Some banks have moved to EMV chip and pin cards issuance, but a large number of banks continue to issue magnetic stripe cards.
The Reserve Bank on Thursday said it has extended the deadline for banks to issue chip-based and PIN enabled debit and credit cards.
"It has been decided to grant extension of time for issuance of EMV Chip and Pin cards for cards issued under the Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Basic Saving Deposit Account to September 30, 2016," RBI said in a notification.
"For all other cards other than mentioned above, the date for banks to issue only chip-based and PIN enabled debit and credit cards has been extended to January 31, 2016," it added.
Some banks have moved to EMV chip and pin cards issuance, but a large number of banks continue to issue magnetic stripe cards.
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.
As regards migration of existing magnetic stripe only cards to EMV Chip and Pin cards, the Central bank said, "Banks may initiate necessary steps to progressively migrate on their own accord so as to ensure that all active cards issued by them are EMV Chip and Pin based by December 31, 2018." EMV chip card protects against counterfeit (skimming) card fraud. EMV Chip Card and PIN protects against both counterfeit (skimming) and lost and stolen card fraud.
EMV stands for 'Euro pay MasterCard Visa' while PIN is acronym for 'Personal Identification Number'.
As of now, PIN is mainly required for ATM transactions.
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