Long after HDFC Bank’s SmartBuy, Axis Bank’s GrabDeals and American Express’s Rewards Multiplier, ICICI Bank – India’s Number three bank in terms of card issuance market share- has woken up to the possibility of rewarding their customers and increasing their spending through the Bank’s private portal. The difference is that ICICI Bank wants to reward the Bank’s Credit/Debit Card customers and the Bank’s net banking customers, so this is not just for the Bank’s top-end customer base.
ICICI Bank iShop
The ICICI Bank iShop is currently in the beta phase, and you can log in if you are an existing ICICI Bank customer using this link. You need to log into the ICICI Bank via the link, where you will go through a pop-up, which will redirect you to the third-party website where iShop is hosted. The first time around, you will also need to register on this website.
iShop Rewards
iShop rewards are known as iCash. We will focus on the iCash rewards generated only for Credit Card customers. Here is how many rewards can be earned for shopping via iShop.
Here are the rewards that one can earn
| Category | Debit/Credit Cards | Co-Brand Cards | Net Banking |
| Flight | Upto 18% With 6X Reward Points | 4% Cashback | 3% iCash |
| Hotel | Upto 36% With 12X Reward Points | 6% iCash | |
| Shopping Vouchers | Upto 18% With 6X Reward Points | Coming Soon |
What stands out is the rewards for some high-end cards offered by ICICI Bank Credit Cards.
| Cards | Base Rewards | Flight Booking Rewards (6X Points) |
Hotel Booking Rewards (12X Points) |
Voucher Rewards (6X Points) |
| Emeralde Private Metal | 3% | 18% | 36% | 18% |
| Times Black | 2% | 12% | 24% | 12% |
| Emeralde | 1% | 6% | 12% | 6% |
| Diamant World | 0.75% | 4.5% | 9% | 4.5% |
| Other Credit Cards | 0.50% | 3% | 6% | 3% |
| Co-Branded Credit Cards | Various | 4% (cashback) | 4% (cashback) | 4% (cashback) |
Apply for an ICICI Bank Credit Card
Here are some screen grabs from ICICI Bank’s iShop Website, for instance, when booking flights using the Emeralde Private Metal Credit card.
Here is the cashback on using co-brand credit cards, including the ICICI Bank Amazon Pay Credit Card.
As always, capping applies to earning these rewards. Here is how the cap operates as of now, every month:
- ICICI Bank Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card: 18,000 Points
- ICICI Bank Times Black Credit Card: 15,000 Points
- ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card: 12,000 Points
- ICICI Bank Diamant World Credit Card: 9,000 Points
- ICICI Bank Other Credit Cards (Coral, CSK, HPCL, ManU, Parakram, Rubyx, Sapphiro): 9,000 Points
- Co-Branded Credit Cards: INR 1,100 Cashback
iShop Redemption
ICICI Bank’s new reward points can be redeemed flexibly, as follows:
- Flights: up to 100% of the transaction value (different cards have different values)
- Hotels: 90% of the transaction value (different cards have different values)
- Shopping: 60% of the transaction value (different cards have different values)
The value of 1 RP for Flights, Hotels & vouchers is equivalent to INR 1, but when you want to use it as statement credit, it is just INR 0.40. Also, except for Emeralde Private Metal and Times Black, redemptions on other cards attract an INR 99+GST redemption fee. Currently, no points transfer partners exist on this website, so you can’t transfer these points, so you have to use them for redemption via the methods listed above.
Bottomline
ICICI Bank has finally entered the accelerated rewards space by launching its engagement platform, iShop. The bank’s approach is more integrated than other banks, and the rewards are high now. We don’t know whether these will last or not. But all of a sudden, everyone wants the Private Metal Card, which is invite-only.
What do you make of ICICI Bank’s efforts with the iShop Accelerated Rewards Portal?
Apply for an ICICI Bank Credit Card
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