Now Redeem your HDFC Credit Card Reward Points to CASH

By | September 5, 2019

One of the biggest expectation on HDFC credit cards by many entry-level to premium card holders is the ability to redeem reward points for direct cashback, as flights/hotels or even the shopping vouchers don’t excite many. If you’re one of them, I’ve a news you. HDFC Bank finally decided to give you that privilege of redeeming your reward points to credit card statement credit. 

Value of Reward Points

When we speak about stmt. credit, the obvious question is the conversion ratio. From a quick look, it appears that the points to stmt. credit conversion ratio is similar to that of the shopping vouchers that we usually get with HDFC. For ex, with Infinia & Diners Black, the conversion to cash credit would be like 1 Reward point = 0.50 INR

Okay got it, you frequent travellers lost the interest 😀

But well, I think it’s a very decent conversion ratio as it lets you earn 1.6% to 16% as direct cash credit on HDFC Super Premium cards.

How to redeem?

Here are the steps to be followed to redeem your credit card reward points to cash

  • Login to HDFC Netbanking
  • Goto Cards -> Enquire -> Redeem reward Points -> choose card & proceed
  • You’re now on the newly revamped Redemption Portal.
  • Goto Redeem Reward Points -> Cash Redemption
  • Enter details and proceed
  • Expect cash credit in ~7 working days

Note that min. redemption value has to be Rs.500 and Rs.99 would be charged as a convenience fee per redemption, just like SBICards.

I’ve tested it on one of the cards I manage and here’s how the redemption flow looks like:

Should you Convert Points to Cash?

It should not be a primary redemption option for most premium & super premium cardholders, as it instantly reduces the point value by flat 50% or so. But it’s okay to have a mix of both, based on your needs. 

I currently use few cards to get direct cash credit to stmt. that allows me to spend anywhere, so I would consider it as an option if other cashback cards give me less returns than this. 

Further, this is an amazing option if you’ve points left that expires in next 90 days. While you can’t make instant travel plans, you can now redeem the points instantly. 

Bottomline

Its an AMAZING move by HDFC but I wonder how many crores its going to cost the bank in the coming months!

Apart from this, HDFC bank also gave an overall facelift to their reward points redemption portal with more options & controls like better airline redemption forms and more. And now you can also view your 1yr old reward points history, which is awesome. Yet, I wish, they had txn wise info as well.

Overall this move definitely solves the need for most entry-level to premium range of cardholders, but for the top-tier frequent travellers, one would expect the ability to redeem points across even more airlines & hotels. I hope that too happens sometime soon.

What’s your take on this bold move by HDFC Bank? Do you plan to redeem your points to cash credit anytime soon? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to the reader Sidharth for spotting the new feature.

95 thoughts on “Now Redeem your HDFC Credit Card Reward Points to CASH

    1. Siddharth Post author

      In case the cashback in a year exceeds Rs 50,000 for individual taxpayers, then it would be subject to gift tax as per Section 56(2) of the Income Tax Act. Its bit easy for self employed, but not sure about Salaried. Ideally its treated as Income/profit from other sources.

      Reply
      1. SH

        Then apart from the 50% discount on cash redemption the tax is another downer. Thanks for information.

        Reply
      2. Animesh Dwivedi

        I don’t think that this particular aspect of cashback qualifies for Income and hence will not be taxed. This is treated as discount against your expenses and thus won’t be taxed.

        Reply
      3. Rushabh

        I spoke to a CA and it is still gray area. For salaried it’s like getting discount on expense. As long as your cashback isnt above your expense then it should be okay. For business since they could claim their expense, they would have to adjust it with cashback before claiming

        Reply
  1. Nihar Das

    HDFC is filling up all the gaps in their product offering or by one. It will interest lot of people carrying cash back cards . Statement credit + 10X is very potent.
    SC Manhattan , Citibank cashback card et all. have to rediscover themselves.

    Reply
  2. A2Z

    Long pending demand of customers about transaction wide reward point summary probably soon be implemented. This is learned from multiple executives serving in Infinia desk. Most of them are already aware that how much trouble customer has to face for contacting customer support each time.
    Don’t know what’s holding HDFC from providing the same to customers for long time?
    Same is easily viewable to any HDFC employee when we visit branch or call customer support. Just that HDFC isn’t willing to share it with customers.
    Currently Standard Chartered & American Express both give transaction wise summary of reward points earned.
    Even Axis Bank provides transaction wise summary of edge rewards.

    Reply
          1. Satyam Gupta

            Hi,
            Is there any way we can redeem our HDFC reward points for Amazon Pay Balance?,I am unable to find it in the catalogue.
            Thanks 🙂

    1. George Mathews

      Hi A2Z,

      Is this true – “that transaction wise points are viewable by any HDFC employee when we visit the branch or call customer support”?

      Did you also imply that if we visit the branch we can get the info on transaction wise points history?

      If true, this is really big. If there is any way at all that one can view this please let me know.

      Reply
    2. Hash

      it is a problem.for me also how currently we get the transaction wide reward info. all the customer care number i tried was failed

      Reply
  3. The Commentor

    Looks like the conversion ratio is 0.2 for Diners premium cards.. This is a 60% devaluation from the redemption ratio on flights which is 0.5!

    I’ll probably stick to redeeming this for flights and use my Iconia cards for spends where I plan to cash out the points

    Reply
    1. Prashant Agrawal

      Same for Regalia. Cashes out at Re. 0.20/point, 43% less than Re. 0.35/point that I mark it for.

      I can’t bring myself to book flights using HDFC Portal. Too cumbersome. Particularly if there’s change in plans or you need OTA support.

      Reply
    2. Pankaj

      Same here for regalia, conversion ratio is 1:0.2, it is better to go with flights 🙂

      Reply
  4. Mickey

    Any additional options given to customers is always welcome.. whether to exercise or not is the customer’s choice, but good move to at least provide the option!

    Reply
  5. uttam

    The conversion ratio for diners clubmiles is also 0.2 . Not worth redeeming this for cash. Insta vouchers seems better value

    Reply
  6. Bibhash

    Good move. I need to close my diners for converting it to regalia. I can at least get some value from my diners card

    Reply
  7. Ashok

    Awesome siddharth. Already redeemed all my DCB points. 🙂 Never know when they will stop this.

    Reply
  8. Curious

    For Regalia the conversion is 5 pt = Re. 1. Thats Rs 200 for 1000 pts which is a very poor conversion rate. They have just introduced the option just for the sake of it. Pretty disappointed.

    Reply
    1. Sujit Kumar

      The cashback will come as a credit to the credit card. So a bank account isn’t required.

      Reply
    2. Kishore

      Nothing to do with account…cash will be credited to your credit card statement..

      Reply
    3. Fahim

      Even if u have hdfc account, the cash credit will reflect in ur credit card account and not in savings account

      Reply
  9. Ajai

    With my DCB I had converted them all to JPMiles and had a good convert for my Russia trip. After I downgraded to Regalia the points have accumulated to about 67000 points but I just cant make up my mind where to spend them.

    With this offer I am thinking of upgrading my card to DCB/Infinia and cashing out but stupid Regalia still stuck with 6L limit so no upgrade offer 🙁

    HDFC says my ITR of 18L is good only for 6L but then again I had 8L+ with DCB. Any advise how to upgrade the limit by atleast 2L?

    Reply
    1. Abhisek Parija

      If you upgrade, my understading is your points will get transferred on 1:2 ratio. Not worth the effort i feel.

      Reply
  10. Teragoel

    Hi,

    Sid what a gift. Thanks for sharing this. Happy teachers day to you. In a way, you are my teacher. Thanks for teaching the value of using Credit cards.

    Also, what would be the gift tax percent? Would again gst be calculated on gift tax?

    Thanks in advance.

    Reply
  11. KARANBIR SINGH RAI

    Regalia and Regalia first are available at 5 points = Rs1, whats the use of it anyway?

    Reply
    1. Narendra k

      Now it’s 6.6 points = 1rupee.Loss for me. I wud have redeemed earlier.

      Reply
  12. Rajesh Kodityala

    When i saw the heading of the article – I am so excited because HDFC started giving statement credit. But as you said when you talked about conversion factor – disappointed.. I have regalia they are giving .2 per point, which is really bad. Usually on vouchers – they will give 1000rs voucher for 2800 points. If i do cash credit for 2800 – i only get 560 ruppes.. Which is so disappointing…

    Reply
    1. Sagar

      Right even for Dinners platinum it is showing .2 per point, which is disappointing

      Reply
  13. Sree

    This is typically targeted at people who donno much about maximising on points and have loss of points laying around unused. From a business point of view this is a liability for HDFC so they might want to get rid of a lot of such points hence the move. Also it’ll help a lot of people with pending payments make use of it and come forward to settle their debts. Another reason for giving this option is a basic credit card user will find this to be the most attractive feature a long as they can save a few bucks. It’ll help them get new users too

    Reply
  14. T.Raghunath

    I am Dr . T.Raghunath Mysuru. I came to USA for vocation from 17/7/19 to 02/01/ 19 . Before coming to USA I applied for redemption of my credit card in the month of May and submitted redemption form to nearby branch of VVMohalla. In this regards I met bank Manager for not getting reward product of western external storage device but I could not get. If such is the situation what is use of credit card.

    Reply
    1. Tabrez

      Hello,
      Have you got Relationship manager in VV Puram branch?

      Reply
  15. Shubhendu Shekhar

    Hi Siddharth,
    What’s the eligibilty criteria for HDFC Diners Black card? Can I get it on a card on card basis? I hold SCB Ultimate with a limit of 5 Lakhs

    Reply
  16. Pranav sharma

    how much transactions to do in a month or till how many months we can remain without transaction in hdfc credit card dinner black so that the card doesn’t gets blocked

    Reply
  17. Kushal Kasliwal

    Makes so little sense to me, even if I travel lesser, still redeeming on flights/hotels makes sense vs. cashing out.
    Agree that it can be useful for some people!

    Reply
  18. Arun

    Hi,
    In HDFC netbanking offer, I am getting a message that I am eligible for upgradation for my account to Imperia banking. Shall I go ahead with it? Currently I am Preferred customer with the bank but dont pay any fees for it.

    I hold Regalia First credit card as well with a limit of 3lacs. Will upgrading my account help me to get super premium card (like Infinia)? I do not have any other relationship with bank like loan or FD as of now, but I am their customer since last 9 yrs.

    Will upgrading to Imperia attract extra charges?

    Thanks

    Reply
    1. uttam

      Hi arun , are you maintaining the required balances for the preferred banking programme i.e 2 lakhs AMB?

      Reply
  19. Ashish Bansal

    I tried for Regalia and for that the conversion rate is a dismal 1 Reward point = 0.20 INR.
    I would prefer to use the reward points for gift vouchers e.g. for Reliance Digital. There the conversion rate is more than 30%.

    Reply
    1. Sudarshan

      I think for Reliance digital it is 1 Reward point = 0.35 INR and for chroma 1 Reward point = 0.30 INR
      as i can check by converting reward points into value of voucher it gives.

      Reply
  20. Tinderguy

    So infinia doesn’t really give 3.3% return? Thought they give 3.3% on gift vouchers and travel miles but I guess that was not accurate

    Reply
    1. Neo

      3.3% return is when u redeem ur inifinia points at Re1 value for booking hotels/air tickets, etc on the hdfc portal

      Reply
      1. Manveet

        Great share as always Siddharth. Seems HDFC is trying to up its game against SBI card which has been very aggressive in garnering market share. Even though point to rupee conversion ratio is lesser than sbi card but it dies add value options to the existing customers of HDFC cards. Hope HDFC takes improves the rupee value offering soon to make it a worthwhile proposition.

        Reply
  21. Rajeev

    Three years in more than enough time to plan travel and hotel bookings or explore other reward options no point in redeeming it for a cash value of 50%

    Reply
  22. Rajesh Kodityala

    Checked in multiple logins it seems 0.2 for all cards except infinia and diners black. For them it is 0.5

    Reply
  23. Prakash

    Sid, I have a question that is not related to this offer. I have been having a Regalia for the past 3 years and I received n invite for Infinia upgrade. After accepting the invite, I realized that I forgot about the “Milestone Bonus” for Regalia (15K points) that I’m eligible for. Should I wait for the Regalia anniversary for the milestone bonus to post or should I call and request them to post them right away? Or is there any other way? I applied for the upgrade only Yesterday.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      It should be added automatically as soon as you reach the spend. If not, you can ask the bank to check.

      Reply
      1. Prakash

        Thanks for the quick response. I had reached the spend limit a few months back… but, I was told that the Milestone Bonus points will only post on the anniversary date.

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          It used to be, then they changed to monthly and they daily (as of early 2019). Not sure if they changed it again.

          Reply
        2. Rahul

          I got the milestone benefit in the month I reached milestone in Regalia. I just checked my card statements

          Reply
      2. Bhavya

        Hey Sid! Is there a limit on number of HDFC credit cards one person can hold ?

        Reply
  24. Rajesh Kodityala

    for me 10k credited on the month of reaching milestone, remaining 5k(when enquired) they said within 90 days after renewal. Waiting for 90days completion half way thru!

    Reply
  25. Vineeth

    Hey,
    Small query – So I have 3000 points (I know very less here) which Im trying to redeem for spencers vouchers. As there are only 1000 and 2000 denominations. Im thinking to take 3 X 1000 voucher. So the question will they charge 99 x3 as redemtion charge or only 99 rs?
    TIA

    Reply
    1. Ankur

      Hi Vineeth,

      If you do it in a single transaction then only 99 (Increasing quantity of vouchers to get is single transaction) . But if you receive successfully redeemed and then again try to do it then its a separate transaction so again the charges.

      Reply
  26. Amann

    Standard Chartered Ultimate and Yes First Exclusive do not charge redemption fee and have somewhat better redemption options. (Reward rate is the same for flights / vouchers). Also have DCB but only use it for 10x. I prefer to use SCU in other than 10x transactions.

    On a side note, Amazon.in considers dinners cards as Rupay and is offering 10% off upto 400 in current Diwali sale. Club this with 10x through smartbuy and you save quite a bit. 10% + 33% on DCB.

    Reply
  27. Amann

    Sid

    I am not a traveler so what other redemption offers full value on HDFC DCB / Regalia cards?

    Reply
  28. Amann

    Hi Sid

    Checked th redemption portal and I can say for say now that travel gives full value and cash redemption is at half value. Rest catalogue is at half or less value so it’s useless compared to cash.

    Do let me know if I’m wrong.

    Reply
  29. dinesh

    Hi All,
    I got upgrade offer from monyback to regalia first few years ago. It didn’t excite me as there is no option to redeem as cash in regalia first. Now cash back option is made available for all hdfc credit cards. But Reward ratio for Money back and Regalia first is 0.2% for redeem as cash credit. Earning ration is still same for both cards. 4 points for 150 in RF and 2×2 points for 150 in MB. only difference lacking in RF is rewards redemption fee where as currently no charge in money back. So still holding my money back card than upgrading to regalia first. Any other thoughts?

    Reply
    1. Ani

      I have got the RF card upgraded from Moneyback and done by RM. Now after reading all these it seems I have done mistake. I mostly purchase from Amazon and Flipkart and I use Amazon ICICI card and SBI Simply Click card respectively. Can anyone tell me if I can cancel the RF card and continue using Moneyback card though I got SMS Moneyback card will be deactivated once I start using RF card or on a certain date whichever is earlier ? Will RF card will be beneficial for me if I dont travel much ?

      Reply
      1. Ramesh Kumar

        Downgrade not allowed immediately, so maybe you need to wait for 6 months from time of upgrade.

        Reply
  30. vivek shahir

    hi
    i have just redeemed my hdfc credit card rewards point, but i want to cancel redemption , what is the procedure.can anyone plz help

    Reply
  31. Nandan

    HDFC is giving from every 100 points Rs.20. It is not Rs.50 as mentioned above.

    Reply
  32. Tamojit Pal

    Its been more than two month, I have not received any cash redemption balance.

    Please help me. feeling its a fraud service.

    Reply
  33. Mv

    Tamijit, look at your credit card statement, in that the credit would be reflected. Redemption should be at least Rs 500.

    Reply
  34. Bharanidharan G

    HDFC has recently included flipkart and Uber vouchers. However this is not shown in the catalog but when you try redemption through portal, it comes up.

    The conversion is poor

    Uber 500 coupon –> 3330 points (I use a regalia cc, not sure if the rates are different for other cards).
    Flipart 1000 coupon —> 6660 points (Same as above but minimum denomination is 1000)

    Reply
  35. Tejas Ghongadi

    Can anybody confirm if this RP to Statement Credit Option is still seen on the Rewards Portal?

    I tried searching through the rewards, but this option was nowhere to be seen.

    Reply
    1. Ankit

      Go to Netbanking. Cards > Enquire > Redeem Reward Points > choose card > Click on Redeem points in new window. It will show cash redemption option there.

      Reply
  36. Sandesh Lavti

    HDFC Regalia.
    Redemption has changed.
    now converting points to cash are around Rs 0.20 per point
    my points are 4561 Equivalent to Rs 912

    Redemption on other products is around Rs 0.35 per point
    eg Tupperware grater is 1120 points and Its approx price is Rs 400

    this card is not as lucrative as it used to be and even other super-premium cards of HDFC since the conversion rate is decreased. Currently, the best card overall is ICICI Amazon pay Credit Card since no annual charges and renewal charges.
    directly amount transferred in amazon pay balance.

    Reply
    1. Prashant Gupta

      But we all never redeem for cash. The best use has always been travel for tickets.

      Reply
    2. Shivi

      You are taking just one aspect of HDFC Regalia. This still doesn’t compare to Amazon Pay card. Not by a very very very long shot! I have never come across anyone redeeming reward points for cash on HDFC Cards.

      Reply
    3. Abhishek Patel

      Is it so? For me its showing 1RP=0.15 INR and even for vouchers from brands like croma it’s showing 1RP=0.22INR

      Reply
    1. Pawan

      Yes, same for diners Black. I redeemed all the available reward points today for cash, after completing the redemption process online, realised that the cashback was not 50 paisa per point. No point in redeeming for cash going forward.

      Reply
  37. Sai Krishna

    Hello Sir. I just have a small query .When i use my Reward points in exchange for Cash Redemption, Will that amount be paid to my Credit Card ?

    Reply
  38. Sachin

    How is the value of reward points increases or decreases if I always choose cash as my redemption option ??

    Reply

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