CRED Gift Cards After Axis Devaluation: Still Worth It?
📅 Updated as of 3 Oct 2026. CRED changes discounts daily; the numbers below are from our own CRED app on 3 October 2026.
Until a couple of weeks ago, buying gift cards on CRED with an Axis card was a favourite trick: a small CRED discount plus full EDGE points on top. That’s over. Axis has stopped awarding points on gift card purchases, and many card geeks quietly left CRED’s gift card store. But CRED has responded by raising its discounts, and some of them are now big enough to bring you back. Here’s how to decide.
What changed on Axis
- Axis’s August 2026 update says gift card purchases are excluded from earning reward points, and gift cards now show under their own “Gift Card” category on statements.
- CRED’s gift card purchases are processed as gift card spends, so on Magnus, Magnus for Burgundy, Atlas and other Axis cards they now earn zero EDGE points. That’s what we’ve seen on our own statement.
- Some cardholders report that gift cards bought through UPI on RuPay cards, which use a newer merchant code, still earn. We haven’t been able to confirm that, so don’t count on it.
What CRED is offering now
Most CRED members are sitting on lakhs of CRED coins from years of bill payments. Coins are what unlock these discounts: 1,000 coins for a regular gift card, and 100 coins to unlock the “Deal of the Day”, which adds a small mystery bonus on top. Here’s what our app showed on 3 October:
| Brand | CRED discount | Worth it? |
|---|---|---|
| Cinepolis | Up to 26% | ✅ Yes, if you watch movies |
| PVR INOX | 21% | ✅ Yes |
| Domino’s | 17% | ✅ Yes |
| Starbucks | 12–13% | ✅ Yes |
| Taj Hotels | Up to 12% | ✅ Yes, for a stay you’re already booking |
| Uber | 10% | ✅ Yes |
| Tata CLiQ Luxury | 9% | ✅ Yes, for planned buys |
| Cleartrip | Up to 7% | 🤔 Compare with card portals |
| AJIO | 6.75% | 🤔 Depends on your card |
| Snitch | 6.5% | 🤔 Depends on your card |
| Bigbasket | 3–6% | 🤔 Depends on your card |
| Air India | Up to 5.5% | 🤔 Depends on your card |
| Flipkart | 2–4% | ❌ Usually not |
| Croma | 2.5% | ❌ Usually not |
| Apple, Google Play | 3% | ❌ Usually not |
| Myntra, Blinkit | 2% | ❌ Usually not |
| Amazon shopping voucher | 1% | ❌ No |
| Amazon Pay | 0.5% | ❌ No |
The one rule: beat what your card would earn
Since gift cards no longer earn on Axis, compare the CRED discount with what your card would earn if you paid the merchant directly.
| Your card when paying the merchant directly | What you earn | CRED is worth it when the discount is… |
|---|---|---|
| Axis Magnus for Burgundy, normal month | 12 EDGE per ₹200 → about 4.8% at 5:4, valuing a mile at ₹1 | Above 5% |
| Axis Magnus for Burgundy, after ₹1.5 lakh in the month | 35 EDGE per ₹200 → about 14% | Only the movie and food deals (17–26%) |
| A 1% card, or paying by UPI | About 1% or nothing | Almost any discount |
Example: a ₹10,000 Uber gift card costs ₹9,000 on CRED. Paying Uber directly on Magnus for Burgundy in a normal month earns about ₹480 in miles. CRED saves you ₹1,000, so CRED wins by ₹520. For a ₹10,000 Amazon Pay gift card, CRED saves just ₹50, while paying Amazon directly on the same card earns about ₹480. Skip CRED there.
How to get the most from CRED gift cards
- Check the Deal of the Day first. It costs just 100 coins to unlock and adds a mystery bonus. We’ve seen Starbucks go from 12% to 13% and Flipkart from 2% to 4% for a limited window, with a 15-minute countdown.
- Buy only what you’ll spend soon. Gift cards expire, and you can’t get the money back. Movie and food cards are best bought just before you need them.
- Pay with a card that still earns on gift cards, if you have one. Check your bank’s terms; many banks exclude or cap gift card spends.
- Stack bank offers. CRED often runs bank or UPI offers on top. Read the terms before you pay.
- Don’t chase small discounts. Anything under about 5% is usually beaten by a good rewards card paid directly.
DealUni take
The Axis devaluation killed the “discount plus points” trick, but CRED’s gift card store is still worth opening for movies, Starbucks, Domino’s, Uber and Taj, where the discount beats almost any card. For Amazon, Flipkart and other low-discount brands, pay directly with your best rewards card. And if you have lakhs of coins sitting idle, this is one of the few places they’re actually worth something.
Points gaye, par discount abhi bhi kaam ka hai. (The points are gone, but the discount is still useful.)
Want to know which of your cards earns most on a given spend? Try the DealUni AI Planner.
CRED discounts from our own app on 3 October 2026; they change daily and may differ for your account. Axis gift card exclusion from Axis Bank’s August 2026 card terms update. Magnus for Burgundy earn rates from DealUni’s card data; miles valued at ₹1. DealUni is not affiliated with CRED.
