SBI, PNB, HDFC, ICICI, Other Bank Customers Alert! Your debit card may be blocked after 31st December - Here is why

SBI, PNB, HDFC, ICICI,  Debit Card Customers: If you are using a bank debit card which doesn't have EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa), then you may have to face a problem during money withdrawal from the ATM after 31st December 2019 as your debit card may be blocked from 1st january 2020. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, all Indian banks need to replace the magnetic debit card of their customers with a new EMV card. This debit card replacement is mandatory as it is aimed at meeting the international payment standards. Hence, SBI, PNB, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank or any other bank customers who are using a magnetic debit card are advised to replace their debit card otherwise they will have to face difficulty in money withdrawal from the ATM. The RBI guidelines say all Indian banks will have to replace all magnetic chip-based debit cards with EMV and PIN-based cards by 31st December 2019. Keeping in view of the continuing online frauds on magnetic stripe cards, the RBI has proposed to deactivate them by 31st December 2019. So, all magnetic chip-based debit cards will be deactivated from 1st January 2020 (irrespective of the validity of the existing magnetic SBI debit cards).

All banks are sending messages to their customers via various means asking them to replace their magnetic chip-based debit card by a new EMV debit card. The SBI warned its debit cardholders through a tweet citing, "Apply now to change your Magnetic Stripe Debit Cards to the more secure EMV Chip and PIN-based SBI Debit card at your home branch by 31st December 2019. Safeguard yourself with guaranteed authenticity, greater security for online payments and added security against fraud." So, the SBI has made it clear that SBI debit card will be blocked if it is a magnetic card. In fact, the SBI has already started deactivating the SBI cards of those SBI accounts in which PAN or Form 60 is not updated.

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Speaking on the matter SEBI registered investment and banking expert Jitendra Solanki said, "To meet the global standards of debit and card payments, the RBI in May 2015, directed all Indian banks to change the existing cards by a chip-based card called EMV (Europay Mastercard and Visa). The deadline given by the RBI for this exercise was December 2018 but the banks failed to meet that. However, this change of cards is in regard to that and these new EMV cards would help contain online bank frauds through card skimming from the cybercriminals."

So, if you have received any message from your bank in regard to replacing your magnetic debit card through a new chip-based EMV card, then don't ignore it. In fact, you can't afford to ignore it as it may land you in difficulty from 1st January 2020.