Visa provisions over 160 million card-on-file tokens in India

Visa, the global leader in digital payments, on Tuesday announced its successful provisioning of more than 160 million CoF (card-on-file) tokens in India. This achievement comes on the back of 100 million token provisions that Visa announced in June. This milestone has been achieved in line with Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines on CoF tokenisation while focusing on key benefits such as an improved payment success rate compared to non-tokenised cards, consumer and ecosystem security, and an enhanced checkout experience. 

Sandeep Ghosh, Group Country Manager India & South Asia, Visa, said, “As pioneers and advocates for tokenisation in payments, we are delighted to see its rapid adoption by the Indian payment industry. With the last 60 million token provisions taking less than three months to achieve, we are confident of this strong momentum continuing as the industry fully migrates to tokenised payments starting 1 October 2022. At Visa, we continue to work closely with our clients and partners to ensure a seamless payment experience to consumers as they transition into the world of tokenised payments.” 

RBI’s CoF tokenisation guidelines mandate the replacing of actual card data with encrypted digital tokens to ensure seamless transactions and give card issuers the confidence to authorise a higher number of transactions as compared to non-tokenised cards. The devaluation of sensitive card details alleviates risk and vulnerability of sensitive data, as only tokens are present in transit, across the ‘in-rest’ and ‘in-use’ phases. 

RBI’s move to mandate CoF tokenisation is expected to revolutionise digital payments across India’s e-commerce platforms. As tokenisation proliferates among customers, acquiring and issuing banks and merchants, it will further integrate into digital commerce to unlock positive and smooth payment experiences while maintaining the integrity and safety of cardholder data across entities.