Industry cheers hike in contactless card transaction limit

New Delhi

The announcement by Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das comes at a time when contactless payments have gained traction amid the pandemic. The new limit will be effective from January 1, 2021 and will be at the discretion of the user.

“We welcome the RBI’s announcement to enhance limits for contactless card transactions and e-mandates. Since Visa launched its contactless cards in India over five years ago, consumers have continued to prefer contactless cards for their small ticket, daily use purchases,” TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India & South Asia, Visa, said in a statement.

“As evident in recent months, there is strong consumer preference for digital payments and the new enhanced limits for e-mandates and contactless cards will help transition millions of Indian consumers from cash to fast, convenient and secure forms of digital payments,” Ramachandran said.

Visa also welcomed RBI’s plans to pursue a uniform security framework for digital payment channels in the county via the proposed Digital Payment Security Controls Directions.

After the monetary policy meet, the RBI Governor said all banks and other financial institutions should invest more on their IT systems and technology.

“At Mswipe, contactless payments have spiralled from 13 per cent of total transactions in January 2020 to 30 per cent of total transactions in November 2020,” said Manish Patel, Founder and CEO, Mswipe, which provides a range of digital payment solutions for SMEs in India including UPI QR and POS.