HDFC Infinia Metal Edition Credit Card and HDFC Diners Club Black Metal Credit Card are the top two super-premium credit cards by HDFC Bank. Both 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 markup fee, and many more.

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 Metal Edition Credit Card vs HDFC Diners Club Black

HDFC Bank INFINIA Credit Card Metal Edition

The HDFC Bank’s most premium offering in the market so far is the INFINIA credit card metal edition. This card targets high-net-worth individuals and is only available as an invite-only card. Such are focused on providing a luxurious lifestyle by offering privileges like access to premium golfing destinations, dining benefits, a 2% forex markup rate, rewards on every Rs. 150 spent, and much more.

Welcome Benefits

  • A complimentary Club Marriott Membership for a year as a welcome gift.
  • 12,500 bonus reward points upon realizing the joining fee.

Rewards

  • 5 RPs for every Rs. 150 spent.
  • 10X RPs for bookings like bus, hotel, and flight through Cleartrip, EaseMyTrip, Redbus, and Apple Imagine.
  • 3X RPs upon shopping on portals like Flipkart on Rail Tickets.
  • Accelerated rewards are capped at 15,000 points per month.
  • Against hotel/flight bookings, DTH recharges, etc., 1 RP = Re. 1
  • 1 RP = 1 Airmile
  • For products and vouchers via netbanking1 RP = Rs. 0.50.
  • Against Tanishq and Apple voucher 1 RP = Re. 1.
  • 1 RP = Rs. 0.30

Movies and Dining

  • Club Mariott membership – 20% off on food and beverage bills and 15% off on selected hotels.
  • Good Food Trail Program – 25% off at 2000+ premium restaurants, 1 + 1 buffet at 200 + restaurants, and 1 + 1 food/drinks at selected restaurants.
  • ITC Complimentary buffet – 1 + 1 complimentary buffet with participating ITC hotels

Travel Benefits

  • Unlimited complimentary domestic and international airport lounge access across the globe with Priority Pass Membership.
  • Club Mariott membership – 20% off on the best available rooms at participating Marriott hotels in the country.
  • ITC Hotel Complimentary Stay Benefits – Complimentary 1-night stay after booking a 2-night stay at participating hotels.

Golf

  • Unlimited complimentary golf games at leading destinations across the country and with selected ones across the globe.

Spend Based Waiver

  • The renewal fee waiver is upon spending over Rs. 10 Lakhs in a year.

HDFC Diners Club Black Metal Credit Card

It is the second most premium offering by HDFC and the most premium Diners Club Credit in India. Diners Club Black Metal 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-

Welcome Benefits

You get a complimentary membership of Club Marriott, Swiggy One, and Amazon Prime

as a welcome benefit for spending Rs. 1.5 Lakhs within 90 days of card issuance.

Dining Benefits

  • 2x reward points on weekend dining
  • Complimentary annual membership to Club Marriott and 3-month membership to Swiggy One that is renewed on spending Rs. 8 Lakhs in the card anniversary year.

Travel Benefits

  • Unlimited complimentary access to domestic as well as international airport lounges.
  • You can redeem the reward points earned for Airmiles of partner airlines like Club Vistara, Singapore Airlines, Intermiles, etc.

Golf Benefits

Get 6 complimentary golf rounds per calendar quarter at some of the finest golf courses around the world.

Reward Rate

  • Just like the Infinia Credit Card, the 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 rail ticket bookings, and 3X Reward Points on shopping at Flipkart.
  • You also earn 2X Reward Points on dining bills on weekends at partner restaurants.

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-

Category HDFC Infinia Credit Card HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card
Joining/Annual Fees Rs. 12,500 + GST Rs. 10,000 + GST
Welcome Benefits 12,500 reward points and 1-year membership to Club Marriott Complimentary Membership of Club Marriott, Swiggy One, and Amazon Prime (On Spends of Rs. 1.5 Lakh Within 90 Days of Card Issuance)
Reward Earning Rate 5 RPs per Rs. 150 spent 5 RPs per Rs. 150 spent. 10x RPs on Smartbuy and 2x RPs on weekend dining
Reward Redemption RPs can be redeemed against hotel/flight bookings, Airmiles, products and vouchers, Apple and Tanishq vouchers, and cashback. RPs can be redeemed against hotel/flight bookings on Smartbuy, AirMiles, Diners Club exclusive reward redemption catalog, and cashback
Travel Benefits Complimentary Club Marriott membership, complimentary 2+1 night stay at ITC hotels, Complimentary Priority Pass membership with unlimited access to airport lounges Complimentary domestic and international lounge access RPs can be redeemed against flight/hotel bookings on Smartbuy
Golf Benefits Unlimited complimentary golf rounds at select courses across India and abroad Get 6 complimentary golf games per quarter at top courses around the world
Renewal Fee Waiver Renewal fee can be waived on spending Rs. 10 Lakhs in the card anniversary year Renewal fee can be waived off on spending Rs. 5 Lakhs in the previous year
Forex Markup Fee 2% 1.99%

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 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 a complimentary night stay at ITC hotels with the Infinia Credit Card, the Diners Club Black Credit Card entitles you to a complimentary membership of the Club Marriott hotel loyalty program and subscription to services like Amazon Prime, on a minimum annual expenditure of Rs. 8 lacs.

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, Swiggy One, etc., that the card offers,. An annual expenditure of Rs. 8 lacs would mean a 100% waiver on the annual membership fee of the card (the annual fee of the Diners Club Black Credit Card is waived if the annual expenditure exceeds Rs. 8 lacs).

On the other hand, you should prefer the Infinia Credit over the Diners Club Black Credit Card if the membership/subscriptions that you get with the Diners Club Black Credit Card 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.

1 Comment

  1. Sanjeev B Reply

    The main difference is that Infinia is a Visa card and Diners Black is a Diners card. Visa is accepted everywhere in India, but Diners is accepted in very few places. Unless you travel abroad often, you will find it difficult to spend on Diners Black in India.

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