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From Sept banks must issue chip, PIN-based debit and credit cards

The Reserve Bank on Thursday asked banks to issue only chip-based and PIN enabled debit and credit cards from September, a move aimed at protecting customers from frauds.

Some banks have moved to EMV chip and pin cards issuance, but a large number of banks continue to issue magnetic stripe cards. As part of its security and risk mitigation measures for Card Present and Electronic Payment Transactions, the Reserve Bank said the acceptance infrastructure is getting geared to accept EMV chip and pin cards.

“Accordingly, banks are advised that with effect from September 1, 2015 all new cards issued - debit and credit, domestic and international  by banks shall be EMV chip and pin based cards,” Reserve Bank said in a notification. It further said that the migration plan for existing magnetic stripe only cards will be framed in consultation with stakeholders and time-line for the same will be advised in due course. The Reserve Bank has adopted a phased manner of implementation of security and risk mitigation measures in card transactions. Further, it said the time is appropriate to migrate away from magnetic stripe only cards to chip and pin cards on the level of readiness of the card acceptance infrastructure at point of sale and also implementation of PIN insertion system for debit card transaction by customers at the point of sale. EMV chip card protects against counterfeit (skimming) card fraud. EMV Chip Card and PIN protects against both counterfeit (skimming) and lost and stolen card fraud. EMV stands for ‘Euro pay MasterCard Visa’ while PIN is acronym for ‘Personal Identification Number.’

RBI may cut rate even before June 2 policy review: SBI
The Reserve Bank may cut rate by 25 basis point even before its monetary policy review on June 2 as inflation is easing and the US Fed tightening is expected by year end, SBI said in a research note on Thursday. The rate cut is most likely to take place after May 12, when release of CPI data is scheduled, it said.

"RBI may go for a 25 bps rate cut on or even before June 2 (after May 12, with the release of CPI data) with easing inflation and likely Fed tightening by the year end," said the research note by State Bank of India. It said retail inflation for April is likely to be at sub 5 per cent level, with a significant possibility of being close to 4.75 per cent. Wholesale Price Index based inflation would possibly slide to a negative 2.7 per cent or even lower. Before keeping the key policy rates constant in its last bi-monthly monetary policy in April, RBI in a surprise move had slashed the key repo rate twice by 25 bps each, to 7.50 per cent. 

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