Zomato has re-entered the credit card business with 2 new partners: HDFC Bank and Tata Neu
Zomato had a previous unsuccessful partnership with RBL Bank which lasted 3 years.
You can now get a 10% cashback on Zomato orders via the HDFC Tata Neu credit cards!
There is SO much to unpack here: HDFC Bank has taken ICICI Bank had on, it now powers 10% discounts for both Zomato & Swiggy ⤵️
Zomato had a previous unsuccessful partnership with RBL Bank which lasted 3 years.
You can now get a 10% cashback on Zomato orders via the HDFC Tata Neu credit cards!
There is SO much to unpack here: HDFC Bank has taken ICICI Bank had on, it now powers 10% discounts for both Zomato & Swiggy ⤵️
Zomato’s previous credit card 💳
March 20: Launched two variants Classic (5% cashback) and Black (10% cashback); powered by RBL Bank
Doomed to fail, there were no caps on spending… cards were nerfed in Sept ‘22 and in April ‘23, the co-brand partnership ended…
Swiggy, on the other hand, learned all the right lessons - capped cashback at ₹1.5K per month from Swiggy spends and a few more which are detailed below (bookmark & revisit):
x.com/Rahul_J_Mathur…
March 20: Launched two variants Classic (5% cashback) and Black (10% cashback); powered by RBL Bank
Doomed to fail, there were no caps on spending… cards were nerfed in Sept ‘22 and in April ‘23, the co-brand partnership ended…
Swiggy, on the other hand, learned all the right lessons - capped cashback at ₹1.5K per month from Swiggy spends and a few more which are detailed below (bookmark & revisit):
x.com/Rahul_J_Mathur…
The ‘neu’ 10% cashback with Tata & HDFC
HDFC & Tata Neu have 2 credit cards:
(1) Neu Infinity - 10% Zomato cashback
(2) Neu Plus - 5% Zomato cashback
Now, you can read everything on the website - I want to draw your attention to some of the fine print:
(a) Sometimes you won’t see the discount auto-applied, you would have to use the code NEUCARD5 or NEUCARD10
(b) Like the Swiggy card, there is a spending cap per month for F&B:
₹8K per month for Infinity
₹3.5K per month for Plus
The discounts are slightly nerfed (in my opinion) compared to the Swiggy HDFC card (check end of the thread for details of the same)
HDFC & Tata Neu have 2 credit cards:
(1) Neu Infinity - 10% Zomato cashback
(2) Neu Plus - 5% Zomato cashback
Now, you can read everything on the website - I want to draw your attention to some of the fine print:
(a) Sometimes you won’t see the discount auto-applied, you would have to use the code NEUCARD5 or NEUCARD10
(b) Like the Swiggy card, there is a spending cap per month for F&B:
₹8K per month for Infinity
₹3.5K per month for Plus
The discounts are slightly nerfed (in my opinion) compared to the Swiggy HDFC card (check end of the thread for details of the same)
Why is Zomato doing this? 🤔
(1) F&B growth has stalled
Zomato shut down Quick this year & its F&B order value is growing < 5% YOY - slower than Swiggy (which is still running Bolt)
With Rapido entering F&B delivery & some competition in Quick Food, Zomato’s F&B biz is under pressure - price sensitive customers might opt to go elsewhere, hence you need some loyalty stick (”cashback”)
(2) Its peer Swiggy has a super successful partnership with HDFC Bank
We don’t have any data about this partnership but anecdotally all of my friends who order on Swiggy have this card .
And, incidentally, it is because of the 10% cashback that these friends of mine use Swiggy.
(3) Increasing usage of Zomato Money
The 5% or 10% cashback gets credited to your Zomato Money balance.
Zomato Money is a PPI (pre-paid instrument) wallet in the app
Both Zomato & Swiggy have been bullish on building their own payments stack to reduce transaction processing fees - putting credits into the wallet forces you to use it, hence creates the habit.
(1) F&B growth has stalled
Zomato shut down Quick this year & its F&B order value is growing < 5% YOY - slower than Swiggy (which is still running Bolt)
With Rapido entering F&B delivery & some competition in Quick Food, Zomato’s F&B biz is under pressure - price sensitive customers might opt to go elsewhere, hence you need some loyalty stick (”cashback”)
(2) Its peer Swiggy has a super successful partnership with HDFC Bank
We don’t have any data about this partnership but anecdotally all of my friends who order on Swiggy have this card .
And, incidentally, it is because of the 10% cashback that these friends of mine use Swiggy.
(3) Increasing usage of Zomato Money
The 5% or 10% cashback gets credited to your Zomato Money balance.
Zomato Money is a PPI (pre-paid instrument) wallet in the app
Both Zomato & Swiggy have been bullish on building their own payments stack to reduce transaction processing fees - putting credits into the wallet forces you to use it, hence creates the habit.
HDFC Bank takes on ICICI Bank ⚔️
Co-branded credit cards are a major customer acquisition channel. Here, ICICI Bank has dominated.
Why?
ICICI Bank is the co-brand partner for Amazon since 2018
The Amazon card was the 1st co-brand card to cross 50 Lakh issuances (i.e. 1/3rd of ICICI’s outstanding credit cards back then!)
And, HDFC wasn’t able to partner with Flipkart; Axis Bank did so instead!
HDFC missed e-commerce, but has dominated delivery:
HDFC partnered with Swiggy in July ‘23 and now through Tata Neu, it has partnered with Zomato in May ‘25
We don’t have the latest numbers on the Swiggy or Amazon card, but I’d bet that HDFC Swiggy is growing extremely fast (I am a user myself!)
Co-branded credit cards are a major customer acquisition channel. Here, ICICI Bank has dominated.
Why?
ICICI Bank is the co-brand partner for Amazon since 2018
The Amazon card was the 1st co-brand card to cross 50 Lakh issuances (i.e. 1/3rd of ICICI’s outstanding credit cards back then!)
And, HDFC wasn’t able to partner with Flipkart; Axis Bank did so instead!
HDFC missed e-commerce, but has dominated delivery:
HDFC partnered with Swiggy in July ‘23 and now through Tata Neu, it has partnered with Zomato in May ‘25
We don’t have the latest numbers on the Swiggy or Amazon card, but I’d bet that HDFC Swiggy is growing extremely fast (I am a user myself!)
What I find most interesting is that Zomato hasn’t launched a new co-brand card here - they are simply piggybacking off Tata Neu..
Odd, because Swiggy has a co-branded card. And, even more odd given the trouble which Tata Neu is going through…
I’d imagine many banks would line up to partner with Zomato.
Perhaps, given HDFC’s Swiggy partnership, there is some exclusivity clause which HDFC is by-passing by using Tata Neu as the front?
Odd, because Swiggy has a co-branded card. And, even more odd given the trouble which Tata Neu is going through…
I’d imagine many banks would line up to partner with Zomato.
Perhaps, given HDFC’s Swiggy partnership, there is some exclusivity clause which HDFC is by-passing by using Tata Neu as the front?
➡️Overall, I think the winner here is HDFC Bank - they are getting to acquire customers like me whose main bank a/c is elsewhere (e.g. Kotak for me)
With co-brand cards, it is hard to say how the cashback burn is being distributed - but you as the customer always win!
Disclaimer: Views are my own. Not financial or investment advice. Please DYOR. Not an endorsement or paid promotion. I am a shareholder in Eternal & family and affiliates are shareholders of Swiggy and Tata Group companies.
With co-brand cards, it is hard to say how the cashback burn is being distributed - but you as the customer always win!
Disclaimer: Views are my own. Not financial or investment advice. Please DYOR. Not an endorsement or paid promotion. I am a shareholder in Eternal & family and affiliates are shareholders of Swiggy and Tata Group companies.
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