The new rules for debit and cards have come into force from Monday, March 16, 2020. The norms, which were issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on January 15 this year came into force from today and are expected to enhance security and reduce frauds.

New debit/card rule

As per the new guidelines by the central bank, debit or credit card will be enabled for contact-based points of usage in India only at the time when it is being issued or reissued. This means that new cards can only be used at ATMs and point of sale (PoS) devices within the country.

As per the new rule, the issuer of the debit/credit cards will have to provide holders with a facility to activate or start online transactions, international or overseas transactions and contactless transactions. These facilities will remain disabled till the issuer enables them.

Now, to use debit/credit card for international transactions, online transactions, card-not-present transactions and contactless transactions, cardholders will have to separately activate services.

Apart from this, the new rule gives teeth to customers modify transaction limits within their overall card limit for any type of transactions including domestic and international transactions, ATMs, at PoS machines, for online transactions and contactless transactions.

Cardholders can activate this facility round the clock through the respective bank’s mobile application, internet or online banking, ATMs, interactive voice response (IVR) as well as at a bank’s branch or office.

Also, the debit/credit cardholders who have never used the plastic money for online/international/contactless transactions — will be mandatorily disabled from today.

Who will the new debit/credit cards rule affect?

Any customer, who gets a new debit/credit card from March 16 onwards, will be affected by the new rules as they will have to enable online and international transactions separately at the time of applying for the new card.

Also, existing cardholders who have not made any online or international transaction till date will face the wrath as the RBI has asked banks to disable the facility for these cards. These users will also have to request for initiating the facilities.

Are you affected by new debit/credit card rules by RBI?

The central bank has asked the issuers to notify the existing cardholders via SMS of any changes in their card including disabling of online and international transactions.

Cardholders will also receive an SMS from the bank if international transactions were already disabled on their cards.

How to activate online and international transactions?

When you apply for a new debit/credit card, the bank will ask you if you want to enable online and international transactions.

Existing cardholders who find that online and international transactions have been disabled on their cards, they can contact the bank to enable the same.