RBI said new standards for digital payment authentication will take effect on April 1.
In an effort to strengthen security and promote innovation in fraud prevention, the Reserve Bank of India released final recommendations for authentication methods in digital payment transactions on September 25.
Depending on the fraud risk of a transaction, the Reserve Bank of India said that the new framework, which goes into effect on April 1, 2026, permits issuers to implement extra risk-based checks in addition to the required two-factor authentication.
According to the RBI, the digital payment standards promote interoperability and open access to technology. The guidelines do not phase out one-time passwords based on SMS; instead, they encourage the deployment of new technologies for authentication.
Additionally, when foreign merchants or acquirers request it, they require card issuers to verify extra verification for non-recurring, cross-border, card-not-present transactions. After releasing draft guidelines in July 2024 and February 2025, the RBI announced that the final version had taken public views into account.