All new cards sent out by issuers in India will not be contactless enabled or capable of online or international payments until the customer turns on these features, under new central bank rules.
With the volume and value of card payments soaring in India over recent years, the RBI says it wants to tighten up security by restricting what type of transactions can be made without any customer action.
At the time of issue, all virtual and physical cards can be used at ATMs and non-contactless point-of-sales devices.
However, from March, for contactless, card not present and international transactions, new cards will be disabled. Issuers will be required to give customers a host of ways to turn on these features, through mobile apps, online banking, ATMs and branches.
Meanwhile, the central bank is also making issuers give customers the option to switch on or off and set transaction limits for all types of transactions - contactless, online or at the point of sale.
Again, customers must be able to do this through multiple channels on a 24x7 basis and receive a status notification via text or email.