HDFC Bank officially launched a range of business credit cards this week named BizFirst, BizGrow, BizPower, and BizBlack for small & medium business owners. Among them, Biz Power is the premium variant & BizBlack is the super premium variant that offers lucrative rewards on business spends.
Note that these are “business” cards and not “corporate” cards and hence they are issued on personal liability and not corporate liability. So technically they’re not so different from personal cards as the spends on the card are reported to personal PAN and not to company’s PAN.
That said, here’s a quick look at the newly launched HDFC Bank business credit cards with a focus on BizPower and BizBlack variants.
Table of Contents
BizBlack
- Joining Fee: 10,000 INR+GST, renewal fee waived on 7.5L spend
- Club Marriott membership and Taj stay voucher worth Rs.5000 on a spend of Rs. 1.5 Lac within 90 days.
- Reward rate: 3.3% on regular spends
- Accelerated rewards: 16.5% with 5X rewards on tax, GST, bill payments on PayZapp and more.
- 5X T&C: Max. Cap of 7.5K bonus points a month; min. spend requirement: 50,000 INR (anywhere)
- Flight voucher or Taj stay voucher worth Rs.5,000 on every Rs.5 Lac spend. Get vouchers worth upto Rs.20,000 on spend of Rs.20 Lac in a calendar year.
- Interest Free Credit period of 55 days instead of usual 50 days.
- Unlimited Lounge Access for primary & Add-on, Golf benefits & more
BizBlack mimics the personal Diners Black Credit Card with additional features and benefits that are truly beneficial for businesses.
That said, note that there is no other “business” credit card in India that gets anywhere close to the immensely rewarding BizBlack Credit Card. But part of the problem is that BizBlack is only issued on DinersClub platform and hence comes with acceptance issues.
BizPower
- Joining Fee: 2,500 INR+GST, renewal fee waive on 4L spend
- Welcome Benefit: Amazon Prime (Annual membership) & Biz Prime (6 months membership)
- Reward rate: 1.3% on regular spends
- Accelerated rewards: 6.5% with 5X rewards on tax, GST, bill payments on PayZapp and more.
- 5X T&C: Max. 5K Bonus points a month; min. spend requirement: 25,000 INR (anywhere)
- Quarterly Milestone: 2500 INR gift voucher on 2.5L Spend
- Credit period of 55 days instead of usual 50 days.
- Lounge access: 2/Qtr domestic (+2/Qtr based on spends), 6 International
BizPower likely replaces the existing Regalia Business Credit Card with upgraded features and benefits of getting better rewards on select business spends.
Why Business Cards?
There are two major advantages of using business credit cards over the regular personal credit cards and here are they:
- High Value Spends: As you might know, HDFC Bank or most banks for that matter sends a notice when high value business spends are done on your personal credit cards. This is less likely to happen on Business Credit Cards as they’re meant for business spends.
- Tax Payments are rewarding: Getting a reward rate of ~16% on TAX/GST is unheard of in this lifetime and HDFC Bank is the first bank ever to offer such a crazy benefit. While this may not last long, I guess the capping in place should sustain it for an year or so.
Final Thoughts
HDFC Bank’s new range of business Credit Cards are heavily loaded with features and benefits that are truly useful for small and medium businesses.
My first ever Credit Card with HDFC Bank was the Business Platinum Credit Card (now discontinued) that used to offer 1% cashback on spends back in time. So in comparison, HDFC Bank has evolved slow and steady all these years to launch probably the best ever Business Credit Card in the world with the BizBlack variant among others.
Expect the newly launched cards to go in circulation within a week or two. A detailed coverage of each to be shared shortly.
I hope we get more such rewarding business credit cards in India so that I’ll have more options to answer hundreds of business owners every year asking “Hey Sid, suggest me a good business credit card to spend >5L a month”.
Is it possible that individuals with no business apply for it? Freelance etc.
Yes, if applied as self-employed.
OK, got it. Ty Sid
Hi sid..
What’s the difference between corporate card and biz card….are.corproeate cards free…
Spends on Corp cards are reported to Company’s PAN.
Pricing isn’t the primary differentiating factor.
HDFC is lucky to have the DC platform or else they would not have been release any new cards unless on RuPay platform as there’s a massive forced push for RuPay cards. DC belonging to the same parent Discover which RuPay depends on for international transactions, has some leniency and HDFC is trying to make maximum use of it. Whether it will be fruitful is a different matter altogether given the low acceptance of DC not only in India but almost all of Asia and Europe too.
DC has not low acceptance atleast in India. Thanks to rupay tie-up it’s online acceptance is 98% & offline-90% as per my opinion.
My sample space is probably small. And I have not used a DC card for a lil over 2 years now as I upgraded my DC Black to Infinia. There are some others who I know, who weren’t lucky enough, who had to downgrade to Regalia due to acceptance issues.
A friend of mine spoke to customer care about upgrade options from Regalia. He was told that he had only DC Black to upgrade to but they themselves told him that acceptance is not as high as Visa and advised him against it. This is not an isolated instance. DC Black is given only to people who specifically insist on it. This friend later got an invite for Infinia but didn’t choose it as his Regalia is LFT but the Infinia wasn’t.
Is Diners accepted in govt. portals?
IT portal has HDFC Payment gateway, so likely it should.
In the scheme document of the card , it is specific that you need to transact via the HDFC payment gateway to use the biz cards for tax payments
Do income tax/GST/utility bill payments count towards milestone calculations both monthly and yearly?
Yes
Hdfc bank website mentions “Earn maximum 7,500 Reward Points per statement cycle.” for biz black card.
Is the 7.5k limit only for 5X rewards points or for the entire points? I do an income tax payment of 1 lakh in a month, how much rewards points i would get?
On Bizblack, 7.5K is the cap on 4X of the 5X. The equivalent spend is ~57K INR, after which you’ll continue to get 1X which is a nice 3.3% return.
Helo sid
How to upgrade business regalia to biz black. business cards are not listed in upgrade form
Upgrade forms should be ready with new Biz cards in a week or two.
I checked with my HDFC branch but they say that if I hold DCB then I can’t get this business card for my company. Is this true?
Problem with HDFC is there is not much you can do with their reward points other the cash redemy. Unlike Axis or Amex that gives variety of redemption options.
Can you explain the 15.6% returns? Because if i spend one lakh on IT return, i will get 7500 capped points and approx 1500 1X points totalling 9000 points. I will be giving approx 850 rs more for paying tax via credit card. So over all 8250 points on 1 lakhs spend. This is my calculation, please do correct me if wrong.
Any workaround for salaried people to be eligible for this?
But why would salaried need it?
I can partially pay advance income tax and inform my Employer
If it’s a first card with premium banking relationship, it should be easy, otherwise card swap to business variant might be tough. We’ll soon know how HDFC is handling those requests.
Hi Ketan!
I’m a practicing CA and came across your msg. Thought I’ll give some unsolicited advice here 😉
So, even if you pay advance tax, your employer will still deduct the entire amount of TDS which is deductible as per your slab rates. He can’t take into consideration your advance tax payment and deduct TDS at a lower rate. Otherwise he will get into trouble while getting his books audited and filing TDS Returns. So it’s difficult that the plan will work.
Regards.
To pay Income Tax.
Siddharth can you explain the 16.5% returns calculation?
3.3 * 5 (5X rewards) = 16.5%
But because of capping it can’t ever go 16.5%.
Ultil capping equivalent spend ofcourse. 🙂
Sid, it would be great if you could give some information regarding the convenience fee charged on vendor payments, GST payments and income tax payments. As per my research, the following platforms exist for the payments of the above items.
1)Swifti- For GST payments(0.78% + 18% GST) , for vendor payment (2%+ 18% GST)
2)Smarthub Vyapar App- For GST and vendor payments (couldn’t know about the fees charged)
3) Gst Portal- Again, I couldn’t know about the fees charged
4) Income Tax Portal- The only website where you can pay income taxes (couldn’t know about the fees charged)
I have a Infinia card and I asked my RM to see if I am eligible for the BizBlack card (I am a professional with GST registration and make monthly GST payments). My RM checked and let me know that I cannot apply for the card if I already own an Infinia card. Looks ridiculous. Isn’t it?
Yes, same story with me. I checked with 2 different branches. The only option they said is to close your Infinia and use all the points – they can’t be transferred. Even then, they said no surety you will get the BizBlack. The logic given was that it’s the same PAN.
It is quite ridiculous and seems it’s to attract new business customers only; existing customers be damned.
They’re allowing it now.
Are you sure ?
My RM informed me that it cannot be issued to INFINIA card holders. I checked again today.
Today I got the approval of BIZ Black card. Can I also pay rent through this card and get the reward points? What are the exclusion in this card?
+1 and also do we get rewards for credit card payments?
While applying on HDFC site m not getting option of BizBlack or Biz Power…Getting options of only basic business cards like BizGrow.
Any Update on Upgrading process from B Regalia To Biz Black, Limit 7.75 L
Imperia Banking, Or any other way around, Im all in to buy Their ULIPs too for this one.
Upgrade process is now live. Get in touch with your RM.
Hi
Is biz power best card for ad spend like google ads.
Any other credit card with good reward option like idfc first business
Which card offers better benefits Infinia or Biz Black? Are there any limitations on using diners club as compared to visa. I’m asking as I have an Infinia card and my husband (who files GST every month) has been offered biz Balck.
Hi Sid,
Naman here, we met at Westin Himalayas. How are you doing?
I applied for the Biz Black on 1st March. Received a rejection mail within 2 days however when I asked the agent the reason, he said it’s not rejected its still under process. Physical verification was done on 27 March however I was not available and I told the Verification Person to come another day but he insisted that he can do it without me as he just needed someone to verify me and collect some documents. Next day again got a rejection mail saying they were unable to Verify My Identity through Contact Point Verification process. I again went back to the agent and informed him of the same, and again he told me it’s not rejected its still in process.
I’m confused and don’t know what to do. Please guide
Hi Naman,
I’m good and hope you’re too.
As far as HDFC is concerned, ignore any status emails/updates shown on their application status page. Usually their tracking system is broken and doesn’t give the right info.
That said, I’m unsure about the agent. If applied at branch, you may trust what the bank official says otherwise you just need to wait for sometime. You’ll get to know within 2 weeks ideally.
Thanks Sid,
I mistakenly said agent, the CC person was a Bank Employee.
Just got confirmation of rejection. Not sure of what the reason was, even the guy isn’t aware. I meet/exceed all the criteria.
Any suggestion on how to approach this?
Employee would for sure know the rejection, maybe his boss if not the field guy.
If nothing works, please use my contact page to share app # and contact details.
Thanks Sid, I’ll try to get in touch with someone from my nearest branch and get an actual update
Hi,
Anyone in here who has a HDFC Infinia card and has been able to get the BiZ Black card also issued ( ie by not cancelling the existing Infinia card)
Secondly when I see my payment options on GST portal it shows only
Kotak Bank Credit Card option and no HDFC Bank Credit Card option, so does it really work at the GST Portal as one needs the HDFC CC option to atleast reflect in the EPayment > Credit Card options
Rgds
Vivek
and most important point for this card or any HDFC card that allows GST payments is what is the monthly cap of Reward points ( they give 5 per every Rs. 150) for all payments done for GST returns .
If the Cap is not reasonable and we cannot get enough reward points then the card is of no use , not to mention they charge 0.78% + GST for every payment
done towards GST challans…