Where does your card payment fee go?
You pay the bill in full. The shop does not get all of it. Pick how the payment was made to see who takes a cut, and how much.
India · cards only (debit and credit) · rules and rates checked 30 Sep 2026
1. Bill amount (₹)
Does the shop's size change this fee?
Who gets what, as a share of the fee
Same bill, every card (fee + GST)
The bar shows the fee at the rate we use. The thin line shows the usual range. Click a row to switch to that card.
How the fee grows with the bill
Card machine vs online checkout
The same card can cost the shop a different amount depending on where it is used. Card machines follow the bank rates closely. Online payment gateways usually charge one flat "platform fee" on every card, even on cards where the law says the bank fee is zero.
Fee as a % of the bill, before GST, for a bigger shop and a "most shops" category. Online uses the standard plans of Razorpay (2%), PayU (2%) and Cashfree (1.95%), which average about 2%.
- Credit (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay): 1.10% for fuel, utilities, government, education, insurance and transport. 1.30% for grocery. 1.75% for other shops.
- Debit (not RuPay): 0.40% below ₹2,000, 0.90% above
- RuPay debit: 0%. RuPay credit through UPI: 2%
- Amex, corporate and international cards: 3%
- 2% flat on domestic cards, including debit and RuPay debit
- RuPay credit through UPI: 2.15%. Corporate cards: 2.15%
- Amex, Diners and international cards: 3%
- 1.95% on domestic cards
- RuPay credit through UPI: 2.15%. International cards: 2.99%
- Offer: 0% up to ₹20 lakh a month for eligible new merchants, valid until 31 Mar 2027
- 2% on domestic credit and debit cards, including RuPay debit (a platform fee, since the bank fee is zero)
- 3% on Amex, Diners, corporate and international cards, and EMI
- Custom rates above about ₹10 lakh a month
- Sends each payment to the gateway that works best at that moment (Razorpay, Cashfree and others)
- That gateway's fee still applies
- Adds a reported ₹0.50 to ₹1.50 per payment, plus a yearly contract. Pricing is by quote only.
Other costs to check (from the Razorpay guide): a yearly maintenance fee (AMC) of ₹0 to ₹4,999 (Razorpay, Cashfree and PayU charge ₹0), setup fees on some gateways, an extra charge for instant settlement, and ₹15 to ₹50 per chargeback. Card machine rent is usually about ₹200 to ₹500 a month (estimate). Custom pricing starts above about ₹5 lakh a month at Razorpay and ₹10 lakh at PayU. Big merchants (over ₹1 crore a month on cards) often get credit card rates of about 1.4% to 1.75% (reported).
The whole map
Every path a card payment can take. Click any box to jump to it. Dashed boxes mean that option does not fit your current choices.
Every rule in one place
| Card | Fee the shop pays (before GST) | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RuPay debit | 0% at a card machine. Online gateways still charge about 2% as a platform fee. | Official rule |
| Visa / Mastercard debit, shop up to ₹20 lakh a year | At most 0.40%, never more than ₹200 per payment (0.30% if paid through a QR code) | Official cap |
| Visa / Mastercard debit, shop above ₹20 lakh a year | At most 0.90%, never more than ₹1,000 per payment (0.80% if paid through a QR code) | Official cap |
| Credit card (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay) | No legal cap. About 1.1% to 2.5% at a card machine, about 2% online. Premium, corporate and international cards cost more. | Published rate |
| RuPay credit card through UPI | 0% at small offline shops up to ₹2,000. Otherwise about 1.1% to 2.15%. The new 0.4% UPI fee does not apply. | Official rule |
| Tap (NFC), Samsung Wallet, Apple Pay | Same fee as the card behind them. Apple's reported ~0.2% comes out of the bank's share, not the shop's. | Reported |
| GST | 18% of the fee, not of the bill. Shops registered for GST can usually claim it back. | Official rule |
Good to know
- The new UPI fee from 15 Oct 2026 (0.4% on payments above ₹2,000, max ₹300) applies to paying straight from a bank account through UPI. NPCI says RuPay credit cards on UPI follow credit card rules instead. That is why this page covers cards only.
- Apple Pay launched in India on 30 Sep 2026. It works with Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards from banks that have signed up, and more banks are expected to join. RuPay and UPI are not supported.
- Samsung Wallet taps using Visa and Mastercard cards, debit or credit. RuPay cards work in it only through UPI, not by tapping.
- Tapping a card without a PIN works up to ₹5,000. Above that you need the PIN. The fee is the same either way.
- How each fee is split between the parties is an estimate. The one exception is online credit cards, which use the example split Cashfree publishes. Banks and networks do not publish exact splits, and the real split varies by card and contract.
Words explained
MDR (Merchant Discount Rate)
The fee a shop pays each time it accepts a card. It is a percentage of the bill and is taken out of the money the shop receives.
MDR vs TDR vs platform fee
Mostly three names for the same thing: the % taken from each payment. Cashfree calls it "TDR (also called platform fee or MDR)", and PayU says MDR and TDR are used interchangeably. The difference that matters is this. A card machine's rate is mostly bank fees set by the network. An online gateway's rate is one flat price that includes those bank fees plus its own cut. That is why an online gateway can charge 2% on RuPay debit even though the bank fee is zero by law. There, the whole 2% is the gateway's platform fee.
bps (basis points)
A small unit for percentages. 100 bps is 1%, so 20 bps is 0.2%. On a ₹20,000 bill, 20 bps is ₹40.
Issuer, acquirer, network, gateway
The issuer is the customer's bank, which gave out the card. The acquirer is the shop's bank. The network (Visa, Mastercard or RuPay) connects the two banks. A gateway or card machine company is the shop's tech partner that plugs it into all of this.
Interchange
The part of the fee that goes to the customer's bank. It is the biggest slice, and it pays for rewards, fraud cover and the interest-free credit period.
Platform fee
What an online gateway charges for its own service. It can apply even when the bank fee is zero by law, as with RuPay debit.
Fee cap
A limit on the fee in rupees. Example: a bigger shop pays at most 0.9% on a Visa debit card, but never more than ₹1,000. So every bill above about ₹1,11,111 costs exactly ₹1,000.
Turnover (shop size)
The shop's total sales in the previous financial year. For debit cards, RBI uses ₹20 lakh as the line between small and bigger shops.
NFC, tap and tokens
NFC is the chip that lets a card, phone or watch pay with a tap. Phone wallets like Samsung Wallet and Apple Pay replace your card number with a token, so the shop never sees the real number. The fee stays the same.
GST input credit
GST on the fee is 18%. A shop registered for GST can usually subtract it from the GST it owes. Ask your CA about your own case.
Official vs published vs estimate
Officialset by RBI, NPCI or the law. Published ratefrom a company's public price list. Estimate / Reporteda typical market figure or a news report. Actual rates vary by bank and contract.
Sources
- RBI: Rationalisation of MDR for debit card transactions (Dec 2017). Debit card caps and the ₹20 lakh turnover line.
- NPCI FAQ: MDR on select UPI payments (Sep 2026). Q36 covers RuPay credit cards on UPI. Also covers the 15 Oct start date and the 1.5% to 2.5% typical credit card range.
- Ministry of Finance (Department of Financial Services): the same FAQ
- NPCI circular on RuPay credit cards on UPI (Oct 2022, via The Hindu). Small offline shops pay nothing up to ₹2,000.
- NPCI revision of fees for RuPay credit cards on UPI (Mar 2026, via a BSE filing). 6 bps each to the UPI app and its partner bank.
- Razorpay pricing (online and POS)
- Razorpay: guide to TDR, MDR, platform fee, AMC and setup fees (May 2026)
- Cashfree payment gateway charges and Cashfree blog: gateway charges and how a 2% fee is split
- PayU blog: payment gateway fees and Terra Insight: PayU's published rates
- Terra Insight: how Juspay charges
- Business Standard: Apple Pay launches in India and TechCrunch: Apple's ~20 bps fee
- Gizbot: which cards work in Samsung Wallet