Let me explain how the system works --
Here are the participants:
1. Card Association - Visa or Master Card
2. Issuing Bank: The bank that issues the card to you and collects the payment at the end of the month. Example: ICICI, Citibank
3. Merchant: The shop or store that accepts your card
4. Acquiring Bank: The merchant has his account in this bank. So for example, Pantaloons bank account is HDFC, the place where the payment you make is credited.
Now at the point of sale, i.e. the payment desk of pantaloon, say you are paying for a shirt worth Rs. 100. The employee swaps your card in the machine. The machine passes your account info to the acquiring bank i.e. HDFC, HDFC then forwards this info to the Card Association which then forwards it to the issuing bank i.e. the bank that gave you the card, in this example - ICICI. The issuing bank checks your history, sees your limit and then if all is good sends back the authorization in the same cycle back.
Now, for Rs. 100 this is how the money flows electronically. Rs. 98 is debited to the merchant or the acquiring bank, which then debits Rs. 97.9 to the merchants account. Also the issuing bank gives Rs. 0.2 to the card association i.e. Visa
Here is the division and why -- Rs. 2 by the Issuing bank deducted from the cost price of Rs. 100, because the issuing bank takes the biggest risk in case you default it has to absorb the loss
The rest, Visa and the merchant's bank or acquiring bank are taking facilitation fees.
Visa is the card association and makes the rules for the division of money. It has to makes rules so that all parties are interested i.e. the card user, issuer, acquiring bank, the merchant and lastly itself
Bottom line is, if you are eligible for a credit card, that doesnt charge you annual fees, and you can afford to pay your monthly bills on time and shop at stores that dont charge you for using a credit card as a method of payment, YOU SHOULD USE A CREDIT CARD !!!
That is because, you get a lot of benefits. The issuing banks gives you a lot of offers and also gives you points that you can redeem. The issuing bank can afford all this because it is making money from the merchant on your purchases and can pass back some to you for the loyalty.
I hope it clears your doubts.