What is a RuPay Debit Card? Overview,Benefits,FAQs and Features

Overview of RuPay Debit Card

RuPay Card is an Indian version of credit/debit card. It is similar to international cards such as Visa/Master Card. RuPay is a combination of two words - Rupee and Payment. It has been introduced to fulfil the Reserve Bank of India's desire to have a domestic, open loop, and multilateral system of payments in India. RuPay cards are offered by public sector, private banks, co-operative and rural banks.

You can access them in the 1.45 lakh ATMs, 8.75 lakh POS terminals and 10,000 e-commerce websites. All Rupay Chip debit cards are valid for domestic transactions only.

Who initiated Rupay Card?

The main purpose behind it was to develop an Indian payment gateway system as an alternate solution to Mastercard and Visa.

How to Get RuPay Debit Card?

One can apply for RuPay Debit Cards at the public banks, private sector banks and over 200 co-operative and rural banks in India.

Why is RuPay Card so Popular?

  • Cost effectiveness compared to peers
  • Due to the Jan Dhan Yojana
  • Demonetisation has boosted the need for the digital platforms for payment
  • Push from public sector banks
  • Growing acceptance across merchant platforms

Features of RuPay Debit Card

  • Designed to suit the requirements of Indians
  • Cashless and safe shopping experience
  • It can be used in ATM, POS and for online payments (e-commerce)
  • Complete interoperability between payment channels
  • Safety of Transactions through SMS alerts and notifications
  • Welcomed at over 1.8 lakh merchant points, 10,000 e-commerce sites and over 8 lakh POS terminals in India

Benefits of RuPay Debit Card

  • RuPay cards have been customized keeping in mind the product and service requirements of Indians
  • RuPay card has a lower transaction cost is as low as 0.01%, compared with regular debit/credit cards since the processing will be done within the country
  • Also, transactions will be faster as compared to other debit cards in the market
  • It has a greater reach in Rural Areas
  • It also comes with a high end technology chip named EMV (Europay, Master Card and Visa)
  • Security of Information of customer data and transaction details pertaining to RuPay debit card

Latest Statistics about RuPay Debit Card

  • It is backed by consortium of Indian banks
  • Over 317 million RuPay Cards have been issued till date which include 205 million of cards to the Jandhan accountholders
  • Over 21 lakhs transactions are being done on these cards per day
  • 18% share in terms of volume of debit card transactions
  • 38% of the total issued 645 million debit cards issued in India are on the RuPay card network
  • RuPay was able to increase its share exponentially among other card networks (Visa and MasterCard) due to the Jan Dhan Yojana
  • Its growth is from 17 million in financial year (FY) 2014 to nearly 247 million by January 2016
  • Rupay credit cards are also in operation since June 15, 2017 and 10 banks are issuing these credit cards