How to accept UPI payments on your visiting card
Most people you hand a card to already pay by UPI. Here are the three ways to let them pay you from the card itself, what to print, and how to pick the one that fits how you sell.
There are three ways to take UPI from a visiting card: print a UPI QR code on it, put that QR on the back of an NFC card, or have the card open a profile with a Pay via UPI button. A printed QR works with every UPI app but cannot change after printing; a button opens the customer's UPI app with your UPI ID filled in and can be changed any time. Either way the money goes straight to your bank.
Sources: NPCI (copy hosted by labnol.org)
Pay via UPI button on Pro, ₹299/year · money goes straight to your bank · no cut taken
Three ways to take UPI from a visiting card
Every UPI payment from a card starts with the same thing: a link that begins with upi://pay and carries your UPI ID and name. A QR code draws that link as a picture, and a pay button puts it behind a tap. What changes from one way to the next is what else the customer sees before they pay.
The link format is NPCI's UPI linking specification. Part of our UPI payments guides.
1. A UPI QR code printed on a paper card
The cheapest way. The customer opens any UPI app, scans the code and pays. The code holds your UPI ID and name, so it keeps working for as long as that UPI ID stays linked to your bank. It cannot change after printing.
Good for one person, one bank account, and customers standing in front of you.
2. The same QR on the back of an NFC card
An NFC card can carry a printed QR on one side and a chip on the other. The QR pays you; the tap opens whatever link the chip holds, usually your profile. Two things on one card, each doing one job.
Good when you want the card to share your details and take a payment.
3. A Pay via UPI button on the profile your card opens
The card opens your profile with a tap or a scan, and a button on it opens the customer's own UPI app with your UPI ID filled in. Your prices sit on the same page, so the customer sees what to pay before they pay it.
Good when the payment follows a conversation about what you sell.
The first two need nothing but a printer and a QR code, which our free UPI QR code generator makes in your colours. The third needs a profile behind the card, which is what a digital visiting card with UPI is: your services, your prices and the pay button on one page that a tap or a scan opens.
What to print beside a UPI QR on a visiting card
Print the code with your UPI ID in plain text under it, the name your bank shows, no amount, and a margin of plain card around it. Then pay yourself ₹1 from the UPI apps your customers use before you print the whole box.
- Your UPI ID in plain text. Under the code, so someone whose camera will not focus can type it instead.
- The name your bank shows. UPI apps show the payee name before the customer approves. Print the same name, so nobody stops to wonder whether they are paying the right person.
- No amount in the code. A visiting card outlives your prices. Leave the amount out and the customer types it, so the card never needs reprinting when a fee changes.
- Room around the code. A quiet margin of plain card on every side helps phones read it. Our free QR tool adds one and lets you pick the size.
- A one-rupee test. Pay yourself ₹1 from the UPI apps your customers use, before you print a box of cards.
A code with an amount in it suits an invoice or a fixed ticket price, not a card. NPCI's specification calls the amount field am and makes it optional; leave it out and the payer types the amount.
Build the UPI pay link your card would carry
A UPI pay link is upi://pay followed by your details: pa is your UPI ID, pn your name, cu the currency and tn an optional note. Type yours to see the exact link a QR code or a pay button would hold. Nothing you type leaves this page.
The sample UPI ID is not real. Test your own link with ₹1 before you print it.
upi://pay?pa=jay@okbank&pn=Jay%20Associates&cu=INRField names and the link format are from NPCI's linking specification. To turn this link into a printable code with your logo, use the UPI QR code generator; to put it behind a button on a profile, add your UPI ID to a Beeps profile on Pro.
Do UPI payments from a visiting card carry a fee?
The customer never pays. On your side it depends on your UPI account, not on the card: payments of ₹2,000 or less are free, small merchants paid by QR into a personal account pay nothing up to ₹1 lakh a month, and merchant accounts will pay 0.4% above ₹2,000, capped at ₹300, once the 2026 fee starts.
- Customers pay nothing. The Ministry of Finance says no charge may be imposed on individuals for sending or receiving money through UPI.
- Small merchants on a personal account. NPCI's FAQ puts small vendors paid by UPI QR into their own account in the P2PM category, with no fee up to ₹1 lakh a month.
- No surcharge. The same FAQ says merchants cannot pass the fee on, and NPCI told the Supreme Court in November 2026 that the bar is binding on banks and UPI apps.
- The start date. The fee was due on 15 October 2026 and was deferred to after Diwali. As of 10 November 2026 no date had been set.
What the fee would cost on your own payments, with a calculator, is in UPI charges for merchants. Which account category your UPI ID sits in, and when a bank moves it, is in UPI business account or personal UPI.
Which one fits how you sell
A printed QR is enough when the price is fixed and the customer is in front of you. A profile with a pay button earns its keep when people ask what you charge, book before they pay, or when your UPI ID might change.
| If this is you | Pick |
|---|---|
| You sell one thing at one price, face to face | PickA printed QR is enough. Nobody needs a price list to pay a fixed fee. |
| Customers ask "what do you charge?" before they pay | PickA profile with your prices and a pay button. The price and the payment are on one page. |
| You take advances or bookings, not walk-in payments | PickA profile with a booking calendar and the pay button, so the slot and the advance happen together. |
| You change banks or UPI IDs now and then | PickA profile. You change the UPI ID once and every card you have handed out pays the new account. |
| You hand out hundreds of paper cards at an event | PickA QR on paper is the cheapest per card. Point it at your profile rather than straight at UPI, so one code does both jobs. |
UPI on a visiting card: questions
Can I print a UPI QR code on my visiting card?
Yes. A UPI QR code is a UPI payment link drawn as a picture: the link starts with upi://pay and carries your UPI ID and name. Print it with your UPI ID in text underneath, leave the amount out, and test it with ₹1 before you print a full box.
Sources: NPCI (copy hosted by labnol.org)
Is it safe to put my UPI ID on a visiting card?
A UPI ID is an address for receiving money, like an account number on an invoice. Putting it on a card lets people pay you. Keep your UPI PIN to yourself, and never approve a "request" that arrives from someone you gave a card to: on a card you are the one being paid, so you never need to approve anything.
Do I pay a fee when a customer pays me from my visiting card?
Not on payments of ₹2,000 or less, and not at all if you are a small merchant paid by QR into a personal account, the P2PM category, while that stays within ₹1 lakh a month. Merchant accounts will pay 0.4% above ₹2,000, capped at ₹300, once the 2026 fee starts; as of 10 November 2026 NPCI had not set the date. Customers never pay.
Sources: NPCI, published by the Department of Financial Services, Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Finance
Can I add a charge for paying by UPI?
No. NPCI's FAQ says merchants cannot pass the fee on to customers, and NPCI repeated it to the Supreme Court in November 2026. The customer pays the price you quoted.
Sources: NPCI, published by the Department of Financial Services, MediaNama
What is the difference between a UPI QR and a pay button?
Both carry the same upi://pay link. A QR is scanned by a UPI app on another phone; a button is tapped on the phone that already has your page open, and it opens that phone's UPI app. A printed QR is fixed once printed. A button on a profile can be pointed at a new UPI ID at any time.
Sources: NPCI (copy hosted by labnol.org)
Does Beeps Card take a cut of UPI payments?
No. The Pay via UPI button opens the customer's own UPI app with your UPI ID filled in, and the money goes straight to your bank. Beeps never holds it and takes no fee. The button is on Pro, ₹299 a year, and the printed NFC card is ₹1,699 once.
Sources
Facts about other companies and the wider market come from the pages below, as published by them. Each was read on the date shown. Beeps Card prices come from our own pricing page.
- NPCI (copy hosted by labnol.org), UPI Linking Specifications, version 1.6 (November 2017). Checked .
- NPCI, published by the Department of Financial Services, Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on Select UPI (P2M) Transactions - FAQs, 15 September 2026. Checked .
- Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Finance, UPI Continues to Remain Free for Peer to Peer Transactions and 96% of Merchant Transactions (15 September 2026). Checked .
- MediaNama, NPCI tells Supreme Court merchants cannot pass new UPI charges on to customers (6 November 2026). Checked .