What to put on a visiting card: the details, the order, and your profession's rules
A visiting card has room for about six things. Here is which six, in what order, what to leave for the page behind the card, and - for advocates, doctors, CAs, architects and others - what your regulator says you must or must not print.
Put your name, your role, your business name, one phone number, one email and a QR code or link to everything else - largest first, in that order. Leave off what changes often. Some professions have rules: advocates follow Bar Council Rule 36, doctors the 2002 ethics code NMC applies, architects may use the title only if registered, and mutual fund distributors must show their ARN with AMFI's tagline.
Sources: Bar Council of India, Association of Mutual Funds in India
₹1,699 card, once · profile from ₹199/year · your logo printed free · usually arrives in 7-10 days
The essentials of a visiting card, in order
Name first and largest, then your role and the business, then one phone number and one email. On the back, a QR code that opens a page with everything else, and your logo if you have one. Six things, sized in that order, are what a person can take in at a glance.
Your name
The biggest thing on the card, spelt the way you want it saved in someone's phone.
Your role and the business
One line each. "Managing Partner, Jay Associates" says more than three titles.
One phone number and one email
The one you answer. Two numbers make people guess which is right.
A QR code to everything else
Printed large enough to scan, pointing to a page you can edit. Sizes in millimetres are in our QR code on a visiting card guide.
What to leave off a visiting card, and where to put it instead
Leave off anything that changes - offers, prices, a temporary number - and anything long, like a list of services. Leave off social handles you don't keep up. All of it belongs on the page the QR code opens, where a change costs nothing and the card in someone's wallet stays right.
Off the card
- A second and third phone number
- Prices, offers, this year's slogan
- Ten services in small print
- Every social network you have joined
On the page instead
- Services and prices you can update
- Address with a Maps link, hours, directions
- Booking, enquiries, UPI payment
- The social links you actually use
How to lay out that page is in digital visiting card design, and how to give people a location they can follow - Maps link, Plus Code or DIGIPIN - in your business location on a visiting card.
What your profession's rules say you may print
Eight professions in India have a regulator whose rules reach a visiting card. The common thread: show your registration so people can check you, use only recognised titles and degrees, and leave off claims, testimonials and specialisations the rules don't allow. Each row links to the page where we read the rule in full.
Each rule is from the regulator's own text, read for our profession pages. Our summaries, not legal advice.
| Profession | Show | Leave off |
|---|---|---|
| Advocates | ShowOnly the particulars in the Schedule to Rule 36: name, address, phone, email, enrolment number and date, Bar Councils, Bar Association, qualifications, areas of practice. | Leave offAnything beyond the Schedule, and stationery that says you specialise in a type of work. |
| Doctors | ShowRecognised medical degrees only, as a suffix to your name; your registration number and State Medical Council. | Leave offClaims about cures. The code treats a self-photograph on letterhead or a signboard as self-advertisement. |
| Dentists | ShowName, recognised degrees and registration number. | Leave offA specialty on a visiting card or letterhead unless you hold a recognised qualification in it (regulation 8.3.3). |
| Chartered accountants | ShowThe particulars ICAI's advertisement guidelines permit in a member's write-up. | Leave offTestimonials, endorsements, or claims about fees charged. |
| Architects | ShowThe title "architect" only if registered, with your Council of Architecture number (CA/year/number). | Leave offThe title if you are not registered: the Council lists a business card among the evidence for a title-misuse complaint. |
| Real estate agents | ShowYour RERA agent registration number, prominently, wherever you advertise. | Leave offLeaving it off: state regulators such as K-RERA require it in advertisements. |
| Mutual fund distributors | ShowYour name and ARN with AMFI's tagline, "AMFI Registered Mutual Fund Distributor". | Leave offTitles such as IFA or Wealth Adviser. |
| Insurance agents | ShowWhat your insurer has approved. | Leave offPublishing an advertisement without the insurer's written approval (regulation 28 of the 2024 regulations). |
The architects' title rule is section 37 of the Architects Act, 1972. Food businesses: FSSAI's display rules are about menus, not visiting cards - see digital visiting cards for restaurants.
Lay out your card: a quick builder
Type your details and pick your profession. The builder lays out the front and back in the order above and adds your profession's rule, so you can see what fits before you order. It runs in your browser and saves nothing.
Jay JJ
Managing Partner, Jay Associates
+91 90000 00000 · jay@mail.com
Tap or scan for services, address, booking and payments
Print the permanent, put the rest behind a tap
The best modern visiting card is two layers: a short printed card with the few details that last, and a page behind its QR code or NFC chip with everything that changes. The print stays right for years; the page is updated in a minute and every card already handed out shows the change.
An NFC card does the same as the QR code with a tap of the phone, and carries the QR on the back for phones without NFC. Before you order one, decide the link it will carry for good: how to order an NFC business card. What printed cards cost, by finish and by quantity, is in visiting card price in India.
Visiting card details: questions
What details should be on a visiting card?
Your name, your role, your business name, one phone number, one email, and a QR code or link to everything else - services, address, hours, payments. Print the things that rarely change and put the rest on the page the QR opens, where you can edit it.
Should I put my photo on my visiting card?
It helps people remember a face after an event, so for most people it is a matter of taste. Doctors should be careful: clause 6.1.2 of the medical ethics regulations NMC applies treats a self-photograph printed on letterhead or a signboard as self-advertisement.
Sources: National Medical Commission
Can I write "architect" on my visiting card?
Only if you are registered with the Council of Architecture. Section 37 of the Architects Act, 1972 restricts the title, and the Council lists a business card among the evidence it accepts for a title-misuse complaint. Add your registration number so a client can check it.
Can an advocate list specialisations on a visiting card?
No. Rule 36 of the Bar Council of India Rules says an advocate's stationery should not indicate that he or she specialises in a type of work, and limits what may be published to a Schedule of particulars. Areas of practice, listed as the Schedule does, are fine.
Sources: Bar Council of India
Should a visiting card have a QR code?
Yes. It is the cheapest way to fit everything that will not fit in print. Make it point to a page you can edit rather than to a fixed contact file, and print it large enough: our QR code guide has the sizes in millimetres.
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.
- Bar Council of India, Bar Council of India Rules - Parts V to IX (Part VI, Chapter II, Rule 36 and its Schedule). Checked .
- National Medical Commission, Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002. Checked .
- Dental Council of India (now the National Dental Commission), Revised Dentists (Code of Ethics) Regulations, 2014 - Notification No. DE-97-2014, 27 June 2014. Checked .
- The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Council Guidelines for Advertisement, 2008 (updated up to December 2025). Checked .
- Council of Architecture, The Architects Act, 1972. Checked .
- Council of Architecture, Concerns About Misuse of Title and Style of Architect. Checked .
- Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA), Guidelines for Agents. Checked .
- Association of Mutual Funds in India, AMFI Master Circular for Mutual Fund Distributors (AMFI/MFD-CIR/32/2025-26, 14 January 2026). Checked .
- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, IRDAI (Protection of Policyholder's Interests, operations and allied matters of insurers) Regulations, 2024. Checked .