Points-liability and breakage reports for retail chains running loyalty schemes
TL;DR Accrualmark tells a retail chain what its unredeemed loyalty points are really worth, how many will never be used, and which parts of the scheme actually change buying. Finance teams pay for an audit-ready liability report, and marketing teams use the same data to cut rewards that do nothing.
Every chain hands out points these days, and shoppers carry more schemes than they use. The accounting side is less visible. Since IFRIC 13, a retailer that gives points must book part of the sale as a liability for future rewards and not as revenue, and IFRS 15 replaced that rule in 2018[1][2]. India's equivalent, Ind AS 115, has applied from April 2018 to listed companies and to those with a net worth of ₹250 Cr or more[3].
So someone has to estimate how many points will be redeemed and at what value.
In a lot of mid-size chains this lives in a spreadsheet built from a loyalty vendor's export, rebuilt every quarter and argued over with auditors.
The seed pitched a single app that unifies all of a shopper's retail rewards, and I reframed it. That job is already being tried. A coalition loyalty programme has run in India since 2011[4], and a points-at-checkout app lets people pay with points from 30+ issuers at checkout[5]. A new consumer wallet would need every retailer's data and would have to fight both, so it makes more sense to fix the overload from the other end.
Accrualmark connects to a chain's loyalty platform and sales data. It ages every point balance, models redemption and expiry by customer cohort, and produces the liability figure with its assumptions written out for auditors. A second view shows the marketing team which tiers, bonus days and partner offers led to extra visits, and which only paid out to people who would have bought anyway.
It doesn't run the loyalty programme itself, so it works alongside whichever vendor the chain already uses.
The CFO or financial controller pays, because the liability number lands in the audited accounts. The marketing head is the second user. Buyers are retail and restaurant chains, fuel retailers and consumer brands with their own programmes. Loyalty platforms are already a real budget line - one listed loyalty-software firm reported ₹598 Cr revenue in FY25[6]. I'd test ₹3–10 L a year per chain, which is my assumption.
A loyalty-software firm listed on the stock exchanges in 2025[6], which put loyalty economics into public filings and in front of more finance teams. Chains that grew their schemes fast after 2020 now hold years of point balances, and auditors have had several Ind AS 115 cycles to sharpen their questions on redemption estimates.
There's no public figure for the total value of unredeemed loyalty points held by Indian retailers, and no published count of chains that book a points liability. The firmest neighbouring figure is one listed loyalty firm's FY25 revenue of ₹598 Cr from loyalty and engagement software[6], which shows what gets spent on running programmes.
Your market is a slice of that, made up of chains big enough to face Ind AS audits.
Indian loyalty-software platforms run programmes for brands, and some also sell CRM and feedback tools[7]. Neither homepage pitches an independent liability valuation. Points-at-checkout apps work on the consumer side[5]. Big audit firms do this work as one-off advisory projects.
The gap is a vendor-neutral, repeatable tool that finance and marketing both use every quarter.
| Difficulty | Moderate (37/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹55–95 L |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
The modelling is standard actuarial-style work. The hard parts are getting clean data out of several loyalty platforms, and earning enough trust that auditors accept your numbers. Sales cycles run through finance, so expect three to six months per chain.
No licence needed. Accrualmark sells analytics, not financial services, so you need the baseline plus an accounting review.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI sign off the liability number. It goes into audited accounts, so a chartered accountant has to own the method and the final figure.
Want to work out the AI layer for Accrualmark? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I'd look at this seriously if you have a chartered accountancy or audit background and can write code or hire someone who does. If you want a consumer brand then it is the wrong idea. Before raising, prove that three chains replaced their spreadsheet and that their auditors signed off on the method.
Plan for roughly ₹55–95 L, mostly for connectors to loyalty platforms, the valuation model and a long finance-led sales cycle.
No. It's analytics, not a financial service. Get the method reviewed by a chartered accountant and follow the DPDP Act for member data.
Yes. IFRS 15 sets similar rules in many countries, so the method travels. Check local accounting standards and data protection law.
The free Accrualmark validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the accounting and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for finance and marketing teams, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Accrualmark or something close to it? The make-or-break work is a method that auditors accept, plus data from loyalty platforms that may not want to share it. Neither is easy and both are worth a proper conversation. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.