SBI Cards announces India's first EMV credit cards

According to a recent announcement, SBI Cards, a joint venture between India's largest financial lender and GE Capital, recently launched credit cards with Europay, MasterCard and Visa chips, making it the first company to offer EMV technology in the country.

The EMV chips will provide greater security for SBI Cards' customers by storing encrypted personal information to prevent fraudulent use, including cloning of credit cards. Additionally, the company said the new technology will also allow it to offer customers more benefits and initiatives.

"We have always focused on making life simple for our customers by investing in new technologies and introducing new service offerings," said CEO of SBI Cards Kadambi Narahari. "The launch of the EMV chip-based cards for over 85 percent of our new cards will help our customer with greater security features and also help us launch more relevant offers for our customers. We will move to EMV for 100 percent of all new customers and cards within a few weeks."

With the new technology, SBI Cards also announced it is the only credit card company in India to offer its customers 14 different payment options. To coincide with the EMV cards, SBI also launched a new website to provide its customers a background of all the benefits associated with its offerings.

Since 1997, EMV technology has been circulating across the globe. As more countries implement EMV credit cards, one nation has been absent from using the technology - the United States. Despite the country's reservations regarding EMV deployments, a study conducted by GLG Research revealed the United States may be adopting the technology in the near future.

The main driver for a move to EMV technology in the United States is the the refusal of magnetic stripe cards in migrated markets, according to payments expert David Cole.

"For this reason I expect to see, and its already started, more U.S. card issuers to start the move to EMV-based chip cards before they lose to many customers that potentially they will never get back," said Cole. "The move to EMV chips-based cards will happen in the U.S. in the near future with all of the cost and company expansions this brings."

Other reasons leading to an eventual adoption of EMV technology in the United States include its global interoperability and rise in fraud among current credit cards, added Cole.