NFC Business Card in India: What It Is, Price, iPhone and Android Use, and NFC Stickers for Your Shop

An NFC business card is a PVC, metal or wood card with a small chip inside. It has no battery. When someone taps it with their phone, your online profile opens, and they don't need an app. In India a basic card costs ₹99 to ₹299 and a printed or metal one costs ₹299 to ₹3,300, going by vendor pages in November 2026. Before you pay, check whether the profile behind the card has a yearly fee.

Key facts

• Chip: a passive NFC chip at 13.56 MHz that reads from about 2 cm away.
• What it stores: usually just one link to a profile you can edit. Change your number and you don't need to reprint anything.
• iPhone: the XS, XR and every model after them read the card with no app.
• Android: you turn it on under Settings, then "Use NFC". Many budget phones don't have NFC at all.
• Price in India: ₹99 to ₹299 for a generic card, ₹299 to ₹1,200 for printed PVC, ₹1,899 to ₹3,300 for metal.
• DIY: buy a blank NTAG213 sticker and write it with a free app.

What is an NFC card, in plain words?

NFC stands for near field communication. It is a short-range kind of RFID, and it can send data both ways. The NFC Forum sets the standards. Its NDEF data format is what lets any phone understand what's on the tag.

Think of the card as a QR code you tap instead of scan. The chip holds one address and the phone opens it. Your phone does need internet to load the profile page, but the tap itself doesn't.

NFC business card price in India: the real cost

The catch is the profile plan. TapLeads' own page lists "₹1,299 one-time" and also "₹499/year after the first year." So over three years you pay ₹1,299 + ₹499 + ₹499 = ₹2,297. One-time ka matlab hamesha one-time nahi hota. Read the plan page before you pay.

NFC in iPhone: does it work?

Yes, on the iPhone XS, XR and later. The screen has to be on, and some guides say the phone also has to be unlocked. Hold the top edge of the iPhone against the card and tap the notification that pops up. iOS 26 doesn't have an NFC on/off switch because reading is always on. The iPhone 7, 8 and X need an app or the reader in Control Center.

A few users have said tag reading broke after they updated to iOS 26 (Apple Developer Forums thread). If a customer's iPhone won't read your card, that may be why.

You may also have seen iPhone NFC in the news. On 20 October 2026 the UK's Competition and Markets Authority proposed making Apple open the iPhone's NFC chip to rival wallet apps. The consultation closes on 17 November 2026. That is about payments in the UK. It changes nothing about how your business card reads in India.

Android: switch it on, and keep a QR backup

Go to Settings, then Connected devices, then Connection preferences, then NFC ("Use NFC"). Samsung phones also have a Quick Settings tile for it. If you can't find an NFC setting anywhere, the phone doesn't have the chip (Google's NFC help). A lot of buyers in your district will be using budget phones, so print a QR code on the back of the card too.

NFC stickers for your shop counter

A Google review sticker on the billing counter is the cheapest place to start. A customer taps it and your review page opens. Here's how to make one yourself:

1. Buy blank NTAG213 stickers. They hold 144 bytes, which is enough for one link. Go for NTAG215 (504 bytes) only if you want to store a full vCard.
2. Install NFC Tools or NXP's TagWriter.
3. Write a URL record. iPhones only read tags that are properly NDEF-formatted.
4. Lock the tag so nobody else can rewrite it.
5. Test it with an iPhone and with an Android phone, and test it through a thick phone case.

Vendors quote NXP specs of about 10 years of data retention and around 1,00,000 rewrites.

At an expo stall, this is where it pays

Say you're a Madhubani painting seller at a trade fair. Buyers walk away with 50 paper cards and lose most of them. Put a tap card on the table that opens your catalogue, and the buyer leaves with your products already on their phone. The same works for Madhubani paintings, Jamnagar bandhani or Machilipatnam kalamkari sellers. If you don't have a profile for the card to point to yet, KidharMilega Online gives you a free business profile with a catalogue, an enquiry form and a tap-to-share NFC card.

Toh lena chahiye ya nahi?

Buy one if you go to expos, meet buyers face to face, or want more Google reviews. A ₹200 sticker test tells you more than a ₹3,000 metal card will. Skip it if most of your buyers order on WhatsApp, because a QR code there does the same job for free. Start with one sticker this week. Then find your district's product on KidharMilega and work out who you'll hand that card to.