How credit card rewards actually work

Part 1 · Earn

What you earn on each swipe

Every card pays you back in one of three ways, and the same "5" means something very different in each.

Turn a points rate into a percentage

A points card prints its rate as points per rupees spent. To compare it with cashback, turn it into a percentage: points earned, times what one point is worth, divided by what you spent.

points × ₹ per point ÷ spend = % back

Every high rate has a ceiling

A high rate almost always has a ceiling, usually set per statement cycle or per quarter. Once you hit it the card drops to its base rate, or to nothing, until the next one. Divide the cap by the rate to see how much spend it covers.

So on Cashback SBI, the 5% stops after ₹40,000 of spend in a statement cycle.

Part 2 · Redeem

Getting the value out

Cashback mostly arrives on its own. Points sit in an account until you spend them, and where you spend them sets what they are worth.

Cashback cards: where the money lands

Three of these pay automatically. Kiwi and Millennia hold the reward until you redeem it.

Sources: Live+ product page · Live+ services guide · Cashback SBI Card terms · Axis cashback terms · Kiwi rewards policy · Millennia terms · read 31 October 2026

Points cards: the redemption menu

Each row is one way to spend the same points, with what the bank gives for one point. Each programme's steps, fees and limits follow below the table.

Rows marked estimate are our figures, not the bank's. A transferred point is worth what the miles or hotel points buy, so we value airline miles at a typical award-seat value and Accor points at what they take off an Accor hotel bill. HSBC publishes no rupee value for TravelOne points at all. Millennia runs the other way round from the rest: its CashPoints are worth the most against the statement.

Part 3 · Transfer

Moving points to an airline or hotel

Some points cards let you move points into an airline or hotel programme and book an award seat or room with them. Done well it is the best use of points. Done badly it parks them in an account you may never use.

1. 1 · You hold19,000 Infinia pointsEarned on about ₹5,70,000 of spend
2. 2 · You transferAt 1:1One-way: miles never come back as points
3. 3 · You now hold19,000 KrisFlyer milesIn your own KrisFlyer account
4. 4 · You bookDelhi → Singapore, economy saverPlus about ₹4,200 in taxes, paid by card

Five rules of every transfer

Each card's ratios

The ratio is how many card points become one mile. At 1:1, 19,000 points become 19,000 miles. At 2:1, the same 19,000 miles cost 38,000 points.

Three journeys, worked through

Each journey starts from a seat's published miles price and works back to the card points and the spend it takes, then asks what each point was worth once the cash taxes are paid.

The same Delhi to Singapore seat costs 19,000 Infinia points or 38,000 Regalia Gold points. The ratio decides it.

Part 4 · The cards

8 cards, from swipe to money

Each card below in three parts: how it earns, how the value comes out, and whether its points transfer.

Keep this

8 rules for any card

Words you will meet

Statement credit

Points or cashback taken off your card bill. Easy, but often the lowest value a point gets.

SmartBuy

HDFC Bank's shopping and travel site, where HDFC points pay for flights, hotels and vouchers.

Transfer ratio

Card points needed for one airline or hotel point. 1:1 is one for one; 2:1 needs two.

Award seat

A seat an airline sells for miles. Airlines release a limited number, so they sell out on busy dates.

Carrier charges

Fees some airlines add to award seats on top of taxes, paid in cash. They can be most of the ticket's cash cost.

Merchant code (MCC)

The four-digit code a shop's card machine sends. Banks decide your reward rate from it, not from the shop's name.

Devaluation

When a bank or airline cuts what points are worth or raises the miles a seat needs. Points held for years carry this risk.

Milestone

A bonus for crossing a spend threshold, like a voucher at ₹1.5 lakh in a quarter.

Terms as published by each issuer and airline, on the dates shown. Point values are the rupee value each bank's own redemption options give a point. Award prices are the lowest published price for the seat; availability varies and taxes change with the fare. Banks change rates, caps, ratios and fees, so read the issuer's page before you apply or transfer. If you apply through my links, I earn a small commission from the bank. It costs you nothing extra and it pays for this research. It doesn't change which cards are on this page or the order they're in. Approval and credit limit are always the bank's decision.