HDFC Bank offers two popular entry-level credit cards for small to medium businesses, BizGrow and BizFirst. Both cards are designed to help business owners manage their expenses while earning rewards on everyday business expenditure. They come with affordable fees, welcome vouchers, milestone rewards, and useful features like dining discounts and SmartPay benefits. While they may look similar at first, each card has different reward structures, spend-based benefits, and redemption values.
BizGrow is more suitable for those who spend regularly on tax payments, vendor bills, and business tools. On the other hand, BizFirst offers better value for EMI spends, utility bills, and digital payments. This comparison will break down the fees, rewards, redemption options, and overall value of both cards to help you decide which one is better for your business needs.
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Annual Fee, Joining Bonus & Milestone Benefits
HDFC BizGrow and HDFC BizFirst are both entry-level offerings for HDFC’s business credit cards, priced reasonably at ₹590 (including taxes). For the welcome bonus, each of these cards provides gift vouchers worth ₹250. The annual fee can be waived on both cards upon reaching a certain spending limit in the card anniversary year.
- Spend ₹1 lakh on your BizGrow to get the renewal fee waived off.
- Spend ₹50,000 on your BizFirst to get a renewal fee waiver.
For the milestone spend-based offers, the BizGrow credit card offers users 2,000 Cash Points on spending ₹1 lakh every quarter, whereas with the BizFirst credit card, you can earn 2,000 Cash Points each quarter on spends of ₹75,000 or more.
Rewards System Comparison
Each of these cards offers a simple reward system that has an accelerated reward rate for certain spend categories. For instance, BizGrow Credit Card offers
- 2 Cash Points for every ₹150 spent on regular (as well as UPI) business transactions.
- It also provides accelerated rewards (10X) on select categories. Which means you can earn 20 Cash Points per ₹150 spent on specific merchant categories such as
- Bill payments via SmartPay and PayZapp
- Income or advance tax payments
- Vendor and GST payments made through SmartHub Vyapaar
- Transactions at Dmart, ClearTax, and MMT MyBiz for hotel and flight bookings
- Business software purchases via SmartBuy BizDeals (Nuclei)
The accelerated reward rate comes with a condition: to unlock the 10X reward benefit, you must spend a minimum of ₹10,000 each statement cycle. The maximum you can earn through accelerated categories is 1,500 Cash Points per cycle.
The HDFC BizFirst Credit Card offers a rewards system where you can earn
- 3% Cash Points on EMI transactions, including Merchant EMI, EasyEMI, Aggregator EMI, and Brand EMI, with a cap of 1,000 Cash Points per month.
- For essential business expenses like utility bill payments, electronics purchases, and digital transactions through SmartPay and PayZapp, the card offers 2% Cash Points, subject to a monthly cap of 500 points.
- On all other spends, including those made via UPI, you earn 1% Cash Points, with a monthly limit of 500 points.
Reward Points Redemption
- BizGrow: You can redeem points for cash credit against the statement, for flight and hotel bookings via SmartBuy, purchases from the product catalogue through NetBanking or SmartBuy, and vouchers from popular brands. Across all redemption categories, the value of 1 Cash Point = ₹0.25. The business catalogue is the only exception, increasing the value to ₹0.30 per Cash Point.
- BizFirst: The redemption value of Cash Points varies depending on the category. For cashback, flight and hotel bookings, and the general product catalogue via SmartBuy or NetBanking, 1 Cash Point equals ₹0.15. The only exception is the business catalogue, where the value improves to ₹0.20 per Cash Point.
Based on this, BizGrow (1 Cash Point = ₹0.25) offers better redemption value, especially for cashback, where each Cash Point is worth more compared to BizFirst (1 Cash Point = ₹0.15).
General Overview
The table below is a general overview of both cards, side-by-side.
| Particulars | HDFC BizGrow | HDFC BizFirst |
| Milestone Benefit | 2,000 Cash Points on Spending ₹1 Lakh Each Quarter | 2,000 Cash Points on Spending ₹75,000 Each Quarter |
| Earning Rewards | 2 Cash Points/₹150 Spent on Regular Business Transactions20 Cash Points/₹150 Spent on Specific Merchant Categories (as Mentioned Above) | 3% Cash Points on EMI transactions2% Cash Points on Digital Transactions via SmartPay & PayZapp1% Cash Points on UPI |
| Redeeming Rewards | Flight and Hotel Bookings via SmartBuy (1 Cash Point = ₹0.25)Vouchers from Popular Brands (1 Cash Point = ₹0.25)Business Product Catalogue via SmartBuy (1 Cash Point = ₹0.30) | Cashback (1 Cash Point = ₹0.15)Flight and Hotel Bookings (1 Cash Point = ₹0.15)Business Product Catalogue via SmartBuy (1 Cash Point = ₹0.20) |
Bottom Line
If your business regularly spends on tax payments, software, and vendor services, BizGrow gives better value through higher reward rates and more flexible redemption options. It also offers a better Cash Point value of ₹0.25 across all categories. On the other hand, if your expenses are spread across EMIs, utility bills, and digital payments, the BizFirst card is more rewarding in those areas, even though the Cash Point value is slightly lower. Overall, if you prefer higher reward value and focused business perks, go for BizGrow. Click on the following link and get started on your BizGrow Credit Card application now!
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