The Alliance of Digital India Foundation has welcomed the decision by the Reserve Bank of India to extend the card tokenisation deadline by six months and has also urged it to ensure all banks are prepared in a timely manner.

“There were concerns across all stakeholders in the payment ecosystem around readiness. Merchants were also fearing payment disruptions and revenue losses as a result. The extension comes as a breather for all stakeholders,” ADIF said in a statement.

Ecosystem readiness is a sequential process, with bank readiness being the vital first link in the chain, it further said, adding that unless banks are compliant, merchants will not be able to successfully process tokenised transactions and have solutions consumer ready.

“We also call upon the RBI to take steps to ensure readiness across all banks. Should bank readiness not come through in a timely and robust manner, we stand the risk of finding ourselves in the same predicament again in June as now,” said Sijo Kuruvilla George, Executive Director, ADIF.

It has also highlighted the need for consumer education and awareness on the issue, pointing out that only when consumers are aware of tokenisation and its benefits will they make an educated choice for opting in.

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