Impose monetary limit for overseas use of cards: RBI

March 6, 2013

The RBI has asked banks to fix a monetary limit for international transactions on credit and debit cards.More directives by the RBI:

Banks should refrain from issuing cards with global access unless specifically sought by the customer.
A monetary limit of $500 should be imposed by the issuing bank on all global cards which had not been used in the past.
There should be a threshold limit for international usage for all active international cards issued by banks.
Banks should evolve a system that enables implementation of additional factor of authentication for cards issued in India and used internationally to make electronic modes of payment such as RTGS, and NEFT safer.
Banks should introduce a system to put a limit to number of beneficiaries that could be added in one day by each account.

Why all these steps are needed?

The RBI has notified this following cyber attacks which have become more unpredictable and electronic payment systems becoming vulnerable to new types of misuse.
These initiatives are needed to ensure that transactions effected through electronic channels are safe and secure and not easily amenable to fraudulent usage.