What Do School ID Cards Cost in India?

The honest answer is a range, not one number. Here are published rates from public listings, so you can check each one yourself.

For a full school order of PVC cards, most quotes fall between Rs 6 and Rs 22 per card. Small orders from a retail counter cost far more per card. Both ends of the range are real. That is why a nearby school may have paid a very different rate from the one you were quoted.

• Rs 6 per piece: both-side printed PVC school ID card, 0.5 mm thick, with a 16 mm satin lanyard included. Listed by 4S Print Solutions, New Delhi, on IndiaMART.
• Rs 15 per piece: both-side printed school ID cards on virgin PVC in CR80 size. Listed by Trending Enterprise, New Delhi, on IndiaMART.
• Rs 15 per piece: digitally printed PVC student ID cards. Listed by Magic Creations, Pune, on IndiaMART.
• Rs 22 per piece: one-sided PVC student school ID cards. Listed by Landover, Kolkata, on IndiaMART.
• Rs 35 to Rs 50 per card: retail price list of Rayanz Offset Printers, where 9 cards cost Rs 50 each and 100 cards cost Rs 35 each, with delivery charges extra.

A laminated paper card is a printed paper cutout sealed inside a plastic pouch. It is the cheapest option per piece. But the corners peel, water gets in from school bags and rain, and the print fades.

A PVC card is solid plastic, the same size as a bank card. The standard size, called CR80 or ID-1, measures 85.60 x 53.98 mm and is 0.76 mm thick. The print sits on the plastic itself, so it does not peel off.

The real cost hides in how long the card lasts. ID card supplier ID Edge says standard PVC cards usually need replacement every two years. Laminated paper cards often do not last even one full session of daily use. If many paper cards need reprinting before exams, the cheap option becomes the costly one. Also remember that CBSE asks board exam students to carry their school identity card along with the admit card. So cards for board classes must last till exam season.

Quantity changes the per card price more than anything else. Most of the work in an ID card job is fixed. Designing the card, cleaning the student data, and setting the layout take the same effort whether you print few cards or many. Printing one more card after that costs very little.

You can see this in published price lists. Rayanz Offset Printers charges Rs 50 per card for 9 cards, Rs 45 per card for 54 cards, and Rs 35 per card for 100 cards. Same card, same printer, and the rate falls as the count rises.

For a school this means one thing. Order for the whole school in one lot instead of class by class. And when you ask for a quote, give your exact student count. A printer quoting for your real quantity can give a lower and firmer rate than a general rate card.

With the same printer, double side printing costs more than single side. The card is printed twice and uses more ink. But the difference between printers is bigger than the difference between sides. In the listings above, a one-sided card is listed at Rs 22 in Kolkata while a both-side card with a lanyard is listed at Rs 6 in Delhi. So never compare a single side quote from one printer with a double side quote from another. Compare the full details.

The back side is usually worth it. Schools print the school address, bus route, blood group, emergency contact, and rules on the back. A lost child with a double side card is easier to help.

The lanyard and holder are the hidden difference between quotes. Some rates include them, some do not. The Rs 6 Delhi listing includes a 16 mm satin lanyard in the price. Before comparing any two quotes, ask one question. Is the lanyard and holder included in this rate?

When two quotes for the same card differ a lot, the gap is usually hiding in one of these places.

In our own work at Quick ID Card, across 47 schools and 20,045 students, printing is rarely the hard part. The data and photo work is. A printer who quotes very low often quotes for printing only. Then the school ends up doing the typing, checking, and photo collection itself.

• PVC quality and thickness. Virgin PVC costs more than recycled. A full 0.76 mm card feels like a bank card, while a thinner 0.5 mm card costs less and bends more.
• What is included. Lanyard, holder, and delivery may be inside one rate and outside another. Rayanz, for example, lists delivery charges as extra.
• Data work. Someone has to type names, fix spellings, and match every photo to the right student. If the printer does this, it sits inside the rate.
• Photo work. Cropping, straightening, and cleaning backgrounds for hundreds of photos takes real time.
• Reprint policy. Ask what happens when a name is spelt wrong or a card is lost mid-year.

You do not need a long meeting to get id card banane ka rate. Send any printer these six things and a firm quote becomes easy.

With these six answers, any serious printer can give you an exact per card rate instead of a starting rate. If you send them to us at Quick ID Card on WhatsApp, we reply with the exact rate the same day. Delivery takes about one week.

• School name and place.
• Total student count, plus staff cards if needed.
• Single side or double side printing.
• Lanyard and holder needed or not.
• How the student data will come: Excel sheet, register, or forms.
• Photo situation: ready photos, or photos still to be clicked.