Since 1 April 2026, paying the Infinia fee is no longer enough to keep the card. HDFC Bank's Most Important Terms and Conditions, updated 2 September 2026, state that continued access to the Infinia programme is aligned to ₹18 lakh of card spend in a financial year (primary plus add-ons) or ₹50 lakh of relationship value.
What changed
Relationship value is defined in the document as the combined average monthly balances across savings, current, fixed and recurring deposit accounts. The financial year runs 1 April to 31 March, not from your card anniversary. HDFC says cardholders who meet neither test "will be intimated seeking to meet the terms accordingly within specified timelines", and that where the criteria are still not met the bank "will offer the next best alternate card variant basis customer consent" — failing which the cardholder can close the card, or the bank will.
The retention test applies to the Infinia programme, so it covers both variants HDFC lists in that document — Infinia (Metal Edition) at a ₹12,500 fee waived on ₹10 lakh of annual spend, and Infinia at ₹10,000 waived on ₹8 lakh. On either, two thresholds now sit on the same card and they are far apart.
| Test | Annual figure | Monthly equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal fee waiver, Metal Edition | ₹10,00,000 | ₹83,334 |
| Renewal fee waiver, Infinia | ₹8,00,000 | ₹66,667 |
| Programme retention, both | ₹18,00,000 | ₹1,50,000 |
| Relationship value route | ₹50,00,000 average balances | — |
Who is affected
Anyone holding HDFC Bank Infinia whose card spend runs below ₹1.5 lakh a month and who does not park ₹50 lakh with HDFC. That band is wide: clearing the Metal Edition's fee waiver at ₹83,334 a month still leaves you ₹66,666 a month short of the retention bar. Nobody outside the Infinia programme is affected, and the rule changes nothing about how the card earns.
What to do
Measure your pace now rather than in March, because the shortfall compounds. At ₹75,000 a month, this is what the rest of the financial year has to carry:
| Months elapsed | Spent so far | Months left | Needed per month to reach ₹18 lakh |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | ₹2,25,000 | 9 | ₹1,75,000 |
| 6 | ₹4,50,000 | 6 | ₹2,25,000 |
| 9 | ₹6,75,000 | 3 | ₹3,75,000 |
Three months out, a ₹75,000-a-month holder needs to spend five times their normal rate. That is not a plan, and manufacturing spend to hold a card is how people end up paying interest at 23.88% per annum to protect an annual fee a fraction of that size.
HDFC does not name a guaranteed replacement. One separately available product to compare is HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Metal Edition. It carries a ₹10,000 fee waived at ₹8 lakh of annual spend, the same 2% foreign markup, the same base earn of 5 Reward Points per ₹150, and unlimited lounge access through the Diners Club network with no minimum-spend condition — and no ₹18 lakh retention bar. SmartBuy earning depends on the particular offer and its bonus-point ceiling; we have withdrawn the earlier fixed spending-cap comparison. Check Diners acceptance at the merchants you use. We compare the two in full at Infinia vs Diners Club Black; the point valuations behind both sit at what points are worth, and how we compute this explains the personas.
Do not spend extra solely to retain a card. Compare the available alternatives if your planned spending and relationship value do not meet the terms.
Sources
- HDFC Bank — Key Fact Statement cum Most Important Terms & Conditions for Credit Cards (PDF) — updated 2 September 2026, verified 7 September 2026