7 Things to know about RuPay Card

What is RuPay card?
Recent developments saw Government passing on instructions to state owned banks to issue RuPay debit cards to their customers. This looks like a clear indication to promote these cards. But, what exactly is this RuPay card and how does it function? Let’s look into it now.

What is it?
RuPay is a combination of two words – Rupee and Payment. RuPay Card is an Indian version of credit/debit card. It is very similar to international cards such as Visa/Master.

Who initiated it?
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) initiated the launch of RuPay card in India. It was done with the intention of integration of payment systems in the country. It has also tied up with Discover Financial Services firm for promoting this.

How will it work?
RuPay debit cards are similar any other debit cards that you might hold now. You can access them in the 1.45 lakh ATMs and 8.75 lakh POS terminals across the country. It will also be accepted on 10,000 e-commerce websites. All major public sector banks, including SBI, have started issuing these cards to all their customers. The card also comes with a high end technology chip named EMV (Europay, Master Card and Visa) especially for high end transactions. It also has an embedded micro processor circuit with information about the card holder.

Difference Between RuPay Card And Visa/Master Debit Card

1. The first major difference is the RuPay is India’s own domestic card with its own payment gateway. It is an approved card payment network just like MasterCard and VISA.
2. It is a domestic product with less transaction costs compared to visa debit card which has processing in foreign countries.
3. The transactions with RuPay card are much faster in processing as they happen in India. Comparatively visa cards take more time as processing happens at an international level.
4. RuPay cards are currently accepted only in national level transactions. They cannot be used internationally like visa cards.
5. In order to join the network, the banks don’t need to pay a quarterly fee or entry fee. However with visa cards banks need to do that.
6. RuPay cards only offer debit card with online transaction. Visa offers both debit and credit cards.
7. RuPay cards offer safety as the transaction data would be limited to only India. This prevents customer data from going to other countries. Visa cards on the other share customer data through international payment gateway.