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Most IDFC FIRST cards stop earning reward points abroad from 26 October

Withdrawn: IDFC's 13 September notice reversed this cut, so its cards keep earning reward points abroad at their own rates. Only Ashva and the IndiGo cards earn less abroad from 26 October.

Update, 26 October 2026. IDFC withdrew this cut four days after announcing it, and we missed the withdrawal until today. Its 13 September cardholder notice says reward points “will continue to be earned as applicable for the respective cards on international transactions”, and the zero forex markup stays. So Select, Wealth, Millennia, Classic and every other IDFC card keep earning abroad at their own rates after 26 October. Only two cuts land today, each footnoted on the card’s own product page: Ashva drops from 5 to 2 reward points per ₹150 abroad, and the IndiGo IDFC FIRST cards from 3 to 1 BluChip per ₹100. The story below is the 9 September notice as we first reported it.

IDFC’s zero forex markup, switched on for every credit card on 9 September, came with a bill. The bank’s September cardholder notice says it in one line: “International transactions will no longer earn reward points effective 26th October 2026.” Seven cards are spared: Ashva, Mayura, Gaj, FIRST Private, FIRST WOW!, FIRST WOW! Black and the IndiGo cards.

International spendUntil 25 Oct 2026From 26 Oct 2026
Select, Wealth, Millennia, Classic10X — 10 points per ₹200 (~1.25%)No points
Other IDFC reward-point cardsCard’s own rateNo points
Forex markup0%0%

The four 10X cards lose the most: their accelerated category named international spends, so abroad they paid 1.25% on top of a zero markup. That stops on the 26th. The markup stays at zero, so ₹1 lakh spent overseas still saves the ₹3,500 a 3.5% markup would have cost. It just earns nothing on top.

Ashva and IndiGo IDFC are on the exception list but still lose points abroad on the same day: Ashva drops to 2X and IndiGo to 1 BluChip per ₹100.

If you hold Select, Wealth, Millennia or Classic and have a trip before 26 October, put it on that card. Zero markup plus 10X abroad lasts until 25 October. After that, an IDFC card only earns points abroad if it is one of the seven exceptions.

Coverage of the zero-forex launch quoted IDFC saying cardholders would keep earning reward points or cashback on international spends. That is true until 25 October. We found no reversal of the notice.

Source: IDFC FIRST Bank — cardholder notice, September 2026, read through search extracts on 5 October 2026.

More on this story

  1. IDFC's business cards pay 3 points on big UPI only through IDFC's own app

  2. Credit card changes in October and November 2026: what to do before each date

  3. Ashva's international earn drops from 5X to 2X

  4. IndiGo IDFC FIRST's international earn drops to 1 BluChip per ₹100

  5. Club Vistara IDFC FIRST stops taking transactions on 1 October 2026

  6. IDFC FIRST reverses reward points cut — 26 Oct 2026 no longer applies

Sources

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