Mastercard and SBI Cards today announced the launch of their contactless payments on the SBI Card app. SBI card claims to be the first app of a credit card issuer in India to use Mastercard’s tokenization platform, Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES), that allows payment credentials to be securely tokenized and stored in mobile devices.
With this service, SBI Card Mastercard cardholders will not be needed to carry physical cards and can transact at any contactless point of sale terminal using their mobile. So, the cardholders can pay up to Rs 2,000 with just a tap on their mobile. However, for payments above Rs 2,000 cardholders will have to enter their card PIN on the terminal.
This feature is based on tokenization which provides high security and trust to consumers, as the actual card details are not shared with the merchant. To use this feature, SBI Card Mastercard cardholders will have to do a one-time registration of their card on the latest version of their mobile app. Once registered, they can complete payments simply by unlocking their phone screen and bringing the mobile near the contactless PoS terminal.
Ashwini Kumar Tewari, MD, and CEO of SBI Card on the launch said, “Use of contactless payments has been on the rise over past few months, prevailing conditions have further accelerated the pace of adoption by merchants and consumers. Today, our credit cards offer a faster, convenient, and more secure card payments experience. This collaboration with Mastercard is one more step in the direction of bolstering efforts to offer convenient digital payment options, to consumers.”
Ever since the outbreak of Covid-19, the popularity and usage of digital and contactless payments have increased. Experts say they have emerged as the safest way of making payments as they are more secure and require minimum physical contact between the merchant and customer. According to a recent survey conducted by Mastercard to understand the Indian consumer sentiment towards contactless payments, over 54 per cent of the respondents said they are aware of how to use a contactless card on a PoS machine and 74 per cent of the respondents said they will continue to make purchases digitally or via contactless mode in the coming times.
Porush Singh, Division President, South Asia of Mastercard on the launch said, “Safety and security combined with quick and convenient payment experience, is at the core of growing India’s digital economy. Mastercard is confident that the service will pave the way for a superior mobile-based payment experience for SBI Card cardholders. It will also go a long way towards driving contactless payments, especially in a time when people prefer touch-free transactions in a safe and secure manner.”