HDFC Bank Infinia Metal Credit Card

Best for: HDFC priority banking customer, Weekly or bi-weekly domestic flyer, Spends ₹30,000+/month on HDFC SmartBuy travel, International traveller with ₹15L+/year overseas spend

Super Premium tier — built for high spenders who want top-end perks.

Strongest value if you spend heavily on Travel ( 16.5% back).

Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.

• Unlimited Priority Pass — never wait in airport queues regardless of how many times you fly
• 5 CashPoints per ₹150 worth ₹1 each on SmartBuy — an effective 3.3% return on all spend
• Up to 10X points on HDFC SmartBuy hotels (~33% return) and 5X on flights & brand vouchers (~16.5%)
• 2% forex markup on ₹20L international spend saves ₹34,000/year vs standard 3.75% cards

• Invitation only — requires significant HDFC relationship (₹30L+ AUM or senior corporate account)
• 2026 retention rule: keep the card only by spending ₹18L/year across primary and add-on cards, or holding ₹50L HDFC relationship value (FY2026-27), else risk a 2027 downgrade
• Fuel, rent, government payments, wallet loads and all EMI conversions earn nothing
• Statement-credit redemption pays ₹0.30 a point and caps at 50,000 CashPoints a calendar month
• Best value comes from SmartBuy — users who do not book travel through HDFC SmartBuy miss the headline multiplier

HDFC publishes no eligibility criteria for this card — no minimum income, no age band, no credit-score floor, and no document checklist. That is not an oversight on our part: the card is issued strictly by invitation, there is no public application form, and so there is nothing to qualify for in the usual sense. Any specific salary figure you see quoted for it elsewhere has been inferred by a third party, not stated by the bank.

What actually decides an invitation is the relationship behind it — balances held with the bank, spend on an existing card, and the banking segment you sit in. We set those signals out in how to get an invitation above, labelled for what they are: observed patterns, not published criteria.

Ways to convert what you earn into real value.

🎁 HDFC SmartBuy: Best value — up to 10X on hotels (~33%) and 5X on flights (~16.5%) via the SmartBuy portal. Book travel through SmartBuy for maximum reward density. (₹1.00/CashPoint)

🎁 Statement Credit: Redeem CashPoints against your statement balance — no portal needed, but the weakest rate and capped at 50,000 CashPoints a calendar month. (₹0.30/CashPoint)

🎁 Partner Catalogue: Redeem for vouchers and merchandise via HDFC SmartBuy catalogue. HDFC publishes this as "Products and Voucher up to ₹0.50" — the ₹1.00 rate applies only to SmartBuy flights and hotels and to Apple/Tanishq, which are listed separately. (up to ₹0.50/CashPoint)

🎁 Apple products and Tanishq vouchers via SmartBuy at ₹1.00/CashPoint — but capped at one Apple product per quarter and 50,000 CashPoints per quarter on Tanishq, both effective 1 Oct 2024

🎁 Airmiles conversion at up to 1 airmile per CashPoint

🎁 Maximum 2,00,000 CashPoints can be EARNED in a statement cycle; points are valid 3 years

Among Indian credit cards, the Infinia is close to the ceiling of what's currently on offer — a 3.3% baseline return that climbs to 33% when SmartBuy is squeezed for maximum value, lounge access with no visit limit, and a forex markup of just 2%. The catch isn't the cost or the terms, it's access: this card can't be applied for, only granted, and that decision sits entirely with HDFC. If an invitation does show up, there's little reason to turn it down.

Sources & verification

Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the HDFC Bank Infinia Metal Credit Card are taken from HDFC Bank 's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page . Last verified 16 Aug 2026 . Reviewed by Devchandra Sah . Always confirm current details on the issuer's site before applying. How we research →

Independence. CardAdvisor is an independent editorial publication. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or authorised to act for HDFC Bank . All issuer names, product names, and payment-network marks are the property of their respective owners and appear here for identification and comparison only. Card faces shown on this site are our own original illustrations — we do not display or host issuer card artwork or logos.

Every real-world change to this card's rewards, fees and benefits we've tracked — newest first, each linked to its source.

Tracking since 2016 · 14 changes · last change Jul 2026

▲ Revaluation ▼ Devaluation ◆ Neutral / reversed

▼ Reward Effective 1 Jul 2026

SmartBuy brand-voucher earning capped at 3,000 RP/mo

Full 15,000 RP/mo via vouchers → 3,000 RP/mo via Brand Vouchers

A separate, much lower ceiling now applies to Brand Vouchers (GyFTR/Woohoo) on SmartBuy — accelerated points on vouchers capped at 3,000 RP per month (~80% cut). The overall 15,000 RP/mo SmartBuy cap is unchanged, but the rest must now be earned via other SmartBuy categories.

Verification: HDFC SmartBuy ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Fee Effective 15 May 2026

Dynamic currency conversion markup raised to 1.75%

1% markup → 1.75% markup

HDFC's MITC: "Dynamic currency conversion Markup Fee: With effect from 15th May 2026, a Markup fee of 1.75% will be levied on all transactions carried out in Indian Currency at an international location or at merchants which are located in India but registered overseas." This is separate from, and stacks on top of, the card's ordinary foreign-currency markup. It is the charge you pay for accepting a terminal's offer to bill you in rupees while abroad - always decline that offer and pay in the local currency. It also catches India-based purchases from merchants registered overseas, which is easy to trigger without leaving the country. The PIXEL MITC dates the same change 17 May 2026.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Eligibility Observed 26 Feb 2026 · Effective 1 Apr 2026

Retention tightened — ₹18L spend or ₹50L relationship

No published spend or relationship test for continued access → ₹18L card spend OR ₹50L relationship value

For FY2026-27 (1 Apr 2026 – 31 Mar 2027), continued access to the Infinia programme requires ₹18 lakh of card spend (primary + add-ons) OR a ₹50 lakh relationship value (avg. balances across SB/CA/FD/RD) with HDFC. Non-qualifiers are notified in 2027 and may be downgraded or removed from the programme. ⚠ This is NOT the fee waiver, and the two were conflated here until 2026-08-16. The renewal-fee waiver for Infinia (Metal Edition) is ₹10 lakh a year and did not move — it is printed in the same MITC fee table this event cites as provenance (v4.5, Aug 2026: "Infinia (Metal Edition) ₹12,500 | ₹10 Lakh / Annum"), which post-dates this event's own effective date by four months. The ₹18L reached us through press coverage that made the same conflation.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

◆ Reward Scheduled 16 Jan 2026 · reversed

Gyftr voucher cut (5X→3X) announced, then reversed

5X on Gyftr vouchers → 5X retained (change withdrawn)

HDFC announced a cut of Gyftr/SmartBuy voucher earning from 5X to 3X effective 16 Jan 2026, then reversed it via a SmartBuy portal banner on 14 Jan 2026 — before it took effect. Included for completeness: it shows the volatility holders faced even though the net value did not change.

Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: High

▼ Fee Effective 1 Jul 2025

1% fee added on rent, wallet loads and online gaming

No category surcharge on rent, wallet loads or gaming → 1% on rent (cap Rs 4,999 per transaction); 1% on wallet loads and on online skill-based gaming above Rs 10,000 a calendar month (cap Rs 4,999 a month)

HDFC's MITC: "Rent Pay Transactions: W.e.f. 1st July 2025, 1% fee on transaction amount will be levied on rental transactions... Fee capped at Rs 4999 per transaction"; "Wallet Loading (excl PayZapp) - W.e.f. 1st July 2025, 1% fee will be levied on Wallet loading spends exceeding Rs 10,000 in a calendar month"; "Online Skill based Gaming - W.e.f. 1st July 2025, 1% fee... exceeding Rs 10,000 in a calendar month". These are charges on top of the fact that most HDFC cards already earn zero reward points on the same categories - you pay to spend, and earn nothing for it. PayZapp wallet loads are exempt from the wallet fee.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Fee Effective 1 Jul 2025

1% fee on utilities above Rs 50,000 and on third-party education payments

No surcharge on utility or education payments → 1% on utility spends above Rs 50,000 a calendar month (cap Rs 4,999 a month); 1% on education paid through third-party apps

HDFC's MITC: "Utility Charges: 1% fee will be levied on utility spends exceeding Rs 50,000 per Calendar month for consumer cards... Fee capped at Rs 4999 per month"; "Education Charges: 1% fee... on Education transactions done through third party applications like (but not limited to) CRED, Nobroker, Cheq etc." Paying school or college fees DIRECTLY to the institution is not charged - only routing them through a third-party app is. A 1% fee also applies to fuel transactions above Rs 15,000.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Reward Effective 1 Jul 2025

Insurance reward points capped, online gaming stops earning

Insurance uncapped on most cards; online skill-based gaming earned points → Insurance capped at 2,000 reward points a month (5,000 on Diners Black, 10,000 on Infinia); online skill-based gaming earns nothing

HDFC's MITC: "With effect from 1st July 2025, Reward Points accrued for insurance transactions will have a maximum cap of... 2000 per month for all other credit cards" and "With effect from 1st July 2025, Online Skill-Based gaming transactions will not earn Reward Points/CashPoints on all the cards." Insurance premiums are a common way to hit a milestone quickly, so the cap matters more than its size suggests.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▲ Reward Effective 1 Aug 2023

SmartBuy daily cap removed

7,500 bonus points/day → Full 15,000/mo earnable any day

HDFC removed the 7,500 bonus-points-per-day sub-cap on SmartBuy with no advance notice, letting cardholders earn the full 15,000 monthly accelerated cap in a single day — useful for large one-off bookings.

Verification: HDFC SmartBuy ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Redemption Effective 1 Feb 2023

Statement-credit redemption capped

Uncapped → 50,000 RP/mo

Redemption of Reward Points as statement credit capped at 50,000 RP per calendar month. (Infinia was exempted from the separate 70%-cap that hit lower HDFC cards.)

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Reward Effective 1 Jan 2023

Category earning caps introduced

Unlimited base earning → Grocery 2,000 RP/mo; rent, wallet & government excluded

Grocery/supermarket earning capped at 2,000 Reward Points per calendar month; no points on rent paid via third-party apps, on wallet loads, or on government/NPS transactions.

Verification: HDFC SmartBuy ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Redemption Effective 1 Jan 2023

SmartBuy travel & Tanishq redemption capped

Effectively uncapped → 150,000 RP/mo travel; 50,000 RP/mo Tanishq

Redemption of Reward Points against SmartBuy flights/hotels capped at 150,000 RP per month, and Tanishq voucher redemption capped at 50,000 RP per calendar month.

Verification: HDFC SmartBuy ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Fee Effective 18 Oct 2021

Metal Edition relaunch — fee and waiver raised

₹10,000 fee · ₹8L waiver (PVC) → ₹12,500 fee · ₹10L waiver (Metal)

Infinia re-launched in a metal form factor. Joining/renewal fee rose ₹10,000 → ₹12,500 + taxes and the fee-waiver spend rose ₹8L → ₹10L. Existing PVC cards issued before 18 Oct 2021 retained the older ₹10,000 fee and ₹8L waiver.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

▼ Reward Effective 2021

SmartBuy accelerator cut from 10X to 5X

10X on SmartBuy → 5X on SmartBuy

Accelerated earning on the SmartBuy portal (flights, hotels, vouchers) was halved from 10X to 5X of base points, roughly halving the headline SmartBuy return.

Verification: HDFC SmartBuy ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed

◆ Launch Effective 2016

HDFC Infinia launched

HDFC's flagship invite-only super-premium card debuts — 5 Reward Points per ₹150 (~3.3%), 10X accelerated earning on the SmartBuy portal, unlimited Priority Pass, and 24/7 concierge. Original fee ₹10,000 + taxes, waived at ₹8 lakh annual spend.

Verification: HDFC Bank ↗ · Confidence: Reconstructed

↓ Show all 14 changes Each change links to the issuer's own document — bank T&C, MITC, notice, press release or product page — where one is public. Where the bank published nothing, it's marked CardAdvisor Research and verified against the card's current terms. Independent of the live terms shown above. This timeline is one card's slice of our market-wide change record across every tracked card.

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Quick summary

Type Super Premium credit card

Reward rate 3.3%

Best for HDFC priority banking customer

Joining fee ₹12,500

Annual fee ₹12,500

Reviewed by

Devchandra Sah · Cards tested, miles earned, trips booked — for over a decade

Last verified 16 Aug 2026

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