The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks to upgrade all ATMs in the country by 30 September 2017 with more safety measures to prevent skimming and cloning of debit and credit cards.
India’s central bank noted that the country’s POS terminal infrastructure has been enabled to process EMV chip and PIN cards, but the ATM infrastructure is still continuing to process the card transactions based on data from the magnetic stripe.
"As a result, the ATM card transactions remain vulnerable to skimming, cloning, etc. frauds, even though the cards are EMV chip and PIN based. It has, therefore, become necessary to mandate EMV chip and PIN card acceptance and processing at ATMs also," the RBI said.
It added that once implemented, contact chip processing of EMV chip and PIN cards at ATMs would not only enhance the safety and security of transactions at ATMs but also facilitate preparedness of the banks for the proposed "EMV Liability Shift" for ATM transactions.