ICICI Bank Emeralde Private Metal Vs HDFC Bank Infinia Credit Card: Which is better for you?

ICICI Emeralde Private Metal challenges HDFC Infinia's credit card dominance. The Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card, with its attractive rewards and benefits, emerges as a strong contender to the long-reigning Infinia.


For the last several years, most people in the credit card world have regarded the HDFC Bank Infinia Credit Card as the undisputed leader. In 2023, the Axis Bank Magnus Credit Card briefly tried to challenge the leader. However, the challenge did not last for too long. While HDFC Infinia stood its ground, Axis Magnus lost its sheen with devaluations. 


In 2025, ICICI Bank has decided to take on HDFC Bank’s Infinia Card head-on with its Emeralde Private Metal (EPM) Credit Card with the launch of the iShop portal. In this article, we will compare the features and benefits of both cards to help you decide which is better for you.


Joining and annual fees and associated benefits

Let us start the comparison between the two cards with the fees and the associated benefits.

 

The Infinia Card provides a complimentary annual Club Marriott membership for the first year. The membership offers up to 25% discounts on dining and stays at participating Marriott properties across the Asia-Pacific region. The Infinia Card also provides ‘Book stay for 3 nights and pay for 2’ and ‘1+1 complimentary buffet’ at participating ITC hotels.


The Emeralde Private Metal (EPM) Card provides a complimentary annual Taj Epicure membership for the first year. The membership provides a complimentary one-night stay, discounts on stays, meals, spa therapies, etc, at participating Taj properties. The EPM card also provides a complimentary annual EazyDiner Prime membership as a yearly benefit. The membership gives a 25 to 50% dining discount on booking a table through the EazyDiner App.


Which card is better: The above table shows that the joining fee, welcome reward points, annual renewal fee, and spend-based waiver for annual fee reversal for both cards are almost the same.


“The EPM Card comes with a 1-year Taj Epicure membership. It includes a complimentary one-night stay, a much better perk compared to the Infinia Card’s Club Marriott membership that offers no complimentary night stay”, said Sanket Garg, who runs the @DoBaniye handle on Instagram and X, along with his wife Manasi Jaiswal.


Earning reward points

An Infinia cardholder can earn up to 10x reward points on specified merchants/categories through the SmartBuy portal. Booking must be done through the HDFC Smartbuy Portal for HDFC Infinia for getting these reward points There is a monthly limit on purchasing gift vouchers of some brands, a convenience fee, and a cap on accelerated reward points that can be earned daily/monthly.


“On the Infinia Card, the daily and monthly capping on earning accelerated reward points through SmartBuy is 15,000. In addition, some instant vouchers have a monthly purchase limit. These include Amazon Pay (Rs. 10,000), Amazon Shopping Voucher (Rs. 10,000), Flipkart (Rs. 10,000), BigBasket (Rs. 1,500), etc. The purchase of some instant vouchers attracts a convenience fee, such as Amazon Pay (3.5%), Amazon Shopping Voucher (3.5%), Flipkart (2.5%), etc. On the brighter side, there is an instant discount on some instant vouchers, like Tata CliQ Luxury, PVR, Aldo, M&S, etc. The list is dynamic and subject to change from time to time”, says Manasi Jaiswal. 


Similarly, an EPM cardholder can earn up to 12x reward points on specified categories through the iShop portal. Booking must be done via ICICI iShop to get these rewards There is a monthly limit on purchasing gift vouchers of some brands, a convenience fee, and a cap on accelerated reward points that can be earned daily/ monthly.


“On the EPM Card, the daily capping on earning accelerated reward points through iShop is 10,000 reward points, and the monthly capping is 18,000 reward points. There is a monthly limit on shopping voucher purchases of some brands. These include Blinkit (Rs. 2,000), BigBasket (Rs. 2,000), Amazon Pay (Rs. 12,000), Flipkart (Rs. 12,000), Tata CliQ (Rs. 30,000), and Croma (Rs. 1,00,000). There is a 2.5% convenience fee on the purchase of Amazon Pay, Flipkart, and Swiggy vouchers,” adds Sanket.


Which card is better: Infinia’s 3.3% base reward rate is slightly better than EPM’s 3%. The above tables show that the EPM Card’s up to 36% accelerated reward rate and monthly capping of 18,000 reward points through the iShop portal is better than Infinia’s up to 33% accelerated reward rate and monthly capping of 15,000 reward points through the SmartBuy portal.


“The Infinia Card, through SmartBuy, offers 10x reward points (33% reward rate) on select merchants like Jockey, PharmEasy, IGP.com, etc. It also offers 5x reward points (16.67% reward rate) on select merchants such as RedBus, Zoomcar, Nykaa, Myntra, MMT Holidays, and Apple Imagine. Additionally, it offers 3x reward points (10% reward rate) on train ticket bookings. These partner merchants are not available on ICICI Bank’s iShop portal, though some can still be accessed indirectly through shopping vouchers”, adds Manasi.


Redemption of reward points

An Infinia and EPM cardholder can get a redemption value of up to Rs. 1 per reward point, depending on the redemption option chosen.


Which card is better: Both cards offer reward points redemption for booking flights and hotels at a redemption rate of Rs. 1 per point, which is good. The EPM Card allows up to 100% payment with points for booking flights, and up to 90% payment with points for booking hotels. However, the Infinia Card allows only 70% of the payment with reward points for booking flights and hotels. 


However the HDFC Infinia Card has more partners. “The Infinia Card provides a choice of 19 partners (15 airlines and 4 hotels) for transferring reward points. The notable 1:1 transfer partners include Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Finnair Avios, and Air France-KLM Flying Blue. It makes the Infinia Card valuable especially for those who prefer leveraging airline frequent flyer programs (FFPs) and hotel loyalty programs”, adds Sanket. EPM has only one partner - Maharaja Club.


Comparison of other benefits

Let us look at the other benefits of the Infinia and EPM cards.


Airport lounge access

Both cards provide unlimited complimentary airport lounge access to airports within India and abroad for the primary and add-on cardholders.


Golf access

The EPM Card provides unlimited complimentary golf rounds every month. The Infinia Card provides unlimited complimentary golf lessons and games.


Movies BOGO offer

There is no movie BOGO offer on the Infinia Card. The EPM Card provides a Buy One Get One (BOGO) offer on movie tickets. The discount is up to Rs. 750 on the second ticket, and the offer can be availed twice a month.


Milestone spend vouchers

There are no spend-based milestone offers on the Infinia Card. The EPM has two spend-based milestones: Get an EaseMyTrip Air Travel Voucher worth Rs. 3,000 on spending Rs. 4 lakhs, and another voucher worth Rs. 3,000 on spending Rs. 8 lakhs in a card anniversary year.


Which card is better: Both cards provide similar complimentary airport lounge access and golf access. “The EPM Card offers a movie BOGO benefit and two spend-based milestones. These perks are not available on the Infinia Card. Instead, the Infinia Card provides a 1+1 on buffet and 2+1 dining offers at participating ITC Hotels”, adds Manasi.


Final verdict

“If you are focused on airmiles and hotel loyalty programs, the Infinia Card is better as it provides a choice of 19 transfer partners. If you just need to book flights and hotels using your credit card, the EPM Card offers more value. Since iShop is a relatively new portal, you may need to give it some time to settle down. Another factor to note is the income eligibility criteria. As per some sources, the unofficial threshold for the EPM Card is more relaxed at Rs. 3 lakhs net monthly salary compared to Infinia’s Rs. 5 lakhs net monthly salary”, concludes Sanket.


Infinia’s 3.3% base reward rate is better than EPM’s 3%. Infinia has 19 partners (15 airlines and 4 hotels) for transferring reward points, compared to only one partner for EPM. However, the EPM Card scores in multiple aspects, like:


  1. Accelerated reward rate of up to 36% (vs Infinia’s up to 33%), 
  2. Higher monthly capping of earning 18,000 reward points through iShop (vs Infinia’s 15,000 through Smartbuy), 
  3. Allowing up to 100% payment through reward points redemption for booking flights (vs Infinia’s 70%) and up to 90% for booking hotels (vs Infinia’s 70%)
  4. Additional benefits like movie BOGO offer twice a month, and spend-based milestone offers 


To conclude, although the two score close to each other the Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card overall is a better choice than the Infinia Credit Card.


Gopal Gidwani is a freelance personal finance content writer with 15+ years of experience. He can be reached on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gopalgidwani/