NEWS

The Reserve Bank of India has extended the implementation date of card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation norms by six months

DETAILS

• What is Tokenisation: Tokenisation means replacement of actual card details with an alternate code dubbed as “token”. The token will be unique for a combination of card, token requestor and device. This token us used to do card transactions in contactless mode at point-of-sale terminals, code payments and quick response.
• What is Card-on-File (CoF): In CoF transaction, cardholder authorises a merchant to store his/her Mastercard or Visa payment details. The cardholder then authorises same merchant to bill the stored Mastercard or Visa account.
• In September 2021, the RBI prohibited merchants from storing customer card details on their servers with effect from January 01, 2022, and mandated the adoption of card-on-file (CoF) tokenisation as an alternative to card storage. It applies to domestic, online purchases.
• A tokenised card transaction is considered safer as the actual card details are not shared with the merchant during transaction processing.