it has replaced yatra voucher redemption with paytm flight & hotel voucher)
      4- Regalia to reach 1&2
      5- Yes First Preferred/Exclusive if u can get LTF
      Hope it helps.

      Reply
    2. Avijit

      Go for Regalia/Diners Black or Clubmiles(Best Travel cards)

      Reply
    3. praveen singada

      infinia- ka ching premium – s&c ultimate …………………………avoid regalia .

      Reply
  18. srini

    what about airport lounge benfit with these cards of indigo -HDFC

    Reply
  19. Satish Kumar Agarwal

    With latest update, Indigo app is showing option of applying this card.

    Reply
    1. PT

      It has been open for all on the website since first week of March.

      Reply
      1. Satish Kumar Agarwal

        I was talking specifically about the app, as now a days app is mostly used over websites.

        Reply
        1. PT

          In that case you have to be more specific, is it ios, android or both?

          Reply
  20. Manjunath U

    Well HDFC Indigo Ka Ching card is offered complimentary for first year. Last date for application is 10th Aug, approval for card to be before 31 Aug for complimentary offer. Enjoy the benefits of higher variant XL card on shopping at groceries with 3% returns & 2% on all retail spends, which offers better value & can be redeemed against indigo air tickets for future travel. The airline connectivity is good across India & international bookings.

    Reply
  21. Akshat Garg

    6E XL rewards on indigo seem to have been reduced to 2.5% form earlier 5%

    Reply
  22. Kushal

    Its now available as LTF for limited period November 13, 2020 to December 31, 2020

    Reply
  23. Pratik

    Does anyone know how long it takes for Indigo cash to be credited after statement generation. Statement generated on 13th, however, no indigo cash / 6E rewards transferred to indigo account.

    Reply
    1. Pratik

      Would advice not to go for this card as the Indigo CSR does not have the slightest idea on the same.

      Your reward points/ indigo cash will be stuck.

      Reply
  24. Maheem Gummadi

    Need info on this card, applied (6E Rewards XL LTF) on the Indigo website a week ago. Waiting for response from either HDFC or Indigo, none till now.I have tried calling the customer care number given on the Indigo site, but it says the mobile is switched off. ARN not yet generated.

    Do you guys have any luck applying for the card recently ?

    P.S: Existing HDFC CC holder (Regalia)

    Reply
  25. Anu

    I got an upgrade option from regalia (not first) to 6e indigo xl… Should i take it? Is it worth.? I dont travel much…

    Reply
    1. Kushal

      Don’t .. if you do not take a lot of trips using indigo flight .. then don’t even think of it

      Reply
      1. Anu

        ok thanks. Thats what i though of. Doesnt seems to be a upgrade. lol

        Reply
  26. Sam

    What about “6E Prime Add-on (priority check-in, choice of seat, and a complimentary meal)” Will this benefits applicable for LTF version on each ticket booked?

    Reply

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