How much do Indians lose to expired credit card reward points?

By Earnd · Updated 6 October 2026

About ₹3,000 crore a year, by our estimate, in a range of ₹1,800 crore to ₹4,700 crore. That is the value of the credit card reward points people in India earn and then let expire. It leaves out perks never used and fees that could have been avoided, so the full loss is larger.

How we worked it out

Step	Figure	Basis
Credit card spend in India, 2025-26	₹23.62 lakh crore	RBI card statistics
Share of spend paid back as rewards	0.5% to 0.8%	Our assumption
Rewards earned in the year	₹11,800 crore to ₹18,900 crore	Spend × reward share
Share of rewards left to expire	15% to 25%	Our assumption
Rewards lost to expiry	₹1,800 crore to ₹4,700 crore	Rewards earned × expiry share
Middle of the range	About ₹3,070 crore	0.65% × 20% of spend

Why these assumptions

Reward share. Most Indian credit cards pay back between 0.25% and 1.5% of everyday spending as points or cashback, with more at partner brands. Averaged over all spending, we assume 0.5% to 0.8%.

Expiry share. Points from most Indian banks expire two to three years after they are earned. Cashback does not expire, because it is credited to the card. In SaveSage's 2025 survey of more than 5,000 cardholders in nine cities, half let reward points expire, mostly because they did not know or did not track them. Not everyone who lets some points expire loses all of them, so we assume 15% to 25% of the value earned is lost.

What this leaves out

Perks paid for and never used, such as airport lounge visits, milestone vouchers and insurance cover.
Fees that could have been avoided: annual fees a card waives above a spending level, late payment charges and foreign currency markups.
Points redeemed for less than they are worth, such as products priced above the points' cash value.

Because of these, we write the figure as ₹3,000 crore+.

Sources

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