Banks inform Customers to opt for Card Tokenization amid RBI Mandate

India’s one of the leading banks HDFC Bank has started rolling out SMSes to its customers regarding Card Tokenization. It is expected that other banks such as Axis, ICICI, SBI, and others will soon follow this. This measure will help users’ online transactions to be more secure. This is as per RBI’s mandate which needs to be followed by online merchants.

The SMS sent by HDFC Bank to its customers reads as “Effective 1st Jan’22! Your HDFC Bank card details saved on Merchant Website/App will get deleted by the merchants as per the RBI mandate for enhanced card security. To pay each time, enter full card details or opt for tokenization.”

Thus, starting 1st January 2022, your card details (card no, CVV, expiry date, etc) which were stored on online merchant’s portals such as Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, etc will be automatically deleted. Now, if you want to use this card every time without entering all card details then tokenization is the only way out.

Recently on 20th December 2021, HDFC Bank again rolled out an SMS saying “Dear Customer, HDFC Bank is now compliant with RBI e-mandate framework w.e.f. 1st Oct 2021. Register using HDFC Bank Debit card for recurring payment/subscription on merchant website/app. T&C apply”. 

The list of HDFC complaint merchants for Tokenization are as follows:-

1. Amazon- Prime
2. Netflix
3. Max Life Insurance
4. Google India ( Ads, Google Cloud, Playstore, Youtube, Workspace)
5. Hotstar
6. Policybazaar
7. Facebook
8. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
9. McAfee
10. Microsoft
11. Vodafone
12. Discovery
13. Spotify
14. HDFC ERGO General Insurance
15. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
16. Zee5
17. Max Bupa Health Insurance
18. Naukri
19. RPSL
20. BAGIC
21. Exide Life Insurance
22. Gaana.com
23. Story Tell
24. Club Mahindra
25. PNB MetLife Insurance
26. JioMoney
27. Bharti AXA Life Insurance
28. Zoom
29. UNICEF
30. Give India
31. Paper Boat
32. Clever Tap – India
33. Bharat Matrimony

After tokenization you will only see the last 4 digits of your card on the merchant’s portal. Razorpay and Worldline have got their tokenization service up & running. More online payment aggregators are in works and will join them soon. You can also read the news on Disruptions in auto and recurring payments will stay, RBI Rule Postponed Till September 30.

Card Tokenization means generating a ‘TOKEN’ and using it for initiating online transactions instead of your card details. A token is an encrypted code made from a combination of your card details and merchant details.

Firstly, you send a request for card tokenization to the merchant. The merchant then forwards it to the respective bank or the card networks (VISA, Rupay, Mastercard, etc). From here a token is generated and sent to the merchant which saves it for you. Thus, this token will be used every time for a transaction so you don’t need to enter card details again & again.

When your card details are stored with the merchant, there is a risk of data theft. If this happens then your data gets leaked and can be used for fraudulent transactions. This is where tokenization comes to the rescue. Here, a fraudster will get access to the encrypted token instead of your card details. Thus, it makes it safe for online transactions.

Yes, Tokenization will work for both Credit Cards and Debit Cards. It may also work for prepaid cards. You can also checkout the latest Credit Card offers.

Card Tokenization will start in India from 1st January 2022 as per RBI’s mandate. You can view all the trending Bank offers here.

No, currently tokenization is applicable only on domestic cards.

The respective bank will have a dedicated portal for managing Your Tokenized Cards. Here, you can view tokens of all your cards. You can even delete these tokens if you don’t wanna continue using them.

No, currently tokenization will work only on online transactions.

Card Tokenization is an absolutely free service, and can be availed by anyone.

No, Card Tokenization is not mandatory, but it is a good measure as it will save your time and effort while making online transactions which are now among essentials.

There is no limit for tokenizing your cards. Thus, you can tokenize any number of cards. However, it is recommended to tokenize only those cards which you use frequently.

Yes, a card will have a Different Token for Different Merchants. For instance, you have a HDFC credit card tokenized on Amazon with token XXXX. Then, this same card will have a different token YYYY on Flipkart.

Yes, it is possible that your card may get rejected for tokenization by the bank or card network. This may be due to a high risk card issue.

This is a great step by RBI moving forward for more secured online transactions as these are increasing day-by-day. It will be interesting to see how the e-commerce players adjust to this new process.