Ecosystem equipped to implement tokenisation

With less than a month to go for the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) new card data storage norms to kick in, the ecosystem is better prepared this time around. However, the transition to the new regime may not be entirely seamless. Teething problems may arise, given how complex the implementation process itself is.

- SUBRATA PANDA

Come July 1, merchants, payment aggregators, and acquiring banks can no longer store card details of customers.

Under the new guidelines, only card issuers and card networks will be able to store them. Merchants and other entities that have stored card details of customers will have to purge the data and apply tokenisation.

Tokenisation is the replacement of an actual or clear card number with an alternative code called 'token'. A tokenised card transaction is considered safer since the actual card details are not shared with the merchant during transaction processing. This will reduce the chances of card information disclosure.