The Reserve Bank of India is unlikely to extend the Friday deadline for businesses to tokenise credit and debit cards. Banking and merchant sources said that despite a demand by smaller merchants, there has been no indication that the central bank would announce an extension beyond September 30.

A banker with a state-owned bank told news agency Reuters that the general sense is that banks, card networks and merchants are better prepared and so the push from the ecosystem side for an extension has also not been massive and we haven’t received any indication to suggest an extension either.

While banks and large companies are mostly prepared for tokenisation, smaller merchants are concerned that they are likely to face troubles, leading to revenue losses. Merchant associations reached out to the central bank to see if they could get some more time for the implementation.

Some merchants and bankers are concerned that card-related transactions may drop in the short term. The same case had happened when the previous deadline was nearing. Recurring payments had fallen by 10-15 per cent, as per merchants.

Another cause of concern is what would happen when a product is returned as card data would not be stored on merchant servers. Analysts also argue that digital payments are expected to reach $10 trillion mark by 2026, which is why tokenisation is imperative.

WHAT IS TOKENISATION?

Tokenisation is a process by which credit and debit card details are replaced by a unique code or token which will allow payments without card details,

The RBI introduced the norms in 2019, and several extensions to the deadlines have been announced since. Companies in India have been asked to purge saved credit and debit card data from their systems by October 1.

HOW TO TOKENISE YOUR CARD?

When you enter the credit and debit card details while checking out from an e-commerce merchant website or application, you will be given an option to tokenise your card by ‘secure your card’ option. All you need to do is authorise the tokenisation by using the OTP sent to your registered mobile number or your email.

Once done, the card will be tokenised. You will be able to recognise your card through the last four digits of the saved card that will be displayed when you visit the website or app.