What is a card swipe machine called?

The same device goes by card machine, swipe machine, swiping machine, PoS terminal, card reader and EDC machine, where EDC stands for electronic data capture. Banks and payment companies usually call it a PoS terminal. Shopkeepers usually call it the card machine or the swipe machine. It accepts card and UPI payments and does nothing else.

Is there a free swipe machine for small business?

Offers described as free usually mean the monthly rental is waived, often against a minimum monthly card volume, while the charge on each card payment still applies. Ask what happens in a quiet month and what the per-transaction charge is on debit cards, credit cards and UPI separately. Accepting UPI on a printed QR code carries no merchant charge today and needs no machine at all.

Can a card machine print bills?

No. A card swipe machine prints a charge slip that shows the amount paid and the card details. It is not a GST invoice, it does not list the items sold, it does not know your stock and it does not remember the customer. Billing needs a billing machine or a billing app; the card machine only handles the last five seconds of the sale.

What is the difference between a POS machine and a card machine?

In India both get called a POS machine. The card machine, or PoS terminal, accepts payments and nothing else. The billing POS is a touch-screen machine that prints GST bills, tracks stock, records customers and takes payments too, through UPI on a QR and a connected card terminal. If you buy only one machine, buy the one that does the whole sale.

Does NukkadShops provide card machines?

NukkadShops makes billing machines and is partnered with Razorpay, Pine Labs and Payswiff for card terminals. If you need one, sales or your dealer can arrange it along with the POS, and the two are connected so the amount is pushed from the bill to the terminal and every card payment reconciles against its bill at day-end.

Can I take UPI payments without a card machine?

Yes. A printed QR code from any UPI app takes UPI payments with no machine and no merchant charge. What a billing machine adds is that the UPI payment is recorded against the bill automatically, so day-end totals match without checking a phone against a notebook.

Payments · 9 Sep 2026 · 7 min read

Card swipe machine for a small business: how to get one, what it costs, and the one thing it cannot do

Q: How can a small business get a card swipe machine in India?

Three routes. Ask the bank that holds your current account. Apply to a payment company such as Razorpay, Pine Labs, Payswiff or PhonePe directly. Or take it with your billing machine: NukkadShops is partnered with Razorpay, Pine Labs and Payswiff and can arrange a terminal for any customer, connected to the POS so the bill amount reaches it automatically. Expect KYC in every case: PAN, a current account and proof of the business.

Every small shop asks the same question eventually: how do I take cards? The answer is short, the machine is not the expensive part, and the mistake most shops make is buying the wrong one of the two devices that both get called a POS machine.

Card payment on a handheld EDC terminal at a counter

The direct answer first: a card swipe machine, also called a card machine, PoS terminal or EDC machine, comes from a bank or a payment company such as Razorpay, Pine Labs, Payswiff or PhonePe, not from an electronics shop. It is usually rented, with a small charge on every card payment. It accepts cards and UPI and does nothing else: it cannot print a GST bill, track stock or remember a customer. NukkadShops is partnered with Razorpay, Pine Labs and Payswiff and can arrange one for any customer, connected to the billing machine so the amount is never typed twice.

What a card swipe machine is, and what it is called

The small grey or white box on the counter that a customer taps, dips or swipes a card into has more names than any other device in the shop. Shopkeepers say card machine, swipe machine or swiping machine. Banks and payment companies say EDC machine, for electronic data capture, or PoS terminal. Online it is a card reader or a payment terminal. They are all the same thing.

The confusion starts because "POS machine" is also the name for a completely different device: the touch-screen billing machine that runs the shop. A card terminal records a payment. A billing POS records the sale. That distinction is the whole of this article, and it is worth reading the POS machine versus card machine comparison if you are not sure which one you are shopping for.

How a small shop gets one in India

There are three routes, and none of them involves buying the machine outright from a shop.

Your bank. The bank that holds your current account will offer a terminal, sometimes bundled with the account. It is the path of least paperwork because the KYC is already done.
A payment company directly. Razorpay, Pine Labs, Payswiff and PhonePe all supply terminals to small businesses. You apply online or through a field agent, complete KYC (PAN, a current account and proof of the business such as a GST registration or shop licence), and the terminal is delivered and activated.
Through your billing machine vendor. NukkadShops is partnered with Razorpay, Pine Labs and Payswiff. If you take a NukkadShops billing machine and need a card terminal, sales or your nearest dealer arranges it, and it arrives connected to the POS rather than sitting beside it as a separate device.

The third route matters more than it sounds, for a reason covered below: a terminal that is connected to the billing machine takes its amount from the bill, and a terminal that is not connected has to be typed into by hand, every sale, forever.

What it costs, in shape

Figures vary by provider, by card type and by your volume, so this is the shape of the cost rather than a number. There are two parts. A rental or a refundable deposit for the machine itself, charged monthly. And a per-transaction charge, a small percentage of each card payment, which differs between debit cards, credit cards and UPI. UPI on a QR code carries no merchant charge today, whether the QR is printed on paper or shown on the terminal's screen.

"Free swipe machine" offers are common and worth reading carefully. Free usually means the rental is waived, often on condition of a minimum monthly card volume, while the per-transaction charge still applies. Ask three questions before signing: what happens in a quiet month, what the charge is on debit, credit and UPI separately, and when the money settles into your account. All of it carries GST that a registered business claims back as input credit.

The one thing it cannot do

A card machine records payments, not sales. Take one from your bank and you can accept cards tomorrow, and you will still be writing invoices by hand, counting stock from memory and reconstructing GST at month-end from a box of charge slips. The slip it prints shows an amount and a card number. It does not list what was sold, it does not carry your GSTIN or an HSN code, and it is not an invoice.

Payments are the last five seconds of a sale. Everything before those five seconds, finding the item, pricing it, applying the offer, printing a compliant bill, taking the stock down by one, remembering that this customer buys the two-litre pack, is what a billing machine does and a card machine cannot. If you are going to buy only one machine, buy the one that does the whole sale.

One purchase that does both jobs

A modern Android billing machine takes payments as well as making bills. UPI is taken on a QR code, dynamic for the exact amount or printed and stuck to the counter. Cards are taken through an integrated EDC terminal: the biller taps settle, the exact bill amount appears on the card machine, the customer taps or dips, and the payment is recorded against that bill automatically. Nothing is typed twice, the classic 1,240 billed and 1,204 charged mistake cannot happen, and day-end card totals already match the billing because they were never entered separately. One bill can be split across UPI, card and cash on a single receipt.

NukkadShops integrates with terminals from Pine Labs, Payswiff, PhonePe and Razorpay, and arranges terminals through its Razorpay, Pine Labs and Payswiff partnerships. The billing machines themselves are priced on this site, which is unusual in this market and deliberate:

Machine	Price	Fits
Quik App on your own phone	No device to buy	A shop run off a phone today, with a path to a counter later
NS MPOS handheld, printer built in	Rs 17,500 + 18% GST	Billing at the door, the table or the delivery step
Aspire 11.6-inch counter machine, printer built in	Rs 30,975 + 18% GST	The first proper counter for a kirana or small store
Pro2 15.6-inch counter machine	Rs 39,900 + 18% GST	A counter that queues
Elite-A 14-inch dual screen	Rs 44,604 + 18% GST	A counter where the customer should see the bill build

The software plan is quoted for your store by counter and store count, after a demo. The card terminal's rental and charges come from the payment partner and are quoted separately, because they depend on your card volume.

Bill your own products on a real machine, take a card payment on the connected terminal, and see the two reconcile. Thirty minutes.

Which setup for which shop

Kirana or general store. An Aspire with a UPI QR on the counter covers most payments. Add a card terminal through the partnership when card volume justifies the rental; it connects to the same bill. Kirana store software covers the billing side.
Grocery store or small supermarket. A Pro2 or Elite-A per counter, each with its own connected terminal so the queue never waits for a shared card machine. Grocery store software has the counter maths.
Cafe, QSR or restaurant. DINO's EDC integration settles at the counter or the table, handles split bills across guests, and reconciles every card payment against its bill.
A shop with no counter yet. Run the Quik App on the phone you own, take UPI on a QR, and add a machine when the queue tells you to.

Five questions to ask before you sign for a terminal

What is the charge on debit, credit and UPI, separately? One blended figure hides the one that matters for your customers.
What happens in a quiet month? If the rental is waived against volume, find out what the volume is and what the rental becomes below it.
When does the money settle? Same day, next day or later changes your cash flow more than the charge does.
Does it connect to my billing machine? If the answer is no, someone types every amount by hand, and every mismatch is yours to find.
Who do I call when it stops working on a Saturday evening? A terminal arranged with the billing machine has one number for both. Two vendors means two queues.

The bottom line

If the only job is taking cards, your bank will oblige and you will have a machine within the week. If the job is running the shop, buy the billing machine, take the terminal through the partnership so the two arrive connected, and let the payments question dissolve into the bill. POS software for retail shops covers what the billing side does; the devices are priced and compared side by side.