HDFC Infinia Metal Edition Credit Card vs HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card- Which One Should You Pick?

HDFC Infinia Metal Edition Credit Card and HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card are the top two super-premium credit cards by HDFC Bank. Both the cards offer you the same reward rate of 3.3% per annum (5 Reward Points per Rs. 150 spent). Both the cards also offer many additional privileges like unlimited complimentary airport lounge access, complimentary golf games, a lower foreign currency mark-up fee and many more. Until last month, both Infinia and Diners Club Black Credit Cards used to come with the same membership fee of Rs. 10,000 per annum. HDFC Relaunched the infinnia credit card in metal variant last month, and now its membership costs Rs. 12,500 per annum (existing users of the PVC variant of the card shall continue to pay the same annual fee of Rs.10,000 and will also get the additional benefits that the metal variant offers).

Before we do a detailed point-wise comparison between the Infinia and the Diners Club Black Credit Cards, it is a good idea to first go through some of the salient features of the two cards.

HDFC Infinia Credit Card

Infinia Credit Card is the most premium offering by HDFC and the most popular credit card in the super-premium category in the Indian credit card market space. The card offers a reward rate of 3.3%, and being a super premium credit card, offers plenty of add-on benefits like complimentary airport lounge access, dining benefits, concierge service and many more. Some of the key features of HDFC Infinia Credit Card are-

• 12,500 Bonus Reward Points on joining the card membership and realization of the annual membership fee. You get these 12,500 Bonus Reward Points every year the membership fee is paid (you do not get the Bonus Reward Points if the renewal fee is waived off).
• Complimentary annual membership of the Club Mariott hotel loyalty program for one year.
• You earn 5 Reward Points for every Rs. 150 spent with the card (except on fuel purchases).
• 10X Reward Points on flight/bus ticket bookings and hotel reservations, 5X Reward Points on purchases rail ticket bookings and 3X Reward Points on purchases at Flipkart via Smart buy A maximum of 15,000 Reward Points can be earned at accelerated rates via SmartBuy.
• Complimentary Priority Pass membership with unlimited domestic and international airport lounge access across the world for primary as well as add-on cardholders.
• You also get unlimited complimentary access to some of the leading golf destinations in the country.
• You get a 1-night stay complimentary at ITC hotels on booking a 2-night stay.
• An assured 25% discount on dining bills at over 200 partner restaurants and a 1+1 buffet offer on weekends at ITC hotels and at 200+ other restaurants.
• You also get a complimentary comprehensive insurance cover including a cover against accidental death in an air accident, medical emergency cover, credit shield and a credit liability cover with the Infinia credit card.
• Infinia Credit Card has a comparatively lower foreign currency mark-up fee of 2% of the transaction amount, which is much lower than the forex mark-up fee applicable on most other credit cards, which is usually around 3.5% of the transacted amount.
• You also get a 24×7 concierge service with the card for assistance regarding restaurant table bookings, hotel reservations, gift deliveries, etc.
• The annual renewal fee of the card is waived off on an expenditure of a minimum of Rs. 10 lacs in the preceding year.
• HDFC Infinia Credit Card is an invite-only credit card offered to only select HDFC Bank customers.

HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card

It is the second most premium offering by HDFC and the most premium Diners Club Credit in India. Diners Club Black Credit Card offers the same reward rate as the Infinia Credit Card (5 Reward Points per Rs. 150 spent) and also offers a plethora of add-on benefits. HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card has an annual membership fee of Rs. 10,000 per annum. Some of the salient features of the Diners Club Black Card are as under-

• You get complimentary membership of loyalty programs and subscription services like Club Marriott, Amazon Prime, Zomato Gold, Forbes, MMTYBLACK and TimesPrime as a welcome benefit with the Diners Club Black Credit Card. The memberships/subscriptions are renewed second year onwards on achieving the annual spend milestone of Rs. 8 lacs in the preceding year.
• Just like Infinia Credit Card, Diners Club Black Credit Card also earns you 5 Reward Points for every Rs. 150 spent (except on fuel purchases).
• You earn 10X Reward Points on flight/bus ticket bookings and hotel reservations via SmartBuy, 5X Reward Points on shopping at rail ticket bookings, 3X Reward Points on shopping at Flipkart. A maximum of 7,500 Reward Points can be earned at accelerated rates via SmartBuy.
• You also earn 2X Reward Points on dining bills on weekends at partner restaurants.
• The card also entitles you to monthly gift vouchers from any two of the following brands- BookMyShow, TATA CLiQ, Ola Select and Cure.fit Live worth Rs. 500 each on a minimum monthly expenditure of Rs. 80,000 with the card.
• Diners Club Black Credit Card also entitles you to 6 complimentary access per quarter to some of the leading golf destinations in the country.
• Diners Club Black Credit Card offers a lower mark-up fee of just 1.99% on international transactions, compared with a higher mark-up fee of around 3.5% applicable for most other credit cards.
• You also get a comprehensive insurance cover with HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card including a cover against accidental death in an air accident, medical emergency cover, cover against the delay of check-in baggage and a credit liability cover.
• The annual renewal fee of the card is waived off on an annual expenditure of a minimum of Rs. 5 lacs in the preceding year.
• Salaried applicants must have a minimum monthly income of Rs. 1.75 lacs, while self-employed applicants must have a minimum income of Rs. 21 lacs per annum to be eligible for HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card

Redemption of Reward Points

The Reward Points earned on both Infinia and Diners Club Black Credit Cards can be redeemed against cashback (adjustment of Reward Points against the card’s statement balance), partner airlines’ AirMiles, hotel/flight bookings via SmartBuy and for purchasing products and vouchers from HDFC’s catalog of products and vouchers. The rate of redemption of Reward Points is exactly the same for both Infinia and Diners Club Black Credit Cards, however, you get an additional option of redemption against Apple and Tanishq vouchers in the case of the Infinia Credit Card. The following table illustrates the rate of redemption of Reward Points earned on HDFC Infinia and Diners Club Black Credit Cards against the different spends categories-

Conclusion

Both Infinia and Diners Club Black are excellent credit cards in the super-premium category and are therefore also two of the most popular super-premium cards currently available in the market. Both the cards have an identical reward rate of 3.3% (5 Reward Points per Rs. 150) and offer a plethora of additional privileges. While you get a 1+1 buffet benefit and complimentary night stay at ITC hotels with the Infinia Credit Card, Diners Club Black Credit Card entitles you to complimentary membership of the Club Marriott hotel loyalty program and subscription of services like Amazon Prime, Zomato Gold, etc. on a minimum annual expenditure of Rs. 8 lacs. One major advantage of Infinia Credit Card over Diners Club Black Credit Card is, a maximum of 15,000 Reward Points can be earned in a given statement cycle at an accelerated rate via SamrtBuy on the Infinia Credit Card, while the max cap on accelerated Reward Points via SmartBuy in case of Diners Club Black Credit Card is 7,500 Reward Points per statement cycle.

HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card is a better pick for you if you are actually going to avail of the Club Marriott membership of other subscription services like Amazon Prime and Zomato Gold that the card offers, and you know it for sure that your annual expenditure shall exceed Rs. 8 lacs (since you get these memberships/subscriptions only on spending a minimum of Rs. 8 lacs annually). An annual expenditure of Rs. 8 lacs would also mean a 100% waiver on the annual membership fee of the card (annual fee of Diners Club Black Credit Card is waived off if the annual expenditure exceeds Rs. 5 lacs).

On the other hand, you should prefer the Infinia Credit over Diners Club Black Credit Card if the membership/subscriptions that you get with the Diners Club Black Credit Card (on spending a minimum of Rs. 8 lacs in a year) are not of much use to you as Infinia Credit Card allows you to earn more Reward Points (15,000 RPs per statement cycle) at an accelerated rate via SmartBuy.