The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on March 06, 2024, issued a notification regarding the Arrangements with Card Networks for the issue of Credit Cards
The following has been stated namely: -
• It states that the Card issuers shall not enter into any arrangement or agreement with card networks that restrain them from availing the services of other card networks.
• The Card issuers shall provide an option to their eligible customers to choose from multiple card networks at the time of issue. For existing cardholders, this option may be provided at the time of the next renewal, this shall not be applicable to credit card issuers with the number of active cards issued by them being 10 lakh or less in number and shall Be effective six months from the date of this circular.
• The Card issuers and card networks shall ensure adherence to the above requirements in:
o existing agreements at the time of amendment or renewal thereof and
o fresh agreements executed.
• The Card issuers who issue credit cards on their own authorized card network are excluded from the applicability of the circular.
[Notification No. RBI/2023-24/131 CO.DPSS.POLC.No.S1133/02-14-003/2023-24]
