Google has announced that from January 1, 2022, the platform will no longer be able to save consumer card information such as card number and expiration date in their present format.

This announcement has occurred as a result of Google’s obligation to follow the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) guidelines for Payment Aggregators (PA) and Payment Gateways (PG).

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The shift is important, though, because many users store their credit or debit card information to their Google Work or Google Play accounts in order to make monthly payments for subscription-based services.

The RBI’s new card storage regulations are responsible for this shift. According to recent reports, the RBI has mandated that beginning January 1, 2022, no business or merchant, other than card issuers and card networks, shall hold card data or card on file (CoF). In addition, the RBI has expanded the tokenization of CoF by card issuers.

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“With effect from January 1, 2022, no entity in the card transaction or payment chain other than card issuers and card networks should store actual card data. Any such data previously stored will be purged,” the RBI stated in a circular. As a result of the new guidelines, many consumers’ monthly recurring payments have been declined or canceled.

Many businesses have also been confused by the regulations. This might cause additional issues for customers who had their credit or debit card information saved in order to pay for their Google One subscription or Google Cloud work accounts.

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Google, on the other hand, has said that with the user’s permission, they can save “card information in a way that complies with RBI laws and keeps sensitive card details private.”

However, all hope is not gone. Google can nevertheless keep your card information in compliance with RBI standards and with the users’ agreement in a certain way. To continue using the same Visa or Mastercard issued debit or credit card to make payments after December 31, 2021, customers must re-enter their card details and make at least one purchase or manual payment before the end of 2021.

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“If you don’t do so, your card will no longer appear in your account, and you’ll have to re-enter your card details to use it again,” the company added.

Meanwhile, for RuPay, American Express, Discover, or Diners Card users, the company noted: “We won’t store your card information after December 31, 2021, as card storage as per the new format isn’t supported for these card networks yet. By January 1, 2022, you must provide card details every time you make a manual payment.”