What is the Difference Between RuPay Card and Visa Debit Card?

The launch if the RuPay card from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have raised the question on how is it different from the Visa Debit Card, MasterCard and AmEx etc., for many individuals.

RuPay is India's own domestic card with own payment gateway that is beneficial for banks and customers. It is an approved card payment network like MasterCard and VISA.

"RuPay" is the coinage of two terms Rupee and Payment. We all have been using different types of cards till now. Now let us understand the difference between RuPay and Visa Debit Card.

	RuPay Card	Visa Debit Card
Processing Fee	As it is a domestic product, this will make the transaction cost affordable and will drive usage of cards in the industry.	Processing takes place in a foreign country which involves higher fee and cost.
Speedy Transaction	Processing happens within India and  transactions are much faster.	Processing will take time compared to RuPay Card as it happens at international level.
Domestic or international	As of now, these cards are accepted only domestically.	Visa debit cards can be used internationally anywhere.
Fee Structure	Banks need not pay a quarterly fee or entry fee to join the network.	Banks need to pay quarterly and fee to enter with the respective network.
Card	As of now, it offers only debit card with online transaction.	Visa and Mastercard offer debit and credit cards.
Safety	Transaction data would be available in India and thus prevent customer purchase data going out of the country.	Transaction and customer data related to RuPay card transactions should be shared with international payment gateway.

Which is better RuPay Card or Debit card?

Right pricing of RuPay products would make the cards economically feasible for banks to offer to their customers even to the under-penetrated or untapped consumers segments in rural areas.

Using RuPay Card will be beneficial to the Indian economy and the banking system. NPCI is striving to take the card to an international level.

Further, RuPay is well poised to explore innovative payment opportunities such as Contactless to facilitate and increase the efficiency for creating small ticket payments electronically.

RuPay is well poised to support an issuance of debit and prepaid cards by banks in India and thereby supporting the growth of retail electronic payments in India.