Infibeam's CCAvenue starts TokenPay to help merchants comply with RBI norms

Ahmedabad-based Infibeam Avenues Ltd's digital payments platform CCAvenue has introduced TokenPay, to help merchants comply with Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) data security norms.

A secure multi-network tokenisation solution, TokenPay works across all major card networks, including MasterCard, RuPay, and Visa.

The solution will help merchants enable their end-customer to continue experiencing the saved card transactions with enhanced security and allow merchants to remain RBI guideline compliant with its online data storage norms.  

The apex bank's framework has recommended that only card networks and card issuers are permitted to store customer card information. In order to strengthen the security of online transactions, the RBI earlier this year had introduced new guidelines that prohibit merchants, businesses, payment aggregators, and acquiring banks from storing customers' credit/debit/prepaid card information. This makes the existing system of saved card experience and its associated flows defunct.

Founder of CCAvenue and Executive Director-Infibeam Avenues Vishwas Patel reiterated that in the absence of tokenisation, customers would have had to enter their card information manually every time they transact online, thereby increasing the probability of manual error leading to transaction failures and poor customer experience. "Using CCAvenue’s TokenPay, businesses can generate, process and manage tokens with customers' consent and continue offering a secure and frictionless online transaction experience," Patel added.

Network tokenisation is the process of substituting the 16-digit static card number with a string of randomly generated numbers called "token", which is virtually impossible to decrypt. Also, since the framework ensures that a customer's card information rests only with the customer, the card network, and the issuing bank, it minimises the risk of card data leaks & fraudulent activities significantly. All stakeholders are required to be fully compliant with the tokenization framework by December 31, 2021.

CCAvenue's TokenPay is an interoperable solution for all businesses/merchants and helps them comply with the RBI guidelines. Merchants using other payment gateways can also tokenize cards through CCAvenue and continue using their preferred gateways to process token-based transactions.