HDFC Bank Starts Taking Applications for Diners Club Credit Cards

Just a couple of days after RBI lifted the over 6-month long ban on Diners Club that disallowed the payment network from onboarding new domestic customers, HDFC, which is the only card issuer in the country that issues Diners Club cards, has opened new registrations for their Diners Club credit cards.

Which Diners Club Credit Cards does HDFC offer?

As mentioned earlier, HDFC Bank is the only card issuer in the country that issues credit cards on the Diners Club payment network. The bank has a total of 6 Diners Club credit cards in its portfolio. Most of the Diners Club credit cards that the bank offers are in either premium or sub-premium category.

HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card

It is the most premium Diners Club credit card and the second most premium credit card overall by HDFC Bank. The card is very much similar to the Infinia card in terms of Reward Points and other benefits.

The Diners Club Black Credit Card comes with a membership fee of Rs. 10,000 per annum (plus GST) and offers a decent reward rate of up to 3.3% (5 Reward Points for every Rs. 150 spent with the card). You also get a plethora of other benefits with the card including unlimited complimentary domestic and international airport lounge access for both primary and add-on cardholders, lower forex mark-up fee, complimentary membership of subscription services like Amazon Prime, Zomato Gold, Times Prime, etc., complimentary golf games every quarter, travel-related insurance covers and many more.

It is one of the most rewarding credit cards in the Indian credit card space and a good alternative to Infinia.

HDFC Diners Club Premium Credit Card

The Diners Club Premium Credit Card by HDFC is another offering by the bank on the Diners Club network in the lifestyle or sub-premium category. The card comes with an annual fee of Rs. 2,500 (plus GST) and earns you 4 Reward Points for every Rs. 150 spent with the card (reward rate slightly above 1.33% as the max value of 1 Reward Point = Rs. 0.5). and offers plenty of other benefits like (limited) complimentary lounge access at domestic and international airports across the world, lower than usual forex mark-up, insurance covers, etc.

If you prefer Diners Club credit cards, then this card can be a good alternative to HDFC’s own Regalia Credit Card which is issued on the Visa payment network and is also one of the most popular cards in India in the lifestyle category.

HDFC Diners Club Privilege Credit Card

The Diners Club Privilege Credit Card by HDFC is very much similar to the Diners Club Premium Credit Card. Not only that it comes with the same annual fee of Rs. 2,500 (plus GST), it, just like the Diners Club Premium Card, also offers exactly the same reward rate of up to 1.3% (4 Reward Points per Rs. 150). One major difference between the Diners Club Premium and Diners Club Privilege Cards is in the welcome benefit that you get with the two credit cards. While you get bonus 2,500 Reward Points with HDFC Diners Club Premium credit card, you get complimentary membership of subscription services like Zomato Pro, Amazon Prime, Times Prime, Big Basket, etc. with the Diners Club Privilege Credit Card.

Apart from the Diners Club Premium Credit Card. you can also consider this one as a good alternative to HDFC Regalia Credit Card.

HDFC Diners Club Rewardz Credit Card

HDFC Diners Club Rewardz Credit Card, as the name suggests, is a Reward Points based credit card. It can be considered a mid-level or even an entry-level credit card. The card comes with an annual fee of Rs. 1,000 (plus taxes) and earns you 3 HDFC Reward Points per Rs. 150 spent. Apart from a complimentary Dineout Passport membership, discounted rates on dining and accelerated Reward Points on shopping at partner merchants, you don’t get many add-on benefits with the Diners Club Rewardz Credit Card.

HDFC Diners Club Miles Credit Card

HDFC Diners Club Miles Credit Card is one of the best AirMiles credit cards in India. The card comes with a membership fee of Rs. 1,000 per annum (plus GST) and earns you 4 AirMiles for every Rs. 150 spent. Since it is an AirMiles credit card, you get a higher reward rate on redemption of Reward Points against AirMiles (1 Reward Point = 1 AirMile, reward rate = 2.67%). Apart from the reward rate, you also get other travel-related benefits like 6 complimentary domestic and international airport lounge access and complimentary insurance covers with the Diners Club Miles Credit Card.

Considering the reward rate and other add-on benefits that this card offers at an annual fee of Rs. 1,000 (plus GST), if you are a frequent flyer and are comfortable with a Diners Club card, HDFC Diners Club Miles Credit Card is definitely one of the best-suited credit cards for you.

InterMiles HDFC Bank Diners Club Credit Card

The InterMiles HDFC Diners Club Credit Card is a co-branded travel credit card by HDFC Bank. The card comes with a membership fee of Rs. 5,000 per annum (plus GST) and earns InterMiles as Reward Points. At the normal reward rate, you earn 8 InterMiles per Rs. 150 spent with the card, however you get 2X InterMiles on flight/hotel bookings through the InterMiles portal. Apart from this you also get many other travel benefits including complimentary unlimitted domestic and international airport lounge access, Dine out Passport Membership, a lower foreign currency mark-up fee and many more with the card.

Overall, it is a decent co-branded travel credit card and gives a tough competition to InterMiles co-branded credit cards by ICICI.

Bottom Line

Diners Club Credit Cards, although not as widely accepted as Visa or MasterCard credit cards, have their own advantages, for example, some of the Diners Club credit cards are slightly more rewarding than Visa credit cards that come with the same (or similar) annual fee- one good example is Diners Club Privilege Credit Card, which is very much similar to the Regalia Credit Card in terms of both- the annual fee and reward rate, however, it does offer a few additional benefits like complimentary subscription services as a welcome benefit and more number or complimentary domestic and international airport lounge access every year.

If you were planning to subscribe for one of HDFC Diners Club Credit Cards, it is a great news for you that RBI has finally lifted the embargo. Meanwhile, HDFC is also rumoured to be in talks with Emirates airlines to launch a co-branded travel credit card on the Diners Club network in collaboration with Emirates airlines; we may expect its launch very soon.