ICICI NFC Based Credit & Debit Cards Coming Next Month; But Need PIN For Authentication

ICICI Bank will be the first bank in India to launch the NFC (Near Field Communication) based credit and debit cards in Indian markets. The NFC technology will make it super easy and fast to make payments - without having to swipe or dip your cards at the POS machines at malls and shops. All you will need to do is just bring your card very close (~2cm) to the point of sale machine in order to make the payment. ICICI says that this will make payments 10x faster and more secure as the card will never leave the owner's hands. RBI however has said that the PIN based authentication is still a requirement but is reviewing the need for smaller transactions.

ICICI has tied up with Visa and Mastercard for their existing products. The new cards will make their way to shops in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. One of the bigger challenges for the mass adoption of NFC technology for payments is that people believe that cards are for high-value payments only. With NFC technology, even the smaller payments (up to Rs. 2000) can be brought into a very formal payment channel. Australia saw nearly half the markets adopt the NFC based card because of the convenience in a matter of just few months.


Following ICICI, the State Bank Of India (SBI) has also began conducting a pilot project with the Chennai and Mumbai Metro stations by introducing contactless cards. We expect SBI and other major banks in India to roll out NFC based payment cards in near future.

We'd love to know from our audience their opinion on the popularity of the NFC based credit/debit cards. Do you think that these cards will make it more convenient to make payments? Let us know through comments below.

Source: ‘Contactless’ cards soon to ease payments - Times of India