The reason for my speculation is that in March HDFC had mentioned in an interview that they were eying a co-branded CC partnership with a telecom operator and retail conglomerate, which points towards Jio and around the same time Jio announced the closure of the Jio Mart cashback program. HDFC was not allowed to issue new CC for a long time, now that they have been allowed again, they are looking to regain market dominance since Axis has eaten into their market share.