New Delhi, Feb. 10 -- After a backlash on social media over HDFC Ergo walking back on its promise to return cash to customers who bought Apple Watches under its India Gets Moving initiative, the company has started making payments based on their step-counts.

The insurer said it had rejected claims of only those who allegedly manipulated their step-count data. However, many people who genuinely achieved their step-count targets faced claim rejections initially.

HDFC Ergo, in association with Zopper and Apple, launched the initiative in November 2024 to promote and incentivise healthy habits among customers buying an Apple Watch.

All customers had to do was purchase an Apple Watch from an authorised reseller in India (offline channels on...