All great ideas have an underlying simplicity to them. Same is the case of i-mint. Here is the story of i-mint.

When Mr. Vijay Bobba, the founding CEO and Managing Director of i-mint returned to India in 2003 after spending 19 years in the USA, he was pleasantly surprised to find the progress of the organized retail sector. However, what was missing was a common element between brands, retailers and local merchants that could deliver a superior shopping experience. Some brands were running their own loyalty programs but consumers were disillusioned with these programs as they did not see value in them. It took too long to collect points and mostly, the points could be redeemed for items that had a poor perceived value. Also, there were too many cards in the consumer's wallet.

That's when the idea of i-mint was conceived. A single card, that could be used across a network of brands and local merchants to accumulate points. A consumer would have to carry one card and all the points that he earned across different categories of spends would get aggregated on one card. Hence, a consumer can earn large number of points quickly and redeem them for better rewards.

The idea was compelling and no one in India had done it before. Armed with the idea, Mr. Bobba approached ICICI Bank who in turn brought together other leading brands Airtel, Air India, HPCL, Lifestyle and MakeMyTrip.com to create an ecosystem of business partners to reward customers. In the meantime, Loyalty Solutions and Research Ltd, a company funded by ICICI Venture was formed and work moved in full swing to get i-mint launched.

It has been an interesting journey indeed. Key elements to success of the program had to be put in place brick by brick. A core team of dedicated and talented professionals was put together to drive the initiative. Technology platform capable of handling large amounts of data had to be put together. Several partnerships across the nation were nurtured. Program architecture to engage the members was designed and delivered on time. Finally on August 1st 2006, all the elements came together with the unveiling of i-mint brand. Consumer and merchant response was indeed overwhelming.

Since then i-mint has grown leaps and bounds. Organization progressed from a project team to a professional organization. Member base grew from a few thousands to several millions. Merchant base grew from a select few to several thousands. Program presence expanded from a few large cities to more than 30 cities across India. Last but not the least, program became India's largest rewards program in a very short time. For its pioneering work, i-mint was awarded the best "Customer Loyalty Program" award by Asia Retail Congress on 3rd Feb 2009.