RBI relaxes norms for online card transactions up to Rs 2,000

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday relaxed norms for an additional factor of authentication (AFA) for payments up to Rs 2,000 online. In a bid to speed up small value online transactions, the central banking system relaxed the norms for AFA requirement for transactions up to Rs 2,000 for online CNP (card not present) transactions. It further said that only authorised card networks will provide such payment authentication solutions with the participation of card issuing and acquiring banks.

The relaxation for AFA under such solutions shall be applicable for card not present transactions for a maximum value of Rs 2,000 per transaction across all merchant categories. Banks and card networks are free to facilitate their customers to set lower per transaction limits, RBI said in a statement. Customers opting for this facility will go through a one-time registration process requiring entry of card details and AFA by the issuing bank. Thereafter, the registered customers will not be required to re-enter the card details for every transaction at merchant locations that offer this solution and thereby save time and effort, it added.

In the interest of customer awareness and protection, RBI said the banks and authorised card networks offering such solutions will bear the full liability in the event of any security breach or compromise in the authorised card network.