What you need to know about festive steal deals, no-cost EMIs

The online deal’s fine print decides whether you walk away with real savings or just a feel-good bargain

- Shipra Singh

It's time for major e-commerce platforms’ annual flagship online sales.

Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival, starting on 22 September, and Myntra’s festive fashion sale, starting on 21 September, promise the deepest discounts of the year. Other online fashion and retail sites like Ajio and Nykaa have already started their sales before these big giants.

For consumers, these annual events can mean steep discounts across electronics, household items, fashion and apparel, bundled with special bank tie-ups and the ever-popular “no-cost EMI' option. But the fine print behind these deals often decides whether you walk away with real savings or just a feelgood bargain.

In this story, we break down two major aspects of this year’s festive bonanza: which banks are offering instant discounts on which sites and the fine print of no-cost EMI schemes.

Flipkart has partnered with ICICI Bank and Axis Bank to offer a 10% instant discount during its Big Billion Days. In practice, these discounts always carry an upper cap and are given on minimum order values. ICICI Bank has disclosed that the maximum discount available will be ₹4,500, but it has not clarified the minimum purchase amount needed to qualify. Myntra has tied up with HDFC Bank for its festive sale, offering a flat 10% discount of up to ₹750 on orders above ₹3,500.

In the case of Amazon, currently, SBI debit and credit card users are being offered an instant 10% discount. An Amazon India spokesperson informed Mint that the platform will add more offers from multiple banks during the Great Indian Festival sale period, but did not name the banking partners.