Cost is an issue in unveiling only EMV Chip cards: says BoI ED

Bank of India (BoI) Executive Director R V Marathe on Friday said that the higher cost of the Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) chip and pin-enabled cards, when compared with the magnetic stripe cards was one of the challenges the country is facing in the migration process to only EMV chip-based cards.

While the magstripe cards cost Rs 30 each, the EMV chip-based ones cost Rs 80 each, Marathe said. He added that the card is a tool that has to be used in a machine and making all the ATMs EMV chip-based card-enabled would also be an issue that could delay the process further.

It may take one or two years to completely change to EMV chip-based cards but in between if technology evolves, we might be looking at card-less transactions with only mobile payments, he added.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of BoI Business Debit, Platinum Credit and International Travel cards in association with MasterCard, Marathe said the US has also not adopted it yet, and added that private banks may have the money to issue only EMV chip cards, indicating the mandatory change would be hard on state-owned banks’ pockets.