The Reserve Bank of India on Monday issued a new set of rules for issuance/ re-issuance of credit and debit cards to improve user convenience and increase the security of card transactions
Highlights:
- The new provisions issued by RBI will be applicable to both new and existing card users
- Existing cards which have never been used for online/ international/ contactless transactions shall be mandatorily disabled while those using new cards will have to specifically opt-in for services.
Here are the key provisions.
1) Banks have been asked to allow only domestic card transactions at ATMs and PoS terminals in India at the time of issuance/re-issuance of the card.
2) For international transactions, online transactions and contactless transactions, customers will have to separately set up services on their card, which means the customer will have to specifically opt-in for these services to be set up on their card.
3) For existing cards, issuers may take a decision, based on their risk perception, whether to disable the card not present (domestic and international) transactions, international transactions and contactless transaction rights. Existing cards which have never been used for online/international/contactless transactions shall be mandatorily disabled for this purpose.
4) Users will have 24×7 access to switch on/ off or change all transaction limits via all available channels — mobile application/internet banking / ATMs / Interactive Voice Response (IVR).
5) Rules will come into effect from 16 March 2020.
6) Issuers shall provide to all cardholders facility to switch on/ off and set/ modify transaction limits (within the overall card limit, if any, set by the issuer) for all types of transactions – domestic and international, at PoS/ ATMs / online transactions / contactless transactions, etc.
7) The provisions are not mandatory for prepaid gift cards and those used at mass transit systems.
