HDFC Diners Club Black and SBI Card ELITE are among the most popular premium credit cards in the market. Both the cards offer an extensive range of benefits across travel, lifestyle, reward and shopping and it can be difficult to choose the right one for you. So, here is a detailed comparison of the two cards to help you decide.
SBI Card ELITE
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HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card
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| SBI Card ELITE | HDFC Diners Club Black |
Get e-gift voucher worth Rs. 5,000. Choose from the following brands:
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Get complimentary annual membership for the following:
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SBI Card ELITE charges a first-year fee of Rs. 4,999 and gives it all back in the form of welcome gift vouchers. On the other hand, you would need the actual monetary value of all the vouchers combined to understand the welcome gift of HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card.
HDFC Diners Club Black charges Rs. 10,000 as joining fee and the total value of welcome gifts is Rs. 22,232 which is more than double of the fee charged.
| SBI Card ELITE | HDFC Diners Club Black |
Earning Rewards:
Redeeming Rewards:
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Earning Rewards:
Redeeming Rewards:
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It seems HDFC Diners Club Black’s rewards program is focused on travelers who would like to use their rewards for air miles or directly for ticket booking. This is one of the few cards in the market that offer the 1:1 ratio for reward/air mile redemption and it also gives you the option to transfer the points to four frequent flyer programs- Vistara, Avios, InterMiles and KrisFlyer Miles.
On the other hand, SBI Card ELITE has a basic rewards program only with the option of getting cashback for it. The rate of cashback (4:1) is also not impressive. So, if simplicity of the rewards program attracts you more than the value proposition, SBI Card ELITE is better.
But clearly HDFC Diners Club Black has a more rewarding program.
| SBI Card ELITE | HDFC Diners Club Black |
Complimentary Memberships
Lounge Access
Foreign Exchange Markup Fee
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Complimentary Memberships
On completing the first transaction on the card in the first year and on reaching annual spending threshold of Rs. 8 Lakh or more from the second year onwards, you will get the following complimentary travel-centric memberships:
Lounge Access
Foreign Exchange Markup Fee
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Both the cards charge the same foreign exchange markup fee of 1.99% which is much better than the market rate of 3-3.5%. As far as lounge access is concerned, HDFC Diners Club Black is definitely the winner because not only are the visits unlimited but add-on cardholders can also avail this benefit. Diners Club itself has an extensive list of eligible lounges across the globe so membership to no other lounge access program is necessary.
However, as compared to SBI Card ELITE, the HDFC credit card does not give as many complimentary memberships. The free membership also has certain spending threshold conditions. SBI Card has again kept it simple as there are no conditions to avail free memberships.
The unlimited lounge access steals the show and makes HDFC Diners Club Black a winner again.
| Fee/Charge | SBI Card ELITE | HDFC Diners Club Black |
| Annual Fee | Rs. 4,999 | Rs. 10,000 |
| Waiver Condition | Spend Rs. 10 Lakh in a year | Spend Rs. 5 Lakh in a year |
| APR | 40.2% | 23.88% |
| Maximum fuel surcharge waiver in a billing cycle | Rs. 250 | Rs. 1,000 |
| Cash Advance Limit | Up to 80% of the total credit limit; maximum 15,000 per day | 40% of the total credit limit |
| Cash Withdrawal Fee | 2.5% of the amount or Rs. 500 whichever is higher | 2.5% of the amount or Rs. 500 whichever is higher |
Though the annual fee of HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card is higher, overall it will cost you less as the charges on revolving credit card are lesser and the waiver condition is also easy. SBI Card ELITE charges only Rs. 4,999 as the annual fee but the spending bar for waiver is set very high at Rs. 10 Lakh. In case of the HDFC Credit Card, you will get the annual fee waived off on spending Rs. 5 Lakh but in order to keep all your complimentary memberships going, you must spend Rs. 8 Lakh or more.
The choice will depend on the user. If you want a lower annual fee, SBI Card ELITE is better but if you look at the overall cost of holding the credit card, HDFC Diners Club Black would be better.
| SBI Card ELITE | HDFC Diners Club Black |
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The milestone benefits of the HDFC Card come in the form of memberships and vouchers. The card gives vouchers worth Rs. 500 every month but only on reaching the set threshold. But SBI Card ELITE gives movie vouchers worth Rs. 500 per month without any spending condition. Also, since the rewards on the SBI credit card can be converted into cash, the milestone benefit is worth Rs. 12,500.
This is one parameter on which the benefits on SBI Card ELITE outshine those on HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card.
Apart from the various benefits compared above, both the credit cards provide some more services to the cardholders.
| SBI Card ELITE | HDFC Diners Club Black |
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| Parameters | SBI Card ELITE | HDFC Diners Club Black |
| Annual Fee | ★★★ |
★★ |
| Lounge Access | ★★★★ |
★★★★★ |
| Travel Benefits | ★★★ |
★★★★★ |
| Rewards | ★★★ |
★★★★ |
| Welcome Benefits | ★★★ |
★★★★★ |
| Milestone Bonus | ★★★★ |
★★★ |
| Entertainment Benefits | ★★★★ |
★★★ |
| Overall Rating | ★★★★ |
★★★★ |
The choice between SBI Card ELITE and HDFC Diners Club Black is mostly based on whether you would want benefits in the form of vouchers and memberships or in actual monetary value. Simplicity of using the card should also drive your decision.
If the idea of transferring points to miles and travelling lavishly excites you and if you are ready to pay a higher annual fee for it, HDFC Diners Club Black is your card. However, if you want more tangible benefits in the form of cashback along with a few memberships that make travelling better for you, you should choose SBI Card ELITE. In addition, the SBI Card also gives back more than it charges in the form of free movie tickets worth Rs. 6,000 annually hence well-suited for movie lovers.
HDFC Diners Club Black is surely a more premium credit card and most of the above comparison matrices also give it thumbs up. But, as a smart consumer, you should understand your preferences and what you are looking for in a premium card and then make a choice.
3 Comments
Thank you for the wonderful comparison which solve my all doubts and save my time on researching
Excellent comparison metrics. Thanks very much. Just 1 Glitch. The REWARDS section comparison data is wrongly mapped and is reversed. please correct that.
Hi, Sabyasachi. Thank you for bringing the mistake to our notice. It has been corrected.