Indian Debit Cards that allow online transactions ?

[Arun]

Does anyone know/tried online transactions using a Debit Card (Electron/Maestro/etc.) issued by Indian Banks ? I have tried with ICICI Bank VISA Electron Debit Card, but it doesnt seem to work

[krishnakanth]

debit card generally dont work with international transactions
if icici debit cards that support visa transactions dont work internationally then none other should work

i have a limited knowledge on this hope others can clarify too

[Arun]

Thanks for the quick reply, krishnakanth. Many international payment gateways including 2checkout, PayPal, etc. accepts Debit Cards and my friend in Philippines uses his Debit Card for online transactions. Its sad that Indian Banks do not provide such a facility on Debit Cards yet

[krishnakanth]

you are right, indian banks even icici dont support online transactions (international) via debit cards those are only operation in india and nepal hopefully.

[Arun]

maybe, but most of them including ICICI VISA Electron debit card is branded as "Internationally valid"

[krishnakanth]

i have an icici visa electron debit card it has no information about its internatinal validity. did you try calling there technical support ?
i called up them and got a reply that debit card is valid everywhere across globe who has a visa clearance..
not sure what it meant exactly, dont care if its internation or not but should work india thats all i need

can you also post your reply after speaking to there technical support

[KingKrool]

Are u sure your friend in Phillipines uses a debit card and not a credit card?
Cos many people get ,mixed up abt this.
Anyway I can tell you this - USING A DEBIT CARD ONLINE IS ILLEGAL. It has to do with liability issues. Yes, if u have an online banking account with the bank which provides you the debit card facility u may be able to pay using that (shud the site support online payments frm that bank). HDFC has an interesting concept - if u have a netbanking account with them u can create a virtual credit card, whose validity is 24 hrs and value is as much as u specify. Then that can be used any place online which supports a credit card (for international sites - remember that max payments possible are limited by law to some amount set by RBI)

[krishnakanth]

Are u sure your friend in Phillipines uses a debit card and not a credit card?
Cos many people get ,mixed up abt this.
Anyway I can tell you this - USING A DEBIT CARD ONLINE IS ILLEGAL. It has to do with liability issues. Yes, if u have an online banking account with the bank which provides you the debit card facility u may be able to pay using that (shud the site support online payments frm that bank). HDFC has an interesting concept - if u have a netbanking account with them u can create a virtual credit card, whose validity is 24 hrs and value is as much as u specify. Then that can be used any place online which supports a credit card (for international sites - remember that max payments possible are limited by law to some amount set by RBI)

hi kingkrool bro your post is very informative i did not knew about the fact that using a debit card online is illegal.
and the concept used by HDFC BANK is very safe and secure too for making online transaction, virtual credit card, so good to hear about such features and services

can you post more details about the the limits enforced by rbi too ?

[KingKrool]

Well allownace varies from purpose to purpose...
say u are travelling abroad, then it is 5k USD, if for medical then 25k, more for studies etc...
but in general for personal use (to buy stuff online?) it used to be 2000 US dollars.
A lot of this has changed of recent... there are new types of accounts now but practically for purposes of buying online 2000 USD PER YEAR is the limit...
Check with ur bank for more details.

Incidentally if u look at that little book that comes with ur debit card it says clearly that the use of the debit card online is against the terms of issue... that is what I meant by illegal. Even using it at hotels is not allowed (unless u pay after ur stay). Payment by debit card is only possible after delivery. As I said it is due to liability issues. Bank transfer does not have these problems, neither do credit cards (or the virtual cards offered by HDFC). I wud always go for the virtual HDFC thingy (have never actually used it) instead of the credit card... it lasts only 24 hours so no question of identity theft or misuse and if the transaction is fraudulent then at most the amount I lose is whatever I had allocated to the virtual card, not my entire account (or credit acrd limit)

[Arun]

Yes, ICICI Customer Support said its not possible to use their Debit Card for online transactions. It is internationally valid so that you can use it in ATMs/Merchant establishments when you are visiting in foreign countries.

Debit Cards like VISA Electron are accepted by major payment gateways like 2checkout, PayPal etc. This is the statement from 2checkout.com :
"2CO accepts customer orders via online checks, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Dinners, JCB and debit cards with the Visa and MasterCard logo"

You may also check out this thread to know that foreign bank customers with Debit Cards are infact doing online transactions: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...hreadid=193963

Yes, my friend in Philippines uses a Debit Card (VISA Electron) only and not a Credit Card.

Moreover, VISA Electron's official website states the following:
"You may also use your Visa debit card when you shop on the Internet"
Yes, they say 'may', so it could depend on the financial institution/bank's policy, which supplies the debit card. And its a shame that no Indian banks allow it.

Thanks for the HDFC Virtual Credit Card information, I'll surely check it out.

[bosky101]

hey arun,i think uve found the answer to ur question that started the thread urself nice info here . i have a visa electron debit card as well from hdfc and they offer a wide variety of indian sites.havnt used it though,but that mioght change now !

[Arun]

yeah, HDFC's product is called NetSafe and it can be used if you have a Credit/Debit card with them. They have tied up with VISA. Check out this neat demo !
Citibank India also offers a similar solution...

"The citibank e-card (in association with MasterCard) is the first ever 'virtual' credit card in India as there will be no issuance of plastic, and can be used only on the Internet (kind of global internet card). The card allows its customers to shop on any website that accepts MasterCard. An individual is required to pay Rs. 250 per annum . You could apply for an additional e-card for a member of your family, over 18 years of age at an annual fee of Rs 150. The card comes with a borrowing limit of Rs. 12,000. This has been done to minimise the risk of potential misuse of the card on the Net. Security considerations are of paramount importance whilst designing this card. Citi claims to have used state-of-the art encryption technology ( i.e. 128-bit encryption which provides very high level of security). Since there is no physical plastic card, a cardholder will get a card account number, validity period, and a card verification number when the card is issued. The card comes with an Internet password (H-PIN) which would enable a cardholder to access his/her e-card account through Internet Banking. This card cannot be used for transcations that would otherwise require in person presentation of a physical card (MasterCard) i.e. it cannot be used to purchase an item over the Net that would subsequently require presentation of a physical MasterCard card to obtain that item/product."

[krishnakanth]

hope ICICI comes out with some kind of feature to use Debit Cards as Virtual Credit Cards.

[Arun]

ICICI launched a similar service too, called "ICICI Easy Deposit Card", but it requires you to have a minimum of Rs.20000 as deposit.

[cngn]

The only reason Indian banks don't allow Int'l txns is because of RBI's ruling that if Monies need to be sent abroad then RBI needs to be notified and a declaration signed, about the same. Hence this effectivley wipes out Online "Real Time" txns. Most other countries support Int'l txns cause of their federal bank's rules. Someday India will relax it's forex rules and then you guys can go ahead and buy most anything you want