What is a Contactless Debit Card? Benefits and Features

Overview of Contactless Debit Card

While making payment of any purchase transaction at shop/ merchant store, the card holder has to hand over his debit/ credit card to the vendor who swipes that card to the machine & then enters the amount of transaction then the card holder enters the PIN and presses enter key & the payment is made.

Now, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has relaxed the requirement of Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) in case of small value transactions and has issued guidelines that any transaction below Rs.2,000 can be processed without a PIN. Hence many card issuers and banks have introduced a debit card called "contactless debit card".

Through Contactless Debit Card you can enjoy faster checkouts and more secure payments.

What is a Contactless Debit Card?

Contactless debit card is a sensor embedded new age debit card that works on Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology using Radio Transmission to ascertain contact when the card is brought near a terminal. This enables the customers to make payments up to Rs.2,000 without swiping their cards & entering a PIN.

Benefits of a Contactless Card

  • Fast & Convenient
  • Safe & Secure
  • No chance of losing or misplacing it

Features of Contactless Debit Card

  1. It works on near-field communication (NFC) technology
  2. It allows the card holder to process contactless transactions below Rs 2,000 without a PIN
  3. It enables customers to make payments by waving or tapping the cards instead of swiping them
  4. It takes half the time to complete a transaction than its traditional counterparts
  5. Currently, over 60% of transactions on cards in India are below the threshold limit of Rs 2,000
  6. More secure as it does not have to be handed over to the merchant

Where can you use Contactless Debit Card?

Look for the Contactless ripple mark on your debit card as well as the terminal at the merchant store. This is not restricted to Contactless enabled terminals in India and can be used globally.

How to use the Contactless Debit Card?

Using the Contactless Card in four simple steps

  1. If your transaction amount is less than Rs. 2,000/- then look out for contactless symbol and Visa PayWave logo on Point of Sales (POS) Terminal
  2. Check the transaction amount displayed on contactless terminal
  3. After the terminal beeps a sound and/or blue light blinks on the terminal, wave/tap your card at contactless POS Terminal
  4. Terminal will beep and/or displays four green lights, your payment is done