Visa today marked an industry-first move by launching Card-on-File (CoF) tokenization services in India in line with the recently issued RBI guidelines. Card-on-File (CoF) tokenization provides two key benefits – consumer & ecosystem security and an enhanced checkout experience. Launched in partnership with Juspay, India’s first CoF tokenization service is now available across ecommerce leaders such as Grofers, bigbasket and MakeMyTrip.
The RBI’s recent CoF tokenization guidelines mandate replacing the actual card data with encrypted digital tokens, which are then used to facilitate and authenticate transactions. This devaluation of sensitive card details alleviates risk and reduces vulnerability of sensitive data, as only tokens are present in transit, across the ‘in-rest’ and ‘in-use’ phases. These new guidelines are expected to enhance consumer trust in ecommerce payments, ensure seamless transaction experience as well allow card issuers the comfort of authorizing a higher number of transactions.
Commenting on the launch, TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa, said, “The RBI’s move to allow CoF tokenization for ecommerce payments will revolutionize digital payments across India’s ecommerce platforms. Having launched CoF tokenization services in over 130 countries globally, we are confident of the technology’s ability to build a safe, secure and seamless environment for digital payments. This will be critical in building consumer trust on merchant platforms and reassure them of the safety of their payment credentials on these platforms. We have enabled all our banking partners for tokenization and continue to work closely with merchants, payment aggregators and gateways to ready the ecosystem for CoF tokenization rollout.”
The RBI’s consent for card-on-file tokenization by card networks for transactions on mobile phones, tablets, laptops/desktops, wearables, IoT devices etc. is aimed at making card-based digital payments more secure and frictionless. These new guidelines come at a time when Indian consumers continue to adopt digital payment methods for daily and discretionary needs. CoF tokenization ensures more control, visibility and a consequently smoother transaction experience, along with high payment success rates.
