Contactless Credit Cards & Tap-to-Pay in India

What you need to know

Almost every credit card issued in India today carries the contactless (NFC) symbol, and you can tap it on a card machine instead of inserting it. Under RBI rules applicable since 1 January 2021, a contactless card payment of up to ₹5,000 does not need a PIN; above that, you insert the card and enter the PIN. Separately, RuPay credit cards can now be linked to UPI so you can pay by scanning a merchant QR code.

• Cardholders can switch contactless payments on or off, and set a per-transaction limit, in the issuer’s app or net banking.
• Tokenised tap-to-pay from a phone or watch uses a token instead of your card number, so the actual card details are not shared with the merchant.
• RuPay credit cards on UPI work only for payments to merchants — no transfers to individuals and no cash withdrawal.

Contactless card payment rules

Cards tagged contactless in our catalog

* Base reward value on ₹3 lakh of yearly spends minus annual fee + 18% GST (fee treated as waived when the published waiver threshold is ₹3 lakh or less). Accelerated categories, caps and exclusions change the real value — see each card page.

Credit cards on UPI (RuPay)

• RuPay credit card on UPI launched by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on 21 Sep 2022.
• NPCI (Oct 2022): nil MDR (no interchange, PSP or app charges) for RuPay credit card on UPI transactions ≤ ₹2,000 at small merchants.
• Only RuPay credit cards can be linked on UPI; only P2M (merchant) payments allowed — no P2P, no cash withdrawal; no charge to customer for linking/transactions except surcharge categories like fuel; small offline merchants not charged for ≤₹2,000.
• Limit is lowest of card limit, user-set limit and bank risk limit; UPI daily limit up to ₹1 lakh (₹2 lakh for specified categories), capped by available credit.
• Usage: 750+ million RuPay credit card UPI transactions worth ₹63,825.8 crore in Apr–Oct FY25, roughly double Apr–Oct FY24 (362.8 mn, ₹33,439 crore).
• NPCI (Feb 2025): ~16% of credit card spends are on RuPay, about half of that via UPI.
• Credit line on UPI: RBI on 4 Sep 2023 enabled pre-sanctioned credit lines from scheduled commercial banks to individuals (with prior consent) for UPI payments; terms set by bank board policy.
• Dec 2024: RBI extended pre-sanctioned credit lines on UPI to small finance banks.

RuPay cards you can link to UPI

* Base reward value on ₹3 lakh of yearly spends minus annual fee + 18% GST (fee treated as waived when the published waiver threshold is ₹3 lakh or less). Accelerated categories, caps and exclusions change the real value — see each card page.

Staying safe with tap-to-pay

• Check the amount on the terminal before you tap — the payment goes through as soon as the card is read.
• If you rarely use tap-to-pay, switch contactless off in the app and turn it on only when needed.
• Turn on SMS/email alerts: every card transaction must trigger an alert, and your 3-working-day reporting window for zero liability starts from it.
• A card cannot be read accidentally from a distance in normal use — NFC works within a few centimetres — but keep the card in sight at the counter.
• On UPI with a RuPay credit card, set a lower UPI limit if you don’t need the full card limit on UPI.

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