End of the plastic smile: Tectonic change is roiling credit card industry

Tectonic change is roiling the credit card industry, and the rules of the game are being reset

Last month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed the deadline for banks to comply with the additional factor authentication for recurring online payments by six months, to September 30, 2021. Reason: Over 18 months after the central bank mandated the switchover in August 2019, banks are still not ready. But regulatory forbearance may not save them from the march of technology. Take a look at the credit card industry, where tectonic changes are on the way.
 
You have close to 60 million credit cards, but only about 35 million are with unique customers — millions of cards are