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India's central bank extends deadline for EMV card migration

The Reserve Bank of India has responded to concerns voiced by the nation's FIs that a September 2015 deadline is impossible to meet.

August 27, 2015

The Reserve Bank of India has extended its deadline for the nation's banks to issue PIN-enabled EMV debit and credit cards for new customer accounts.

For chip and PIN cards issued on saving deposit accounts, the deadline has been postponed from Sept. 1, 2015, to Sept. 30, 2016. For all other accounts, RBI has delayed the issuance deadline from Sept. 1, 2015, to Jan. 31, 2016.

According to a report by India's Business Standard, many of the country's banks had told the reserve bank that the September 2015 deadline presented significant difficulties.. 

As part of its security and risk mitigation measures for card protection and electronic payment transaction, the central bank on May 7 had asked banks to issue only chip-based and PIN enabled debit and credit cards from September 1, 2015. 

The RBI said it had received representation from various banks expressing difficulties in meeting September 2015 deadline on account of existing stock of magnetic stripe only cards with their branches.

India's banks have until Dec. 31, 2018 to convert all existing debit and credit accounts to chip and PIN, which in the past has been used only for ATM transactions.