“One card, two variants; 10X rewards on Amazon, Flipkart, and Swiggy; a 25% discount on movies; and eligibility starting at a Salary of just ?8,000. Sounds interesting right..!
Let’s fully decode the details of HDFC’s latest launch—the HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card—in 10 points.
Inroduction
Friends, the HDFC Bank PIXEL family previously saw the launch of the PIXEL Play credit card (do check out that video if you haven’t).
Now, in September 2026, the HDFC Bank has launched a New ‘HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card‘ in partnership with Times Internet, a Gurgaon-based Indian multinational technology company. This card comes in two variants—MOVE and RUSH—and both operate on the RuPay network.
HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card Overview
| Particulars | Description |
|---|---|
| Credit Card Type | Digital-first, Customizable credit card |
| Joining Fees | MOVE: ?500 + GST RUSH: ?1,00,0 + GST |
Regarding the overview, this HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card is specifically designed for Tech-savvy Gen Z and Millennial consumers. Visually, it features a stylish square shape and a multi-colored design dominated by black, purple, and orange hues.
If you look at the top-left corner, you’ll see the HDFC Bank logo. Just below that, there is a ‘P’ symbol indicating the ‘Pixel Family,’ along with the ‘Times’ branding.
At the very bottom-left, the card variant is displayed: ‘Move’ appears in sky blue, while the ‘Rush’ variant appears in purple/pink.
On the top-right side, you’ll find the contactless payment logo. At the bottom-right, the HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card network—RuPay—is clearly visible.
Watch the Full video, if you want listen rather reading this article.
HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card Benefits
Now, let’s discuss the benefits of this credit card, starting with the welcome benefit.
1. 2 Variants MOVE vs RUSH: What is it?
What is the basic difference between Two?
First, let’s understand the two variants of this credit card:
1. HDFC PIXEL Times MOVE credit card – the Entry-level variant.
2. HDFC PIXEL Times RUSH credit card – the Higher-tier, or Premium variant.
2. Welcome Benefit
The Welcome benefit in this card again comes with 3 more benefits. Let’s check it out.
Move
Coming to the ‘Move’ variant, it comes with a “6-month Sony LIV Premium subscription“.
While there isn’t a specific “standard plan” priced at ?399 per month, subscribing at that rate for three months would cost ?1,197.
In contrast, this offer provides a direct 6-month Sony LIV Premium membership, which is typically valued between ?699 and ?999.
The benefit of this subscription is that it allows you to watch live sports, exclusive web series, international shows, and movies for free.
The 2nd welcome benefit is a “4-month Spotify Premium Standard membership“. This benefit is offered across both the card variants.
It is a mid-tier Spotify subscription that allows you to listen to music and podcasts on the Spotify app without any advertisements. Essentially, cardholders get an ad-free Spotify experience for four months.
That’s not all; there is a third welcome benefit as well—a “Puma discount offer”.
If you shop specifically at Puma stores using this HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card, you receive a 12.50% discount. This offer is available once per quarter for the ‘MOVE’ variant and twice per quarter for the ‘RUSH’ variant.
Given all these welcome benefits, you might wonder if the HDFC Pixel Times credit card is free. Let’s check this.
3. MOVE vs. RUSH Fees
To get this HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card:
MOVE ? ?500 + GST ??= ?590 Joining Fee; ?500 + GST ??= ?590 Annual/Renewal Fee.
RUSH ? ?1,000 + GST ??= ?1,180 Joining Fee and ?1,000 + GST ??= ?1,180 Annual/Renewal Fee.
Furthermore, the renewal fee can be waived; if you make eligible annual spends of ?1 lakh with the card during the preceding year, the renewal fee becomes zero. Otherwise, you have to pay it.
In terms of a monthly average, this works out to:
?1,00,000 ÷ 12 ? ?8,333 per month.
Let’s look at the **MOVE** variant:
Expenses:
Joining fee – Rs. 590
PUMA – Rs. 1,000 (Minimum)
Total Spends – Rs. 1,590
Benefits:
Sony LIV Premium – Rs. 1,197
Spotify Premium Standard – Rs. 417
PUMA – Rs. 125
Total Benefits – Rs. 1,739
Net benefit – Rs. 149
Now, Look at the **RUSH** variant:
Expenses:
Joining fee – Rs. 1,180
PUMA – Rs. 1,000 (Minimum)
Total Spends – Rs. 2,180
Benefits:
Sony LIV Premium – Rs. 999
Spotify Premium Standard – Rs. 417
PUMA – Rs. 125
Total Benefits – Rs. 1,541
Net loss – Rs. 639
You can’t always say that a “return gift” given just because someone visited your home function may not worth it right?
For the the first year the HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card might be fine, but from the second year onwards, the Sony LIV and Spotify benefits will be gone.
It’s just like when relatives visit—if they stay for a day, we treat them like a royalty, but if they stay on indefinitely, we will serve whatever we eat including the dishes stored in the fridge, right? What do you think?
4. “10X Rewards” doesn’t mean 10% Cashback!
Okay, setting the welcome benefit aside, what are the key benefits of this HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card—often referred to as “Zenz”? We need to talk about the rewards.
HDFC Bank offers 5X rewards on the MOVE variant and 10X rewards on the RUSH variant.
They offer customers a choice from four categories (packs):
1. Food & Grocery
2. Travel
3. Lifestyle & Home Services
4. E-commerce
You can’t just grab all four packs; you have to select only two from the list. For the ‘MOVE’ variant, you get 5X Reward Points (RPs) on spending within your selected brand packs, whereas the ‘RUSH’ variant offers 10X RPs.
For instance, if your spending is primarily on Amazon and Flipkart, the e-commerce pack would be useful. If you spend heavily on food delivery and groceries, a pack featuring merchants like Swiggy and Zepto would be beneficial. For travel-related expenses, packs covering Cleartrip and Uber would be relevant.
However, do not get the card solely based on the ’10X’ figure. Let’s look at the actual returns, including the calculations.
If you make eligible transactions with either of these card variants: Every ?200 spent earns you 2 Reward Points.
This translates to 1 Reward Point for every ?100 spent.
With the ‘MOVE’ variant, earning 5X rewards on selected eligible brand packs works out as follows:
==> For every ?200 Spends ? You will get 2 Reward Points x 5X
==> For every ?200 Spends ? You will get 10 Reward Points
However, for ?10,000 Spends ? You will get 500 Reward Points
Similarly, with the ‘RUSH’ variant, earning 10X rewards on selected eligible brand packs works out as follows:
==> For every ?200 Spends ? You will get 2 Reward Points x 10X
==> ?200 Spend ? You will get 20 Reward Points
However, For ?10,000 Spends ? You will get 1,000 Reward Points.
To earn these 5X or 10X rewards, you must spend a minimum of ?200, and the spending must be in multiples of ?200. So, in this 5X / 10X category, the maximum reward points per month = 2,000 RPs.
Max monthly spend for MOVE = Rs. 40,000.
Max monthly spend for RUSH = Rs. 20,000.
Here, 1 RP = Rs. 0.25.
This means for MOVE (max spend Rs. 40,000), you get 2,000 RPs; at Rs. 0.25 each, that equals Rs. 500—which is only a 1.25% return, not 5%.
Similarly, for RUSH (max spend Rs. 20,000), you get 2,000 RPs; at Rs. 0.25 each, that equals Rs. 500—which is only a 2.50% return, not 10% (despite the “10X” label).
5. Movie Benefit – This is the feature I like the most!
Let’s look at the next benefit of this HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card: the movie benefit.
1. Currently, the BookMyShow offers page shows a 25% discount on movie tickets for the HDFC Bank PIXEL Times Credit Card.
Suppose the total cost of eligible movie tickets is ?1,000. A 25% discount theoretically means a saving of ?250 (?1,000 × 25%). You can avail of this discount up to twice a month, with a maximum cap of Rs. 350.
2. Cinepolis also offers a 25% discount on movie tickets for the HDFC Bank PIXEL Times Credit Card. You can avail of this discount once a month, up to a maximum of Rs. 100.
My Opinion:
I don’t understand these brands; why they say a “25% discount” on a big headline initially, just only to immediately cap it at a maximum of Rs.350?
Wouldn’t it be simpler to just say 1% or 2%?
That way, it would be more clearer to the customer, right.! How is one supposed to remember these limits every time they spend? I really don’t understand the need for this complexity.
6. SmartBuy – The same for both
Whether it is the MOVE or RUSH variant, spending with this credit card on HDFC SmartBuy earns you up to 5X Reward Points.
For example, if the base earning is 2 Reward Points (RP) per ?200, and the 5X rate applies to an eligible SmartBuy transaction, then spending ?200 yields 10 RPs. This means there is no need to choose the RUSH variant solely for this benefit; the MOVE variant also offers up to 5X points. Additionally, there is a separate monthly limit of 2,000 RPs specifically for SmartBuy transactions.
7. UPI + Other Eligible Spends – The same here too
It is also stated that you earn 2 Reward Points for every ?200 spent via UPI and on all other eligible transactions.
This means for both MOVE and RUSH:
If you spend ?200 ? You will get 2 RPs.
If you make eligible spends of ?10,000:
?10,000 ÷ ?200 × 2 = 100 Reward Points; at ?0.25 per point, that equals to just ?25.
That works out to just 0.25%—so it is not 1%, actually i.e. less than 1% in this case.
Therefore, this isn’t really a significant benefit for you.
Moreover, there is a separate maximum limit of 2,000 RPs for UPI spends within each variant; essentially, they provide a separate 2,000 RP limit for 5X spends, another 2,000 RP limit for 10X spends, and a separate 2,000 RP limit for 1X spends.
8. Zero Rewards:
You will not earn any reward points for spending in the following categories using this HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card(distinct from the categories mentioned earlier):
- Fuel Spends
- Wallet Spends
- Rent payments
- Government-related transactions
- EMI Transactions
- Purchases converted to EMI post-facto
- Cash Advances
- Payment of Outstanding Balances
- Payment of card fees and other charges
Additionally, to redeem the Reward Points (RPs) earned, you need a minimum of 1,000 RPs as per HDFC SmartBuy. Generally, these earned rewards have a validity period of 2 years.
9. Fuel Surcharge Waiver
Also, the “Crunchyroll premium subscription” offer (for 2 months) was only for a limited period, so you can disregard that.
Furthermore, they offer a 1% Fuel Surcharge Waiver (FSW) on eligible fuel transactions ranging from ?400 to ?5,000 made with this HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card.
Watch the below given video to understand, how much the Fuel Surcharge Waiver will be beneficial to the customer.
According to the official HDFC credit card website, salaried employees aged between 21 and 60 with a gross salary exceeding ?8,000 are eligible for the card. For self-employed individuals, the age requirement is 21–65 years, and the annual income must exceed ?6 lakhs (verified via IT returns).
10.HDFC PIXEL Times Credit card Charges
When getting a credit card, it is important to look beyond the benefits and understand the associated charges. If you aren’t aware of these details after receiving the card, you might face unpleasant surprises later.
I previously made a video regarding credit card charges at the State Bank of India; you might want to watch it to understand the general concept, but please consider only the charges displayed here for this specific card.
The overview of the Top charges of the HDFC Pixel Times Credit Card is as follows.
| S.No. | Particulars | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joining fees | Move: Rs.500+ Gst Rush: Rs.1,000+Gst |
| 2 | Annual / Renewal Fee | Move: Rs.500+Gst Rush: Rs.1,000+Gst |
| 3 | Interest charges | @3.75% p.m ; @ 45% p.a. |
| 4 | Late Payment Charges | |
| Less than Rs.100 | Nil | |
| Rs.100 to Rs.500 | Rs.100 | |
| Rs.501 to Rs.1,000 | Rs.500 | |
| Rs.1,001 to Rs.5,000 | Rs.600 | |
| Rs.5,001 to Rs.10,000 | Rs.750 | |
| Rs.10,01 to Rs.25,000 | Rs.900 | |
| Rs.25,001 to Rs.50,000 | Rs.1,100 | |
| More than Rs.50,000 | Rs.1,300 | |
| 5 | Rental Transactions: | 1% fee |
| 6 | IRCTC Ticket Purchases: | 1% of the total transaction amount + GST |
| 7 | Card Reissue / Replacement Fee: | Rs.100 |
HDFC PIXEL Times Credit Card Review: FINAL VERDICT – Skip or Rush?
Finally, what is my opinion on this HDFC Pixel Times Credit Card?
What I like about this card is that you can choose your Billing date and even change it once a year.
The benefit here is that by aligning the billing date with your salary credit, you can clear your credit card bills without worrying about whether there are sufficient funds in your bank account. Apart from that, I didn’t feel any of the benefits on this credit card were truly useful for the customer. Since the offers are valid for only 3 or 4 months, it’s essentially like saying there won’t be any benefits afterwards. Just as you would feel disappointed if invited to a feast only to be served plain dal and rice, I didn’t like the limited timeframe of the offers on the Pixel Times Card.
As for the reward points—valued at just ?0.25—you might as well forget about this card; the returns are negligible. Spending thousands—like ?20,000 or ?40,000—only to get a benefit worth ?500? I wouldn’t even call that a benefit; as I said, it’s peanuts only. Sorry to say that.
I never recommend cards that don’t actually benefit the customer. So finally, I didn’t feel this card offers any real help to the user, so I am not recommending it to anyone.
My Rating – 1 Star- Trash
Thanks for reading my friend
