India’s HDFC Bank thus far has migrated more than 200,000 of its credit cardholders to smart cards that comply with the EMV chip-and-PIN fraud-deterring technology, an official at the Mumbai-based bank tells PaymentsSource at the condition of anonymity.
In May, the bank outlined plans to migrate at least 500,000 of its magnetic-stripe credit cards to EMV (
HDFC first is distributing chip cards to existing premium cardholders and to new credit card customers in the premium segment, according to the official.
“On a priority basis, we first replaced cards for those who travel abroad frequently, especially to Europe and Southeast Asian countries, where chip-based cards are mandatory,” he says.
The bank already has enabled its entire merchant network in India to accept EMV cards, according to the official. HSBC issues approximately 4.6 million credit cards in the country and is adding more than 80,000 new cardholders each month, mostly in the premium segment, he adds.
