With reference to this post, I dropped a follow-up email to AI and got this reply literally within minutes:

Dear Mr ABC,

This refers to your email copy.

As confirmed to you the change was requested to our service provider and the same is approved by AI.

We are in the process of testing the applied change and will be implementing this ZONE based redemption rule very soon.

Kindly request you to bear with us till such time.

Thanks for your support.

Regards,
XXX
YYY (Rank) - Loyalty Program
Air India


Between this and minimum 500 mile accural on flights, hoping for good times ahead !