Tokenisation rules kick in today — RBI deputy governor says system is ready, 35 crore tokens created

Reserve Bank of India deputy governor T Rabi Sankar on Friday said that the system is ready for tokenisation, which comes into effect on October 1. Starting Saturday, merchants will no longer be allowed to store customers’ card data under the new card-on-file tokenisation guidelines.

Tokenisation refers to replacing actual credit and debit card details with an alternate code called the “token”, which will be unique for a combination of card, token requestor, and device. These tokens can be used for online transactions, mobile point-of-sale (POS) transactions, or in-app transactions. This is RBI’s idea for safe online payments.

Sankar said that roughly 35 crore tokens have already been created and about 40 percent of transactions in September amounting to Rs 63 crore were done using tokens.

“We have been talking to all stakeholders to ensure the transition is smooth,” he said.

RBI deputy governor added that extensions were given wherever needed. “We gave many extensions to ensure the system is comfortable switching over to tokenisation,” he said, adding that feedback from stakeholders suggests that the system is perfectly read.

Sankar said he understands that there are a few participants who are not ready but that is probably because of their unwillingness to comply. “We should not hold back efforts to ensure customer protection due to some laggards,” he said during the press conference after RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das’ monetary policy announcement.

It must be noted that tokenisation is voluntary, customers can choose whether or not to get their card tokenised. If not tokenised, starting from October 1, 2022, cardholders will just have to enter the full card number, CVV, and expiry date of the card for each online transaction. No charges will be applicable for tokenisation of the credit and debit cards.