HDFC Infinia credit card is the flagship credit card from HDFC bank and is one of the most rewarding credit cards to hold in India. The name of the card ‘Infinia’ represents limitless possibilities and that is what this card is about as the reward proposition on this card exceeds the normal limits. This card used to come in plastic and got upgraded to metal form factor in Oct 2021 as a refresh to make it appear like a more premium product with almost the same features.
Let’s see the card features and benefits in detail and figure out what this card brings to the table and is it worthy of the hype that it gets.
- Overview
- Metal Edition Infinia v/s Old Infinia
- Design
- Fees & Charges
- Benefits
- Best way to use this card
- How to apply
- Verdict
Overview
Infinia is super-premium rewards credit card and in terms of feature set it covers all the aspects that a card of this stature should have. The key features of this card include a premium looking metallic design, complimentary Club Vistara membership, unlimited airport lounge access across the globe, high reward rate and much more.
| Type | Premium Rewards Credit Card |
| Reward Rate | 3.3% to 33% |
| Best for | Airport lounge access, Accelerated earn rate on Smartbuy spends, Golf privileges |
Metal Edition Infinia v/s Old Infinia
Other than the metal form factor & design, increased fee (12500 v/s 10000) and slightly better joining and renewal benefit (12500 RPs v/s 10000 RPs), there is no difference between the two editions of this card.
If you have a plastic edition Infinia card and want to upgrade to Metal edition then as long as your annual spends exceed Rs. 10 lakhs (to achieve renewal fee waiver criteria), you should go ahead and do so. But, if your spends are below that figure, I don’t see any reason to upgrade to Metal Edition other than the feel good factor of having a metal card. 🙂
Some customers might have got a LTF Infinia card either before or during the covid phase when HDFC Bank was slapped with a ban from RBI. For those customers, upgrading to Infinia metal edition is definitely not advisable as to my knowledge the metal edition is being issued only as a paid card for now.
On upgrading, all your existing reward points on the plastic Infinia card are transferred to the Infinia Metal with the points validity being set to 3 years from the date of card upgrade.
Design
The design of the Infinia Metal edition is a downgrade from the plastic version of this card in my opinion. The graphic on the metal edition card is an abstract design whereas the plastic version had a more appealing graphic of the earth from outer space. The card is issued on Visa Infinite or Mastercard World network.
Fees & Charges
Joining & Renewal Fees
| Metal Edition (Issued after 18th Oct 2021) | Plastic Edition (Issued before 18th Oct 2021) | |
| Joining Fee | Rs. 12500 + 18% GST | Rs. 10000 + 18% GST |
| Joining Fee Waiver | N/A | N/A |
| Joining Benefit | 12500 Reward Points (on paid cards) + Complimentary Club Marriott membership | 10000 Reward Points (on paid cards) + Complimentary Club Marriott membership |
| Renewal Fee | Rs. 12500 + 18% GST | Rs. 10000 + 18% GST |
| Renewal Fee Waiver | Waived off on spending Rs. 10 lakhs | Waived off on spending Rs. 8 lakhs |
| Renewal Benefit | 12500 Reward Points (on paid cards) | 10000 Reward Points (on paid cards) |
With the refresh to a metal edition, the card fee has been increased from Rs. 10000 to Rs. 12500. Plus the joining and renewal benefit has been updated accordingly.
The joining and renewal benefit covers the card fee (except the GST) as you get a value of Rs. 1 for a reward point. On top of that only for first year, you get complimentary Club Marriott membership which can be easily valued @ Rs. 10000 (more on this in the Benefits section).
As this card is for high spenders, reaching 10 lakh spends would not be a herculean task for such customers. Still, if that’s not possible you are getting almost all the fee back in terms of points 🙂
Other Charges
Supplementary Card
There is no fee for applying for a supplementary card.
Forex Payments
2% of the transaction value + 18% GST (which adds up to 2.36%). As the base reward rate of this card is 3.33%, you would effectively save ~1% on using this card for overseas spends.
On top of that if you enroll in the HDFC Global value program, you can save close to ~2% as Global value program gives 1% cashback of up to 1000 per statement cycle.
Fuel Purchases
For fuel purchases, there are no reward points awarded but 1% fuel surcharge waiver is applicable for transactions between Rs. 400 and Rs.1 lakh. The capping on surcharge waiver is Rs. 1000 per statement cycle.
If you spend less than Rs. 15000 per transaction on fuel, no additional fee will be charged. However, if you spend more than Rs. 15000 per transaction on fuel, a 1% fee will be charged on the entire amount and capped at Rs. 3000 per transaction.
Rent Payments
Rent transactions are not eligible for any reward points. Also, if you use services like (but not limited to) CRED, PayTM, Cheq, MobiKwik, Freecharge, and others to pay rent, a 1% fee will be charged on the transaction amount and capped at Rs. 3000 per transaction. Also, these portals charge a rent payment fee of their own.
EMI Fees
For EMI transactions, a one-time processing fee of up to Rs. 299 + taxes is charged.
Benefits
Reward Points
The base points earn rate on this card is 5 points for every Rs. 150 spent.
| Spend Category | Points Earn Rate | Reward Rate |
| Retail Purchases (including Utilities, Insurance, Education) | 5 points on every Rs.150 spent | 3.33% |
| Train ticket booking on Smartbuy | 15 points on every Rs.150 spent (3X) | 10% |
| Flight booking and Vouchers purchases on Smartbuy | 25 points on every Rs.150 spent (5X) | 16.67% |
| Hotel spends on Smartbuy | 50 points on every Rs.150 spent (10X) | 33.33% |
| Reward Points Expiry | 3 years | |
| Points Redemption Fee | NIL | |
| Exclusions | Fuel, EMI transactions, Post-transaction EMI conversion, Government services, Rent, Wallet loads |
- For any individual utilities transaction more than Rs. 50000, a 1% fee will be charged on the entire amount capped at Rs. 3000 per transaction. Insurance transactions are not considered as Utility transactions.
- Education payments through third-party apps like (but not limited to) CRED, PayTM, Cheq, MobiKwik and others will attract a 1% fee capped at Rs. 3000 per transaction. Education payments through college/school websites or their POS machines will not have any additional charges. International education payments are excluded from this charge.
Note: If the card is not used for more than 365 days, reward points accrued will be nullified even though the points expiry deadline is of 3 years.
As per the TnC, some limitations applicable to HDFC Infinia cards that you should know of are –
- The maximum reward points that can be earned in a statement cycle is 2 lakh
- There is a capping of 2000 RPs per calendar month on grocery transactions
- There is a capping of 5000 RPs per day for Insurance transactions.
- For SmartBuy transactions, there is a cap of 15000 RPs per month.
The base reward rate of this card is the best in the country and only matched by cards like Standard Chartered Ultimate credit card & HDFC Diners Black credit card. Also, to top it off, any spends done via SmartBuy portal will get accelerated rewards at 3X/5X/10X rate which means the reward rate in some cases can be as high as 33%!!
If you don’t have any immediate spend, you can always purchase a gift voucher and use them later while still getting 16% returns. You can buy gift vouchers of Amazon, Flipkart, Croma, Vijay Sales, Tata Cliq, Reliance Smart, BigBasket, Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato, Ola and many more. Check out all the available options here.
The capping on points is very generous so you don’t have to worry about breaching the limit. Also Insurance, Education & Utilities transactions are eligible for reward points which is a big plus as with 3.3% base reward rate one can save a lot on such high value transactions.
Reward Redemption
There are several options for redeeming the rewards on this card and the value you get is simply fantastic. One cannot go wrong with any of the options (except for statement balance redemption). Let’s have a look at all the options –
| Redemption Type | Value | Limit (per calendar month) |
| Flights and hotel bookings | 1 RP = Rs. 1 | 150000 RPs. The redemption of RPs will be capped at 70% of the total value. The remaining amount must be paid using credit card. |
| Air Miles conversion | 1 RP = 1 air mile | 150000 RPs |
| Products & Vouchers | 1 RP = upto 50p 1 RP = Rs. 1 for Apple products and Tanishq vouchers | For some Products & Vouchers (like Apple, Tanishq), the redemption of RPs will be capped at 70% of the total value. The remaining amount must be paid using credit card. Redemption for Tanishq vouchers capped at 50000 points per calendar month |
| Redemption against statement balance | 1 RP = 30p | 50000 RPs |
Anyone who is familiar with Air Miles game can even get value as high as Rs. 2 per point as the point redemption rates of flights tickets are dynamic and booking during off-season time could make a lot of difference.
Travel Benefits
Airport Lounge Access
Another amazing thing about this card is the unlimited lounge access perk, not just for domestic travel but international travel as well!! Also, the supplementary card holder can take advantage of this as well by getting their own priority pass.
You can get priority pass not just for one but all the supplementary card holders!! What that means is if you have this card and the priority pass along with that, you would never ever have to worry about getting lounge access whether travelling alone or with family anywhere in the entire world 🙂 which makes it the best credit card for lounge access. Period.
| ACCESS TYPE | Via | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic (primary card only) | Visa | Unlimited |
| Domestic (primary & supplementary) | Priority Pass | Unlimited |
| International (primary & supplementary) | Priority Pass | Unlimited |
List of domestic lounge can be checked here. For international lounge, visit the Priority Pass site.
Note: You will have to apply for a Priority pass for a supplementary card holder from here.
Club Marriott Membership
Only for the first year of card membership, complimentary Club Marriott membership is offered through which various benefits can be availed at Marriott properties in Asia-Pacific region.
Note: Cards issued after 20th March 2019 will come with Club Marriott membership instead of Club Vistara Gold tier membership.
As you can see below, you get discounts on dining, spa, discounted booking rates and room upgrade voucher certificates in this membership which could be worth more than 10000. Even if we ignore the discounts on dining & spa services for a moment and consider just the one-class room upgrade certificate, I would say this membership is worth 5000 at the least. On my visit to one of the Marriott properties, I had got a room upgrade which was worth 7000.
The details and process of activating the membership is covered here.
ITC Hotels Offer
There are two great benefits with Infinia card and both are pretty useful. Details are available here.
- Enjoy a complimentary third night for every two consecutive paid nights
- Booking needs to be done from here
- Covers only room tariff and not the taxes
- Breakfast is also included in the package 🙂
- 1+1 complimentary buffet at participating ITC hotels
- It is applicable on all days buy only one booking is allowed per month.
- Advance booking needs to be done via INFINIA Concierge (1800 118 887)
- On using this benefit only twice a year at an ITC hotel would save ~ Rs. 5000 as buffet meals at most 5-star hotels are not cheap.
Other Misc Benefits
Golf Games
| ACCESS TYPE | Via | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Golf games | in partnership with GolfLan | Unlimited |
| Golf lessons | in partnership with GolfLan | Unlimited |
HDFC has partnered with GolfLan for providing golf games perk. The amazing thing is that this card gives unlimited complimentary golf games/lessons at leading courses across India and select courses across the world. Even the most premium card from Axis which is Axis Reserve credit card has a limit of 50 rounds for a year and has 4 times the fee of this card!!
The list of domestic & international golf courses that you can access is here. One would have to call the concierge at 1800 118 887 | 022 42320226 to make enquiries or to book a Golf lesson or game.
Detailed terms and conditions for booking and cancellation can be found here.
Swiggy Dineout Dining Discount
On all the HDFC cards, you can get 5% – 15% discount on dining bills when you pay through Swiggy Dineout. For some reason HDFC has named it ‘Good Food Trail program’.
With HDFC Infinia credit card, you get additional 15% discount up to Rs. 1000 on top of 10% Swiggy Dineout discount. This offer is applicable twice a month on a min. transaction value of Rs. 2500 post applying the Swiggy Dineout discount.
Assuming a dining bill of Rs. 2800, based on below calculation, you get a whopping 23.5% discount 🙂 Also, you will reward points too as per the base rate (3.3%) which means almost 27% discount.
| Offer | Discount Rate | Discount | Effective Bill |
| Swiggy Dineout discount | 10% | 280 | 2800 – 280 = 2520 |
| HDFC Infinia credit card discount | 15% | 378 | 2520 – 378 = 2142 |
| Total Effective Discount | 23.5% | 658 | 2142 |
Insurance benefits
This card comes with insurance benefits too. This is a good to have benefit and gives peace of mind.
- Accidental air death cover worth Rs. 3 cr
- Emergency overseas hospitalization cover up to Rs. 50 lakhs
- Credit Liability cover up to Rs. 9 lakhs
- Zero lost card liability cover
You need to register a nominee here. Detailed terms & conditions and claim process for the insurance can be found here.
Concierge Service
For a premium card like Infinia, you get premium 24*7 concierge service for assistance regarding travel bookings, dining reservations, booking golf games, planning itineraries etc. You can call @ 1800 118 887 | 022 42320226 or email @ Infinia.support@smartbuyoffers.co
Below are some of the services provided by our concierge with full scope covered here
- Golf Booking
- Itinerary and reservation assistance
- Private dining assistance
- International gift delivery
- Event planning and referrals
- Airport VIP service (meet-and-greet)
Best way to use this card
- Use Smartbuy portal for travel bookings or voucher purchases for 16%-33% savings
- Pay dining bills on Swiggy Dineout and get >25% discount
- Utilize this card for all expenses on foreign trips and save 2%
- Avail unlimited lounge benefits
- Book Golf games or get concierge team to make reservations & bookings
How to apply
Existing HDFC Bank Credit Card holders can also apply for a 2nd HDFC credit card. Still, getting Infinia credit card is tricky. Although the official page of HDFC bank says Infinia is an invite only card but based on what has been my real life experience, you can get this card if you meet certain criteria –
- For Fresh Card: You need >40L ITR to get a fresh card or 3 lakh monthly income. You might need to open HDFC Savings A/C to process your request.
- For Upgrade: In case you are an existing HDFC credit card user, you might get lucky if you have
- High credit limit (> 8 lakh) and/or high spends on existing HDFC credit card
- Scope of your current relationship with the bank i.e. exposure to other HDFC products like Current or Savings or Salary A/C, Demat A/C, Insurance Policies, Loans, Family accounts, etc.
- High NRV with the bank
You can apply for this card from HDFC bank’s website.
Verdict
There is no need to say it but for the sake of concluding the article HDFC Infinia credit card is like a MVP of credit cards. 🙂 Using cricket analogy, this card is like a complete 360 degree batsman. No matter what kind of ball you throw at it, it may sometimes not knock it out of the ground but it will send it beyond the boundary for sure.
There is hardly anything missing on this card that can put you off because all the essentials are covered really well and then you get wow factor as well in the form of 24*7 concierge service, golf games and unlimited lounge access for entire family all over the world.
If for some reason you can’t get this card but still want something in the HDFC world, then you can opt for HDFC Diners Black credit card or HDFC Regalia Gold credit card.
If you want a great credit card with overall great value, good travel benefits and versatile reward redemption options you can look at Amex Plat Travel credit card (Apply Now). Within Amex world, a good starting point would be to go for Amex MRCC credit card (Apply Now) or if you need a super-premium credit card from Amex then have a look at Amex Plat charge card (Apply Now)
What are your thoughts about the HDFC Infinia metal Edition Credit Card? Feel free to share your views in the comment section below.
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