New credit, debit card rules for online payments coming in July; you will be impacted this way

The month of July is going to bring a big change for the credit and debit card users. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced the introduction of tokenization of card transactions from July 1, 2022. According to RBI, a tokenized card transaction is considered safer as the actual card details are not shared with the merchant during transaction processing. Here is all you need to know about the new credit, debit card rules for online payment from July.

What is tokenization?

Tokenization refers to replacement of actual card details with an alternate code called the “token”, which shall be unique for a combination of card, token requestor (i.e. the entity which accepts request from the customer for tokenization of a card and passes it on to the card network to issue a corresponding token) and device.

Actual card data, token and other relevant details are stored in a secure mode by the authorised card networks. Token requestor cannot store Primary Account Number (PAN), i.e., card number, or any other card detail. Card networks are also mandated to get the token requestor certified for safety and security that conform to international best practices / globally accepted standards.

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Benefit of tokenization

Transactions made via tokenized cards are said to protect users from fraudsters as the actual card details will be replaced with a token while sharing card details with the merchant during a transaction.

Also, it can be noted that the token will be unique for every card and also for the token requestor, and merchant when doing digital transactions beginning in July. Earlier, debit or credit card holders used to save their card details on the internet on the merchant's website as it will save time while making future transactions.

However, saving card details on the internet led to fraudsters stealing credentials and using it to loot money. In order to combat the rising card scams, the RBI has implemented the tokenization system.

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It can be noted that card tokenization is not necessary. Cardholders can either choose to have his or her card tokenized, and if not, then they must enter the entire card details every time to complete online transactions until the end of June. Card tokenization is free of cost and once the card has been tokenized on the merchant portal, the customer will only be able to see the last four digits of the card.

How to get tokenized card?

You can get the card token by initiating a request on the bank's website or app via token requestor. Once you make the request on the token requestor, the merchant will send the request directly to the bank that issued the credit card / Visa/ Mastercard / Diners / Rupay. The party that receives the token request from the Token Requester will create a token that relates to the card, the token requestor, and the merchant.