Card usage rules for international and online payments come into effect in India

As per the rules, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked all banks to mandatorily disable all the cards for online or international transactions, if they have not been used previously for such transactions. The cardholders will have to decide if they want to enable online and international transactions facilities on the card or not.

All such debit and credit cards will only be available for contact-based usage such as ATM and point of sales (POS) devices within India.

Moreover, issuing banks will also have to provide the facility to control limits for all types of transactions whether domestic or international. The cardholders can also set limits on the transaction limits for PoS devices, ATMs, online transitions, contactless transactions and others.

Overall, the volume and value of transactions through cards have increased manifold over the years, and these steps are important to ensure the security of card transitions and reduce frauds.