Google has informed users that from January 1, 2022, it will not be able to save customer card details like card number and expiry date in the current format. This is because Google has to comply with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) guidelines for Payment Aggregators (PA) and Payment Gateways (PG). The change is significant because many users have a card number saved to their Google Work account or Google Play account to make monthly payments for subscription-based services.
The change comes due to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) new card storage regulations. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed that no entity or merchant, other than card issuers and card networks, should store card details — or card-on-file (CoF) — from January 1, 2022. Simultaneously, it has also extended tokenisation of CoF by card issuers. “With effect from January 1, 2022, no entity in the card transaction or payment chain, other than the card issuers and card networks, should store the actual card data. Any such data stored previously will be purged,” the RBI had said in a circular. The new rules have also meant that many users have seen their monthly recurring payments get declined or cancelled. For users who had their card information saved in order to pay for their Google One subscription or their Google Cloud work accounts, this could pose new problems. Google says that in order to continue using the same Visa or Mastercard issued debit or credit card to make payments after December 31, 2021, they will have to re-enter their card details and must make at least one purchase or manual payment before the end of 2021.“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.”