Existing cards, both physical and virtual, that have never been used for online/ international/ contactless transactions will be "mandatorily" disabled, as per a notification by the Reserve Bank of India issued to banks and card issuers on January 15. The central bank also said that card issuers can take a decision, based on "risk perception" if they also wish to disable existing cards for card not present (domestic and international) transactions, card present (international) transactions and contactless transactions. These guidelines will come into effect from March 16, 2020. RBI claimed that it is taking these steps in order to "increase security" of card transactions. By default, enable card transactions only at ATMs and POS: The notification also said that by default, all cards should be issued/reissued only for the purpose of use at ATMs and Point of Sales. Card issuers will have to provide the facility to enable card not present (domestic and international), card present (international) and contactless transactions. Additionally, it directed banks and card issuers to provide: Facility to switch on/ off and set/ modify transaction limits (within the overall card limit, if any, set by the issuer) for all types of transactions – domestic and international, at PoS/ ATMs/ online transactions/ contactless transactions, etc.; this service should be made available 24x7 by means of — a mobile application, internet banking, ATMs and Interactive Voice Response (IVR). Additionally, this facility might be provided at a bank's branch as well. Notify a user via SMS or email whenever there is "any…
