The portal desk

The multiplier is the headline. The cap is the story.

Issuer portals are where Indian cards earn their keep — 10X here, 12X there, 33% back on a hotel if you hold the right metal. They're also where issuers hide the fine print: every multiplier below runs into a monthly cap, and the cap decides what the portal is actually worth. So each cell shows one number — the capped effective ₹-rate at the value the card really redeems, not the value the brochure implies — and each tier gets the cap math spelled out in rupees. No published number, no row.

why the cap decides it fold that back up

Sources last verified 2026-09-03. Caps bind accelerated points only — base earn survives every cap.

HDFC SmartBuy

HDFC Bank · HDFC Reward Points

The portal that made Infinia famous — 10X on hotels is 33% back, and it is still the headline rate in the country. But SmartBuy was never just flights and hotels: HDFC's own core-offer T&C prints FOURTEEN merchant rows, and four of the ten this desk had been leaving off the board — IGP.com, Jockey, PharmEasy, Ferns N Petals — pay the very same 10X. What HDFC squeezed in 2026 was not the multiplier, it was the ceiling: the voucher game that printed 15,000 points a month died on 1 July, capped at 3,000. Every cell below runs into one shared monthly cap, so the real question is which shelf you spend it on before the cap closes.

Card tier	Flights	Hotels (MMT / Cleartrip)	Trains (ConfirmTkt / MMT)	Buses	MMT holiday packages	Drivado	Brand vouchers	Monthly cap
Infinia / Infinia Metal HDFC Infinia Metal	16.67% 5X	33.33% 10X	10% 3X	16.67% 5X	16.67% 5X	16.67% 5X	16.67% 5X	15,000 pts/mo
Diners Club Black / DCB Metal HDFC Diners Club Black Metal	16.67% 5X	33.33% 10X	10% 3X	16.67% 5X	16.67% 5X	16.67% 5X	10% 3X	10,000 pts/mo
Regalia Gold (mid-tier) HDFC Regalia Gold	6.67% 5X	13.33% 10X	4% 3X	6.67% 5X	6.67% 5X	6.67% 5X	6.67% 5X	4,000 pts/mo
Diners Club Privilege HDFC Diners Club Privilege	6.67% 5X	13.33% 10X	4% 3X	6.67% 5X	6.67% 5X	6.67% 5X	6.67% 5X	4,000 pts/mo
Everything below (Millennia & co.) Listed for the cap, not the strategy. If your HDFC card isn't above this line, SmartBuy pays cashback, not reward points — a coupon site, not an engine.	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1,000 pts/mo

The shopping shelf — 7 more HDFC SmartBuy categories, same cards, same caps

Card tier	Duty free (Adani One)	IGP.com	Apple (Imagine / Tresor)	Myntra	Jockey	PharmEasy	Ferns N Petals
Infinia / Infinia Metal	16.67% 5X	33.33% 10X	16.67% 5X	16.67% 5X	33.33% 10X	33.33% 10X	33.33% 10X
Diners Club Black / DCB Metal	16.67% 5X	33.33% 10X	10% 3X	16.67% 5X	33.33% 10X	33.33% 10X	33.33% 10X
Regalia Gold (mid-tier)	6.67% 5X	13.33% 10X	6.67% 5X	6.67% 5X	13.33% 10X	13.33% 10X	13.33% 10X
Diners Club Privilege	6.67% 5X	13.33% 10X	6.67% 5X	6.67% 5X	13.33% 10X	13.33% 10X	13.33% 10X
Everything below (Millennia & co.)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

The cap math — max ₹ per month, per tier

Infinia / Infinia Metal

Bonus cap 15,000 points/month = ₹15,000 of accelerated value, tops.
At 10X on hotels (mmt / cleartrip), you hit it by ~₹50,000 of monthly spend.
Brand vouchers sub-cap: 3,000 bonus points — exhausted by ~₹22,500.

15,000 bonus RP/month AND 15,000/day — the month is the binding one; brand vouchers sub-capped at 3,000/month since 1 Jul 2026 and counted INSIDE the 15,000, and Amazon Pay gift cards left the accelerated tier on 1 Sep 2026 — 1X plus a 1% instant discount.

Diners Club Black / DCB Metal

Bonus cap 10,000 points/month = ₹10,000 of accelerated value, tops.
At 10X on hotels (mmt / cleartrip), you hit it by ~₹33,500 of monthly spend.
Brand vouchers sub-cap: 3,000 bonus points — exhausted by ~₹45,000.

10,000 bonus RP/month and 10,000/day on the Metal edition (the plain Diners Black is 7,500/month and just 2,500/day per SmartBuy T&C 15282 — the day gate, not the month, is what binds it); vouchers sub-capped at 3,000/month — and only 3X, vs Infinia's 5X, the same gap that hits Apple. Amazon Pay gift cards left the accelerated tier on 1 Sep 2026 — 1X plus a 1% instant discount.

Regalia Gold (mid-tier)

Bonus cap 4,000 points/month = ₹2,000 of accelerated value, tops.
At 10X on hotels (mmt / cleartrip), you hit it by ~₹16,500 of monthly spend.
Brand vouchers sub-cap: 3,000 bonus points — exhausted by ~₹28,000.

4,000 bonus RP/month + a 2,000/day gate; vouchers sub-capped at 3,000/month, and Amazon Pay gift cards left the accelerated tier on 1 Sep 2026 — 1X plus a 1% instant discount.

Regalia Gold can't reach the ₹1 house value — its points redeem at ₹0.50 on SmartBuy flights/hotels (₹0.65 Gold Catalogue). Rates here use ₹0.50.

Diners Club Privilege

Bonus cap 4,000 points/month = ₹2,000 of accelerated value, tops.
At 10X on hotels (mmt / cleartrip), you hit it by ~₹16,500 of monthly spend.
Brand vouchers sub-cap: 3,000 bonus points — exhausted by ~₹28,000.

shares Regalia Gold's band — 4,000 bonus RP/month + a 2,000/day gate; vouchers sub-capped at 3,000/month, and Amazon Pay gift cards left the accelerated tier on 1 Sep 2026 — 1X plus a 1% instant discount.

Privilege points redeem at ₹0.50 on SmartBuy flights/hotels — half the house value, the same haircut band as Regalia Gold. Rates here use ₹0.50.

Everything below (Millennia & co.)

Bonus cap 1,000 points/month = ₹1,000 of accelerated value, tops.

1,000 bonus points/month and 1,000/day, mostly paid as cashback-style credit — outside this desk's travel catalog.

Caps apply to ACCELERATED points only — base earn continues past every cap. The HDFC Marriott co-brand sits outside these multipliers entirely, and the Tata Neu cards get bonus NeuCoins instead — capped at 1,000 a month and explicitly outside the 5X/10X structure. And the "Brand vouchers" rows below are a TIER rate, not a promise every brand pays it: on 1 September 2026 Amazon Pay gift cards moved to SmartBuy's new "Insta Deals" shelf at "1 % Instant Discount + 1X Reward Points", while the Amazon Fresh voucher on the same storefront still shows "Accelerated Rewards — Upto 5X Reward Points RPs / 5% Cashback". Per-brand multipliers move without notice and HDFC publishes none of them — though the September T&C now says the rule out loud: "InstaDeals on Gyftr via SmartBuy is not eligible for accelerated earns of upto 5X Reward Points / 5% Cashback". Three more carve-outs ride on the rows below. Myntra's 5X dies on the WHOLE order if it contains any gold or silver item. Adani One duty free ran at 10X from 4 to 31 August 2026 and reverted on 1 September to the 5X printed here. And MyEMIShop, the fifteenth row of HDFC's own table, gets no cell at all because it is not a multiplier — "5% Instant Cashback upto 5000 rs for Full Swipe Transactions, and upto 10,000 Rs for EMI Transactions" is a rupee-capped discount, a different unit from everything else in this matrix.

offers.smartbuy.hdfc.bank.in · offers.smartbuy.hdfc.bank.in · gyftr.com · livefromalounge.com · gyftr.com · gyftr.com · cardinsider.com · cardmaven.in · livefromalounge.com

Axis Travel Edge

Axis Bank · 1 category, every tier

Axis Bank · Axis EDGE Miles

Axis caps spend, not points — the accelerated rate lives up to ₹2 lakh of portal spend a month and then steps down, which is a more honest ceiling than HDFC's. Magnus at 5X is the highest raw print here; Atlas's 5 EDGE Miles per ₹100 is the cleaner story because it also covers direct airline and hotel bookings, no portal detour required.

Card tier	Travel Edge + direct airlines/hotels	Monthly cap
Atlas Axis Atlas	10% 2.5X	₹2,00,000 spend/mo
Magnus Axis Magnus	12% 5X	₹2,00,000 spend/mo
Magnus for Burgundy Axis Magnus for Burgundy	24% 5X	₹2,00,000 spend/mo
Horizon Axis Horizon	5% 2.5X	no published cap

The cap math — max ₹ per month, per tier

Atlas

Accelerated rate covers ₹2,00,000 of monthly spend — 10,000 points, worth ₹20,000.
Past the cap: 2 EDGE Miles/₹100 (the base rate) past ₹2L of monthly travel spend.

the 5 EM/₹100 travel rate covers Travel Edge AND direct airline/hotel spend, up to ₹2L/month combined.

Magnus

Accelerated rate covers ₹2,00,000 of monthly spend — 60,000 points, worth ₹24,000.
Past the cap: 35 EDGE RP/₹200 (17.5/₹100) past ₹2L of monthly portal spend.

60 EDGE RP per ₹200 (5X of base) on Travel Edge, up to ₹2L portal spend/month.

Magnus for Burgundy

Accelerated rate covers ₹2,00,000 of monthly spend — 60,000 points, worth ₹48,000.
Past the cap: 35 EDGE RP/₹200 past ₹2L of monthly portal spend.

same ₹2L/month accelerated-spend ceiling as Magnus.

Same 60 RP/₹200 portal earn as Magnus, but Burgundy's 5:4 transfer ratio doubles each point to ~₹0.80 — the premium lives in the card, not the house value.

Horizon

No cap published — the ceiling is your credit limit and the issuer's mood.

no published cap on the 5 EM/₹100 travel rate.

Horizon transfers at 1:1, not Atlas's 1:2 — an EDGE Mile in its hands is worth ~₹1, half the house value.

Reserve has no published standing Travel Edge multiplier — only the long-dead 2022 launch promo — so it gets no row, and neither does SELECT, whose 2X retail rate is the whole published story. The Miles & More co-brands earn Lufthansa's currency directly and never touch EDGE multipliers. GrabDeals (the shopping side, "up to 50X") rotates merchant rates monthly; we don't print numbers with a four-week half-life.

axis.bank.in · axis.bank.in · livefromalounge.com · cardinsider.com

ICICI iShop

ICICI Bank · 3 categories, every tier

ICICI Bank · ICICI Reward Points

The quiet SmartBuy rival — 12X on hotels is 36% back on an Emeralde Private Metal, the fattest single cell in this entire matrix, and the 18,000-point monthly cap is roomier than anything HDFC allows. The catch is the cliff below the top tier: legacy cards run the same multipliers into ₹0.25 points and collect a ₹99 redemption fee for the trouble.

Card tier	Flights	Hotels	Shopping vouchers	Monthly cap
Emeralde Private Metal ICICI Emeralde Private Metal	18% 6X	36% 12X	18% 6X	18,000 pts/mo
Times Black ICICI Times Black	12% 6X	24% 12X	12% 6X	15,000 pts/mo
Sapphiro, Rubyx & other legacy ICICI cards ICICI Sapphiro , ICICI Bank Rubyx	3% 6X	6% 12X	3% 6X	15,000 pts/mo

The cap math — max ₹ per month, per tier

Emeralde Private Metal

Bonus cap 18,000 points/month = ₹18,000 of accelerated value, tops.
At 12X on hotels, you hit it by ~₹54,500 of monthly spend.

18,000 accelerated RP/month, 10,000/day — the most generous cap of the four portals.

Times Black

Bonus cap 15,000 points/month = ₹15,000 of accelerated value, tops.
At 12X on hotels, you hit it by ~₹68,000 of monthly spend.

15,000 accelerated RP/month, 8,000/day.

Sapphiro, Rubyx & other legacy ICICI cards

Bonus cap 15,000 points/month = ₹3,750 of accelerated value, tops.
At 12X on hotels, you hit it by ~₹68,000 of monthly spend.

15,000 accelerated RP/month, 8,000/day — a cap you'll never feel at ₹0.25/point.

Legacy ICICI points redeem at ~₹0.25 — the 6X/12X multipliers survive, the value doesn't. Rates here use ₹0.25.

Watch the 2.5% card-payment processing fee on select voucher brands — pay by net banking or the "discount" eats itself. Emeralde Private Metal and Times Black skip ICICI's ₹99-per-redemption fee; every legacy card pays it. Co-brands (MakeMyTrip, Emirates, Adani One) don't ride the multipliers at all — iShop pays them a flat ~4% cashback capped at ₹1,100 a month, a consolation prize, not an engine.

icici.bank.in · cardinsider.com · cardexpert.in · paisabazaar.com

Amex Reward Multiplier

American Express · 1 category, every tier

American Express · Amex Membership Rewards

DEAD ON 30 SEPTEMBER 2026 — Amex has posted the notice on the programme's own page. Until then nothing moves: one multiplier per card, portal-wide — flights and hotels via MakeMyTrip, 200+ brand vouchers via ShopWise (Gyftr's replacement since 1 Feb 2026), Apple to Tanishq. The numbers look tame next to SmartBuy until you notice the cap: 25,000 bonus MR a month, per card, on everything. Nobody else lets you print ₹12,500 of transferable points monthly without a sub-cap in sight — and from 1 October, nobody does at all.

Card tier	All Reward Multiplier partners	Monthly cap
Platinum Charge Amex Platinum Charge	6.25% 5X	25,000 pts/mo
Gold Charge Amex Gold Charge	5% 5X	25,000 pts/mo
Platinum Travel / Platinum Reserve Amex Platinum Travel , Amex Platinum Reserve	3% 3X	25,000 pts/mo
MRCC / SmartEarn Amex Membership Rewards Card	2% 2X	25,000 pts/mo

The cap math — max ₹ per month, per tier

Platinum Charge

Bonus cap 25,000 points/month = ₹12,500 of accelerated value, tops.
At 5X on all reward multiplier partners, you hit it by ~₹2,50,000 of monthly spend.

25,000 bonus MR/month per card, across the whole portal.

Gold Charge

Bonus cap 25,000 points/month = ₹12,500 of accelerated value, tops.
At 5X on all reward multiplier partners, you hit it by ~₹3,12,500 of monthly spend.

25,000 bonus MR/month per card, across the whole portal.

Platinum Travel / Platinum Reserve

Bonus cap 25,000 points/month = ₹12,500 of accelerated value, tops.
At 3X on all reward multiplier partners, you hit it by ~₹6,25,000 of monthly spend.

25,000 bonus MR/month per card, across the whole portal — both cards ride the same 3X band.

MRCC / SmartEarn

Bonus cap 25,000 points/month = ₹12,500 of accelerated value, tops.
At 2X on all reward multiplier partners, you hit it by ~₹12,50,000 of monthly spend.

25,000 bonus MR/month per card — at 2X you'd need ₹12.5L of monthly portal spend to feel it.

SUNSET ANNOUNCED, and the rows below are LIVE UNTIL IT LANDS. Amex India, verbatim: "Effective 30 September' 2026, the Reward Multiplier program, through which you earn accelerated Membership Rewards points on purchases with select brands and through the e-voucher platform, ShopWise, will be discontinued." Live From A Lounge puts the last earning moment at 23:59 on 29 September 2026. Two things survive and get confused with it every time: ShopWise, which the same notice keeps alive as "an independent platform offering e-vouchers from 200+ brands" — Amex has published no post-sunset per-card multiplier for it, so we quote none rather than assume these carry over — and the separate Reward Xcelerator programme (up to 20X on ~20 luxury brands, Platinum Charge and up, running to 31 Jan 2027), which runs its own brand list and never was part of this standing matrix.

americanexpress.com · livefromalounge.com · cardinsider.com · cardexpert.in

How to read this

The percentage is multiplier × the card's raw points per ₹100 × the ₹/point that tier actually realizes — the house value by default, a documented haircut or premium where one provably applies (Regalia Gold's ₹0.50, Horizon's 1:1, Burgundy's 5:4). Caps bind the accelerated points only; base earn continues. Rates that rotate monthly — GrabDeals merchants, Amex Xcelerator brand lists — don't get cells, because a matrix of expired numbers is worse than no matrix. Route the points afterwards with the transfer optimizer.