Kotak IndiGo 6E Rewards Credit Card

After HDFC Bank, IndiGo has now tied up with Kotak Bank to launch co-branded credit cards. There are two variants – Kotak IndiGo 6E Rewards Credit Card and Kotak IndiGo 6E Rewards XL Credit Card. XL as the name suggests is the higher variant. The base Kotak IndiGo 6E Rewards credit card is an entry-level offering and offers between 1% to 3% rewards on spends. IndiGo does not have any airmiles loyalty program. 6E Rewards is IndiGo’s attempt at creating a loyalty program ‘currency’ but it is a fixed value offering unlike other Airmiles programs. 6E Rewards are equivalent to cash and can be used for flight bookings on IndiGo website & mobile app.

Fees and Charges

The point to note here is there are no fee waiver criteria. Do the rewards make up for this? We will see it in the next section. Here are some more details on the welcome benefit.

The welcome benefit ticket can be redeemed only towards the base fare
The welcome benefit ticket will be sent on making 3 transactions every month for the first 3 months
One 6E Prime Addon is also given as a first-year only benefit. The benefits include choice of seat and a complimentary meal.

Rewards

We get ‘6E Reward Points’ on spends. These are just like regular reward points with 1 6E RP = Rs 1.
The earned ‘6E Reward Points’ are valid for 2 years from the date of credit.

No Complimentary Airport Lounge Access

For a Rs 700 annual fee credit card with no renewal benefit and spend based fee waiver, this is surprising. There should have been at least 1 complimentary airport lounge visit per quarter for the Kotak IndiGo 6E Rewards Credit Card.

Delayed Credit of 6E Rewards

6E Rewards earned on your transactions are only credited to the IndiGo account 90 days after the transaction. This is one of the longest reward credit time for credit cards. Delayed posting of even regular 6E Rewards makes it difficult to keep track of earned benefits.

Faster gratification of rewards goes a long way in getting more customers onboard. The 6E rewards credit process needs to be improved a lot.

Other Key Benefits and Charges

Discounted convenience fees of Rs 150 on IndiGo website bookings
Foreign Currency Markup: 3.5%+GST ~4.13%
Fuel Surcharge Waiver: Not Available
Interest Charges: 3.70% monthly or 44.40% annually
Rent Payment Charges: 1%+GST
Credit Limit Increase Processing Fee: Rs 100+GST

Kotak Bank credit cards has this surprising charge even for increasing credit limits. This is applicable even if you get an auto limit enhancement offer and you need to accept it.

Final Thoughts

For someone who travels on IndiGo, the co-branded Kotak IndiGo 6E Rewards credit card may make sense. But, these are not suitable as an all-purpose daily spending driver. The reward rate is between 1%-3% for spends. For this much return, we are better off using other entry-level cards like Axis Ace, SBI Cashback and getting direct cashback.

One relevant point on 6E Rewards is that we can redeem 6E rewards only against base fare. All other taxes, surcharges need to be paid in cash. Compare this with regular card discount offers on MakeMyTrip/Yatra and we will not see much of a benefit.

The other limitation on this card is that there is no annual fee waiver. There should have been some criteria to get the annual fee waived off at Rs 2 Lakh spend or so. Or some renewal benefit like get another IndiGo ticket worth Rs 1500. This is how the Vistara co-branded credit cards reward for the annual fee payment.

For domestic travel on credit card rewards, we have better options. You can take a look at HDFC Bank Regalia Gold, Diners Club Privilege and Regalia. With SmartBuy you can accelerated rewards and use the reward points for booking revenue tickets. If you prefer flying Vistara, then look at the IDFC Vistara or SBI Card Vistara Prime cards. If you want to get into airmiles redemption for domestic travel, then Atlas, DCB and Infinia are few options.

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