RBI asks banks to replace 17.5 lakh debit cards

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to replace debit cards whose security is suspected to have been compromised after being used in some automated teller machines (ATMs).

The issue was first suspected by payment gateways such as Visa, Mastercard and Rupay, the last of which is operated by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), when it came to their notice that security could have been breached in some instances.

Debit cards and credit cards face security issues when unauthorised parties access confidential details embedded in the card. Such access could happen even as the card is being used in an ATM.

“We have asked all the banks to replace the debit cards that are under suspicion,” said a central banking source.

Cards falling in the suspicious category and needing replacement would number about 17.5 lakh. The total debit card base in the country was 697 million as of July 2016.

Banks such as State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank and Bank of Baroda have already started replacing the cards. SBI, the country’s largest lender, has started the process of replacing 0.6 million debit cards.

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Source:The Hindu

RBI