What is RuPay?
RuPay is the domestic card scheme of India. It belongs to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a not-for-profit company set up by the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Banks’ Association under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, which also runs UPI, IMPS and the national ATM switch. Indian banks issue RuPay debit, credit and prepaid cards in three variants, Classic, Platinum and Select, plus the cards of government schemes: every Jan Dhan account comes with a RuPay debit card, with accident cover of ₹2 lakh for accounts opened after 28 August 2018.
The Reserve Bank authorised the RuPay card network on 12 July 2012, and on 8 May 2014 the President of India dedicated it to the nation, when seven million cards had been issued. By October 2023 the government counted more than 750 million RuPay cards, over 60% of all cards issued in India. Since January 2020 merchants pay no merchant discount rate on RuPay debit card payments, a decision written into the Payment and Settlement Systems Act and the Income-tax Act, and a RuPay credit card can be linked to a UPI ID in the BHIM app or any other UPI app to pay merchants by scanning a QR code and typing the UPI PIN.
For a bettor the card has two limits that no other scheme on this site has. Outside India it is not processed as RuPay but through NPCI’s alliance partners, Discover Financial Services, JCB and UnionPay, so a foreign cashier shows those logos and never RuPay’s. In India itself the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 bans online money games and forbids banks and payment systems to process payments for them. That is why none of the 65 bookmakers reviewed on Betandlink lists RuPay, and why this page is a guide to the card rather than a list of bookmakers.
What it costs
No bookmaker in our data takes a RuPay card, so there is no bookmaker fee to report; card deposits are free at most bookmakers and the cashier shows any fee before you confirm. NPCI charges the cardholder nothing on a purchase and publishes no fee figures at all: every charge on a RuPay card is set by the issuing bank and printed in its schedule of charges. These are the costs the official pages name.
What a RuPay card costs
| Operation | Fee |
|---|
| Bookmaker fee on a card deposit | 0% at most bookmakers; none of the 65 reviewed lists RuPay |
| Debit card with a bank account | Set by the bank; a Jan Dhan account comes with the card and accident cover of ₹2 lakh |
| Credit card joining fee, annual fee, add-on card | Set by the bank, “bank specific” in the RuPay credit card FAQ; NPCI publishes no figure |
| Cash advance on a credit card | Interest from the day of the transaction at the bank’s cash rate; whether a bet is billed as a cash advance is not published |
| Payment in a foreign currency | The bank’s foreign currency transaction fee, rate not published by NPCI, which publishes no exchange rate or converter either |
| Merchant discount rate on a RuPay debit card | Zero since January 2020 by government decision: “citizens can pay digitally without any additional fees” |
| RuPay credit card on UPI | No fee published by NPCI; Google Pay’s India page says some merchants add a small fee, with GST, for RuPay credit payments |
| Personal accident insurance | Free: ₹1 lakh on Classic, ₹2 lakh on Platinum, ₹10 lakh on Select credit cards, if the card was used in the 45 days (Select, Platinum) or 90 days (Classic) before the accident |
| Withdrawal from a bookmaker to the card | Not offered by any bookmaker in our data; NPCI publishes no service or time for a credit to a RuPay card |
Read on 19 October 2026 on the RuPay credit card FAQ published on rupay.co.in, the NPCI page on RuPay credit cards on UPI, the Jan Dhan scheme page of the Ministry of Finance, the Press Information Bureau release of 24 March 2025 on the zero merchant discount rate and the Google Pay India help page on RuPay credit cards. NPCI publishes no cardholder fee: the figures that count are in your bank’s schedule of charges.
Two settings that cost nothing
Keep online and international use switched off until the day you need them and set a limit when you switch them on; the Reserve Bank obliges your bank to give you both controls in its app. And ask the bank for its foreign currency transaction fee before paying abroad: NPCI’s FAQ lists the fee but not the rate, and it comes on top of the exchange rate.
Deposit and withdrawal times
A card deposit is credited the moment the bank approves it, and a RuPay card would be no different; but no bookmaker in our data offers the card, so there is no deposit to time. In India the question does not arise since the 2025 Act: the bank may not process the payment.
Withdrawals are the other half of the N/A in the fact box: NPCI publishes no service for crediting a bookmaker payout to a RuPay card and no time for one, and no bookmaker in our data pays out to the card. A bookmaker that cannot refund a card pays by bank transfer to an account in your name, after its own approval time; add the days your bank takes to post an incoming transfer from abroad.
Where you can use it
RuPay cards are issued by Indian banks, and Bhutanese cardholders have used the network since 2020; where you can use one for betting depends on the law of your country and on the network the cashier runs. These are the rules on 19 October 2026.
- India. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, assented on 22 August 2025 and completed by rules in force since 1 May 2026, bans every online money game, of skill or chance, and its section 7 forbids any bank, financial institution or other person facilitating payments to process money for one; the penalty is up to three years in prison or a fine of up to ₹1 crore. The Reserve Bank’s remittance scheme separately prohibits sending money abroad for lottery tickets, football pools and sweepstakes.
- Abroad. A card with international use switched on runs on Discover Financial Services, JCB or UnionPay, NPCI’s alliance partners. Indian RuPay cards have worked at ATMs and terminals in Bhutan since August 2019, Bhutanese cardholders have used the RuPay network in India since November 2020, and the United Arab Emirates built its own domestic card scheme on the RuPay stack under an agreement of October 2023.
- United Kingdom. Credit cards have been banned for gambling since 14 April 2020; a RuPay credit card would be refused like any other, and the ban covers money loaded into an e-wallet from one.
- Australia. Since 11 June 2024 wagering sites may not accept credit cards or funds linked to a credit card, digital wallets included.
Whatever the country, a cashier accepts a RuPay card only through one of the partner networks: look for Discover, JCB or UnionPay in the list of methods, not for RuPay.
RuPay and welcome bonuses
Check the bonus terms first
Card deposits normally qualify for welcome offers, unlike e-wallets, and a RuPay card typed into a Discover, JCB or UnionPay cashier would count as a card deposit. The offer stays on paper: no bookmaker in our data takes the card, a credit card earns no bonus in the United Kingdom or Australia because the deposit itself is refused, and in India the 2025 Act stops the deposit before any bonus. Read the payment clause of the terms whatever card you use.
Questions and answers
Can I deposit at a bookmaker with a RuPay card?
Not at any of the bookmakers reviewed on Betandlink: none lists RuPay in its cashier. Outside India the card is processed by Discover Financial Services, JCB or UnionPay, so only a cashier that lists one of those networks could take it, and the bookmaker’s acquirer decides. In India the 2025 online gaming law forbids the bank to process the payment.
Is online betting with a RuPay card legal in India?
No. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025 bans online money games, meaning any online game played by paying fees or staking money in the expectation of winning, of skill or chance, and its section 7 forbids banks, financial institutions and anyone facilitating payments to process money for them. Offering such a game or facilitating its payments carries up to three years in prison or a fine of up to one crore rupees. The rules that put the regime to work came into force on 1 May 2026.
Does a RuPay card work outside India?
Only if you have switched on international use in your bank’s app: since the Reserve Bank’s rules of March 2020 every card is issued for domestic use at ATMs and shop terminals only. Once enabled, the card runs on NPCI’s partner networks, Discover Financial Services, JCB and UnionPay, and in Bhutan at ATMs and terminals directly. Your bank charges its own foreign currency transaction fee; NPCI publishes neither the rate nor an exchange rate.
What does a RuPay card cost?
Nothing from NPCI. The joining fee, annual fee, cash advance interest and foreign currency fee of a credit card are set by the issuing bank, which prints them in its schedule of charges; a debit card comes with the bank account, and a Jan Dhan account gets one with accident cover of ₹2 lakh. Merchants have paid no merchant discount rate on RuPay debit cards since January 2020, so there is nothing to pass on to you.
Can I load Skrill, PayPal or Google Pay with a RuPay card?
None of them names RuPay. PayPal India accepts “most major international cards, like Visa and MasterCard”; Google Pay in India lists Visa and Mastercard for card payments and takes a RuPay credit card only through UPI; Skrill names UPI and Netbanking among its local bank transfer methods, by country, without naming RuPay, and Neteller no longer opens accounts for residents of India. The 2025 Act applies to any person facilitating the payment, a wallet included, so loading one from India to bet is caught like the card itself.