While HDFC bank is well known for its Diners Black Credit Card due its popular Smartbuy 10X rewards program, now the bank has come up with a new business variant called HDFC Bank BizBlack Credit Card that mimics the regular diners black and targets small business owners.
The HDFC BizBlack Credit card that comes with 5X rewards on tax payments is an industry first benefit and is a good beginning for the growth of business credit cards in India, a segment that’s under-served all these years.
HDFC Bank’s Bizblack card is undoubtedly a lucrative card for business owners of any scale. Let’s see how and why in detail.
Table of Contents
Overview
| Type | Super Premium Business Credit Card |
| Reward Rate | 3.3% to 33% |
| Annual Fee | 10,000+GST |
| Best for | Tax payments |
| USP | 5X Rewards on Tax/Bill Payments |
HDFC Biz Black Credit Card is not a “corporate” credit card but a “business” credit card issued on personal liability and so your spends on the card would be reported to your personal PAN.
It is primarily meant for sole proprietor companies but is open for other business types as well.
Fees
| Joining Fee | 10,000 INR+GST |
| Joining Fee Waiver | 1.5L spend in first 90 days (fresh issuance only) |
| Welcome Benefit | – Club Marriott Membership – 5,000 INR Taj Voucher |
| Renewal Fee | 10,000 INR+GST |
| Renewal Benefit | Nil |
| Renewal Fee waiver | On spending >7.5 lakhs |
- Welcome Gift: 5000 INR Taj Voucher issued on 1.5L spends in first 90 days
Ideally you may consider it as a FREE card, as there is a joining fee waiver for paid cards on 1.5L spend within 90 days, which will also unlock the 5K Taj Voucher.
Note that in most cases you would be able to get it as First Year Free (FYF) on upgrade just like most other HDFC Bank Credit Cards.
Design
It’s a neat and simple design as you can see above with a metal form factor. Such minimalistic designs are certainly good for business cards.
While metal cards are good for some, these days it’s bit of a hassle for me to handle multiple metal cards in wallet.
I wish bank’s come up with an option to choose the form-factor in future. I’ll happily go with a regular plastic card as they’re lightweight.
Reward Points
| SPEND TYPE | REWARDS | REWARD RATE (Flights/Hotels) | REWARD RATE (Amazon Pay Voucher) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Spend | 5 RP / 150 INR | 3.3% | 2.3% |
| Accelerated Rewards (5X Rewards) | 25 RP / 150 INR | 16.5% | 11.55% |
- Amazon Pay Voucher is part of “business catalog” that can be redeemed via HDFC Netbanking at 1RP=0.70 INR but this may change anytime.
- 5X Reward Points applicable on minimum spends of Rs. 50,000 (all spends) in statement cycle
- Max Cap on 5X rewards: 7,500 RP / Stmt Cycle (56,250 INR spend equivalent)
- Reward Points validity: 3 Years
While the regular rewards for flight/hotel is pretty good for most, Amazon Pay Vouchers serves the need for those who’re not much into travel.
As you might be aware, HDFC Bank runs this campaign for a short period once in a while where-in they allow other super premium cardholders too to redeem points at 70ps/point for Amazon Vouchers.
Restrictions on Rewards:
- 70% can be redeemed from points, 30% payable by card
- Insurance: 5000 RP / day
- Grocery: 2000 RP p.m.
- Earning Cap: Max points that can be earned is 1.5L RP / stmt cycle
- Redemption Cap: 75,000 Points per calendar month.
Not to mention that there is a separate 7,500 bonus RP cap for regular Smartbuy 3X/5X/10X rewards. You may access this card on Smartbuy for hotel/flight redemptions and other business card benefits via Privileges > BizDeals link.
The card is not enabled for Airmiles transfer on Smartbuy but allows airmiles transfers on netbanking (limited).
5X Rewards
Accelerated rewards of 5X reward points is applicable on below type of spends:
- Income Tax Payments: Pay for Advance Tax & TDS on Income tax portal.
- GST Payments: GST payments on GST portal
- PayZapp: Bill payments on PayZapp (except: Clubs, Housing, Rent, Hospital, Education, Donation, Mutual funds, Loans, Credit Card payments & Wallet Load)
- SmartPay: Bill payments on auto-debit.
- Business Payments: Other business spends via Nuclei.
5X rewards on tax and other business spends are the first time in the country (or) perhaps even in the world! It comes with the ability to save as good as 16.5% which is quite lucrative.
Apart from Tax & other Business spends, PayZapp is a good addition too. It reminds me of the good old days in 2016 where they used to offer lucrative bonus points on all PayZapp spends and they even did one recently in 2021 with 3X rewards but with a smaller max cap.
And now it’s good to see that the Bank is investing more on PayZapp again and not to mention that their all new interface is super cool which I’ve been using for few things including but not limited to Credit Card Payments.
Milestone Rewards
| SPEND REQUIREMENT | MILESTONE BENEFIT | Reward Rate (as points) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Lakhs | 5,000 INR | 1% |
| 10 Lakhs | 5,000 INR | 1% |
| 15 Lakhs | 5,000 INR | 1% |
| 20 Lakhs | 5,000 INR | 1% |
- Voucher Options: SmartBuy Flight / Taj Stay vouchers
- Get upto 20,000 Vouchers based on spends per CALENDAR Year
- Rent and fuel spends are excluded for milestone benefits.
This is a neat and simple benefit which is useful for travellers. I’ve been a great fan of Taj Vouchers as you might know and I’m quite happy to see that HDFC Bank finally have some tie-up with Taj Hotels.
That said, looking at the value, we get a sweet 4.3% reward rate (3.3%+1%) upto 20L spend in a year.
Airport Lounge Access
| ACCESS TYPE | VIA | LIMIT | GUEST ACCESS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic Lounge Access | Diners Club | Unlimited | – |
| International Lounge Access | Diners Club | Unlimited | – |
- Card must be active (every month) to be eligible for the lounge benefit
The Domestic & International airport Lounge access benefit is not only for the primary cardholder but also extends to all Add-on cardmembers as well.
Speaking of the add-on cards, the add-on card also bears the same number as on primary card, like most other HDFC Bank Credit cards.
Golf Benefit
- Complimentary Games: 6 / Quarter
- Coverage: 20 Domestic Golf Courses & 140 International Golf Courses
It’s rare to find Credit Cards with access to international golf courses, so it’s good to see that. However, unlike most other cards, lessons are not part of the offering.
Forex Markup Fee
- Foreign Currency Markup Fee: 2%+GST = 2.2%
- Rewards: 3.3% + 1%
- Net Gain: 4.3% – 2.2% = 2% (gain)
Just like most other super premium credit cards, HDFC Diners BizBlack Credit Card also comes at a discounted forex markup fee of 2%.
And if you activate the Global Value Program you get 1% additional cashback thereby getting you a net 2% gain on forex spends.
Devaluation Meter
- Devaluation meter reading: High, in 1 Year
Speaking of new credit cards in 2024, we’ll have to touch upon the probability of devaluation for obvious reasons, as these days all lucrative credit cards issued by most banks gets devalued at ultra pro max speed.
From my observation, the 5X bonus points on PayZapp might go through a devaluation soon (or) perhaps a “correction” if I have to use the right words.
However most other benefits might stay intact given that there are sufficient capping in place to avoid any misuse.
Hands-on experience
It’s been about a month since I got it as an add-on card on my family member’s Primary BizBlack Card which was upgraded from the Diners Black Metal Card.
For Income tax payments, it costs 0.70% extra as a convenience fee when paid through HDFC Bank payment gateway.
Given that the convenience fee of ~1% is there for all these tax spends, it’s still good as one would anyway earn >2.3% (3.3%-1%) as regular rewards and of-course lot more with bonus points.
Note: 4X Bonus points are expected to be credited within 3 days of statement generation and as the stmt is yet to be generated, I should be able to update on this by next week.
Should you get it?
Obviously!
If you’re into business of any form and have good amount of taxes to be paid (around 50K INR a month) among other spends like PayZapp bill payments, it’s no wonder that HDFC Bank’s BizBlack Card is a MUST HAVE in your wallet.
Apart from above benefits, one would also get 55 days credit period, which is slightly higher than the other regular personal credit cards.
However, do-not forget that the card is on Diners Club platform and hence the acceptance might be an issue at times when you wish to use it with small merchants.
Hence it’s good to have as an additional card, fortunately HDFC is issuing floater cards quite well these days, so it should work for most that way.
Eligibility
- For Fresh Applications: ITR >21 Lakhs p.a.
- Credit Limit on Existing HDFC Bank Credit Card: >6 Lakhs
- GST Returns, Bank stmts, etc
How to Apply?
The easiest way to apply for an HDFC Bank’s credit card is by applying online, you may use this link to apply.
You may as well apply offline from the branch if online application process isn’t showing the eligibility.
Bottom line
- Cardexpert Rating: 5/5
HDFC BizBlack Credit Card is a heavily loaded card with sufficient options under 5X rewards to help one get 16.5% on most business spends.
In a nutshell, if your business spends are about 50,000 INR a month, you would end up saving 1 Lakh INR a year. Lounge access, Golf & milestone benefits are extras!
Historically, HDFC Bank has the habit of surprising cardholders with out of the world benefits, for example, their Smartbuy 10X rewards program has been a huge hit that went for about half a decade and now 5X rewards on business spends is likely to give a nitro boost for the bank’s business cards portfolio.
While that’s good so far, I wish they come up with something similar for corporate cards on company liability. Until then, enjoy the 5X rewards on the BizBlack Credit Card.
Sir highly likely they are not going to reduce any benefits like 5x in taxes and 3.3% reward rate. The devaluation which I believe that would do after 1/1.5 years is increasing the minimum spend limit from 50k per month to 1 lac for 5x on business spends. That’s what they have done on my corporate card.
May I know which benefit you’re referring to and on which corporate card?
Dear Valued Cardholder,
We hope this message finds you well.
To keep up with the evolving features on your HDFC Bank Purchase Premium Credit Card, we have an important update for you.
Starting 15th February 2024, you’ll earn 5% CashBack* on minimum monthly spends of Rs.1 Lakh, with a max capping of Rs.1,500 CashBack per billing cycle.
(Used to be on 50k spend)
Hi sid
1. I have some doubt about eligibility
My itr is low only showing 7.5 laks
But turn over is high also monthly paid gst above 50k
2.i have business regalia card having 287k limit now how I will get card
Any idea
If you’re banking with HDFC and have good AQB along with good GST payment record, branch might take a deviation. Mostly they won’t, as ITR is less than half of their expectation but you may try.
SMALL CORRECTION SIR, ITS .72% not .70% for paying income tax via HDFC portal. You will only get 5x on income tax if you pay with via HDFC payment gateway.
In other words it’s a regular DCB plus 5X on I-T and utility bills with its own separate cap. And that’s phenomenal. Only variation is it replaces 1.25% monthly milestone of DCB and couple of annual benefits with 1% worth vouchers on every 5L spends. But enough to consider migrating from LTF DCB to paid DCBB .
However the website mentions:
Flights and Hotels redemption, Credit Card members can redeem up to a maximum of 50% of the booking value through Reward Points. Rest of the transaction amount will have to be paid via the Credit Card limit.
Has it changed from 70-30 to 50-50 ? If yes, does the payable 50% earn accelerated points? In case of 70-30 with DCB, the 30% spend does earn accelerated points.
There’s another mention that vouchers can be redeemed at 0.35 , so are there specific ones for 0.70 ??
This is a seriously good card from Hdfc after a while.
It’s 70/30 as I can see on redemption page. Checked with Bank as well and that line will be updated on bank’s portal in few days.
But that means the bank has a plan for 50/50 sometime in future 😐
The 30% part always gets the accelerated rewards and I don’t think HDFC changed that on smartbuy because it’s same smartbuy system.
They’ve a special “business” catalogue under netbanking redemption, even with 1 INR per point but most of them are pointless for most, so Amazon is the best. However, I’m expecting Amazon would be sold out very soon.
Hello Sid,
I was really looking forward to this review, it reaffirmed my decision to try to get this card. I have gotten in touch with another Bank Employee who has assured to help me with my issue. I don’t want to trouble you with such issues, however if nothing works out I may need your help.
Just a small note, the Forex markup on the BizBlack Card is 2%+GST
Sure, anytime.
Yes, realised the markup fee shortly after publishing, just updated.
Hi, good read… can you please also share the points transfer partners through this card and also the Ratio for each partner airline/hotel
Krisflyer & Vistara via netbanking at 1:1
Thanks Sid for a great article, as always!
1 quick question – I have a side gig (sole prop) and also have a full-time job. I pay taxes for the gig as too as ‘presumptive income’ and not as GST. My total income (including full-time job) is higher than the 21 lac expectation. Will I also be eligible for this card as I do have a legitimate business?
Is it registered business, then should be doable.
can a non business owner also apply for this card and get it?
Ideally no.
How do one get this card Sid? Absolutely NO for salaried or a means to get this, being HDFC do not wish to go other means 🙂 Also with DCB (LTF) being owned unsure if they convert that or issue separate one
I haven’t seen any salaried getting the card but it’s not a hard rule by bank. If you’ve other income despite being salaried, that may help to justify.
They can issue as floater or as an upgrade depending on the profile, as always.
Thank you Sid
Hi Sid, online when tried, I am getting BizGrow 🙁 so didn’t apply. But they made Cibil inquiries 🙁
Generally CIBIL inquiries doesn’t really affect score when you’ve multiple cards.
So only branch can help in this case.
Noted Sid, ty. Will try branch route.
Despite you following a template, somehow this article looks very neat and clear 🙂 thank you Sid
Glad you liked it.
As per exclusions on payzapp, looks like insurance should be eligible for 5X.
Card eligibility mentions only self-employed persons, but can salaried people apply purely basis card-on-card or upgrade existing hdfc card ?
Indeed, another very well covered article. I look forward for your articles. Can you share a screenshot of business catalogue, I couldn’t find it.
Also, You mentioned your add on card, did you pay your taxes using that add on card. I was thinking of paying my parents tax with add on card (me as the primary card holder), is it fine to do so. Although I know it’s a CA who should answer.
Even I also saw 50% as airlines points redemtion.
Again thanks for the crisp article, I always refer to your articles in case i forget something related to my card.
Here’s the business catalog: Page 1, Page 2
Hi Sid. I have an Infinia card. So can I also apply for Biz black card? Or am I not eligible as I already have Infinia?
Also if I do get BizBlack, will it have a separate login in the Smartbuy portal? Or will the login ID for Infinia and BizBlack be the same in Smartbuy portal?
Separate card as a floater card is possible but only your RM can answer for your profile, as it depends on limit/NRV etc.
You can have a diff mobile number for 2nd smartbuy ac.
Just trying to understand benefits of Club Marriott if I am already a Marriott Gold Member. Barring some Dining discounts.
Nothing much, isn’t attractive for most.
Hi Sid how much days it will take for NOC if we cleared payments in HDFC
Hello
Do they also allot a Visa/Mastercard variant card with bizpower as well like earlier times or its just diners?Also can we apply for bizpower as well for visa/master spends after getting this one?
If you have to pay GST of Rs 4 lakhs do you pay directly or via gst website or through hdfc app for accelerated rewards.
Thanks
Direct. There is no other option now.
Hey! Does the regular diners black card give you 1x points on tax payments or not?
No
Between this, Infinia, and DCB Metal, which should I get? My tax payments are way above the multiplier limit so the multiplier basically doesn’t matter. The bank as of now hasn’t agreed to give me Infinia based on my relatively low ITR but I hold a Regalia Gold with 5L limit.
If taxes are higher, then Bizblack would do as you don’t even get 1X with other cards. Here you get 1X beyond the capping.
Hi Sid,
Do I need to have a GST number or a running business to have this card?
Does GST portal for Tamilnadu is enabled for credit card payments?
I didn’t see it last month. Can anyone confirm please.