Following recommendations from India’s central bank urging the country’s financial institutions to issue chip cards, ICICI Bank Ltd. has begun to issue its first EMV-compliant credit card, the issuer announced Sept. 5.
Besides the enhanced security provided by the chip, the credit card also will come with various cardholder benefits, including reward points on all purchases and double reward points on dining, groceries and at supermarkets. Cardholders may redeem the points as cash credited to their card account or for selected merchandise, the bank noted in a press release announcing the rollout.
Cardholders also will receive a minimum 15% savings at 450 participating restaurants across India through the bank's dining-benefits program and complimentary lounge access through the Visa Airport Lounge Access Privileges program.
Applicants must be salaried professionals older than 23 and be residents of any of the 12 major cities in India, a customer-service representative for the bank tells PaymentsSource.
Cardholders pay 1,000 rupees [US$22 or 15 euros] to obtain a card and an annual fee of 500 rupees that is waived the first year. “The annual fee (also) would be waived off if the cardholder spends more than 125,000 rupees in the preceding year,” she says.
The ICICI Bank Coral chip-and-PIN credit card will continue to have a magnetic stripe to support purchases at terminals that may not read chip cards.
In June, the Reserve Bank of India asked all merchant acquirers and card issuers in India to make the acquiring infrastructure commercially ready to accept EMV chip-and PIN cards for payment within the next two years (
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