State Bank of India (SBI) has rolled out new contactless credit and debit cards for secure and hassle free payments at merchant outlets.
The two new cards namely the sbiINTOUCH Contactless Debit Card and SBI Signature Contactless Credit Card use NFC technology that allows users to make payments by waving or tapping the card near the contactless reader. They come with emergency card replacement facility across the world as well as with a fraud liability cover of INR100,000.
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The bank is planning to upgrade 100,000 of its point of sale terminals to NFC technology amongst its existing 2, 50,000 PoS machines. The upgrade is expected to cost INR2,500 for each machine.
SBI has plans to launch these cards in a phased manner across multiple locations in the country, mainly focusing on fast food outlets, coffee shops, supermarkets and cinema chains.
All contactless cards as well as point of sale (POS) terminals enabled by NFC technology will have a contactless logo [ ))))] on them.
SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattachrya said the bank has already issued 108,000 new cards to its customers in the eight major metros, with plans to issue in other cities in the following months.
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By GlobalDataThe bank has partnered with Starbucks, Shoppers Stop, Big Bazaar, McDonalds, Reliance Retail, and so on for the brand new cards.
Bhattachrya added: "Right now, we’ll give these cards to those that request for it. All the cards issued from September this yr onwards can be NFC-enabled."
SBI managing director and general executive (NB) B. Sriram said: "While making a payment using a traditional payment card, merchants had to insert or swipe the customer’s card at the POS terminal; while when paying with sbiINTOUCH Contactless Debit Card, customers can simply wave the card close to the contactless terminal to complete the payment."
SBI Card CEO Vijay Jasuja said: "These Contactless Cards will enable customers to make faster transactions at retail outlets and mass transit locations where easy and fast checkout is the requirement for both the customers and the merchants."
