Starting October 1, credit, debit and prepaid card customers in India will have more flexibility in terms of choosing their service operators as they will be able to port their networks.
Credit, Debit, Prepaid Card Users Will Be Porting Networks
It is as simple as porting one’s mobile numbers from one telecom network to another.
Now, they will be able to port credit, debit and prepaid cards between Visa, MasterCard, RuPay or any other network of their choice.
In a circular, the Reserve Bank of India said that credit, debit or prepaid card users will be able to switch or select their preferred card network in a shift from the current practice.
How Does Card Portability Help?
With the help of Card portability, credit, debit, and prepaid card customers will be able to switch between any card network of their choice like Visa, MasterCard, RuPay, others.
It is noteworthy here that this practice will not impact user’s card accounts, balances and card usage history.
As of now, customers don’t get to choose their preferred card network when they apply for any card service.
Till date, this is something decided between networks and card issuer.
When you apply for a debit or credit card, you usually don’t get to choose the network provider as it is decided by the card issuer.
Presently, American Express Banking Corp., Diners Club International Ltd., MasterCard Asia/ Pacific Pte. Ltd., National Payments Corporation of India – Rupay, and Visa Worldwide Pte. Limited are the authorized card networks in India.
For example, whenever you apply for a debit or credit card, it always has either Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club or RuPay written on it.
However, the consumer does not get to decide whom they want to choose .
All this while, your bank has been choosing your card network provider for you.
But soon this is going to change with this new implementation.
The current arrangement existing between card networks and card issuers (banks and non-banks) are not conducive to the availability of choice for customers, RBI noted.
