Nowadays, from vegetable vendors to big shopping malls, we like to make payments everywhere through our smartphones. Digital transactions have made our everyday life very easy. But along with this facility, the fear of cyber fraud and online fraud also haunts us all the time. To address this concern of the common man, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken a big step. The entire structure of online payments is going to change across the country from April 1, 2026. Now cyber criminals will not be able to easily steal your hard-earned money.
What is the new 2FA rule?
According to the new instructions of the Reserve Bank, now two-factor authentication (2FA) will be mandatory to complete any online transaction. To understand in simple language, to confirm the payment you will have to go through at least two security parameters. For this you will be able to use password, PIN, OTP or biometric (like fingerprint and Face ID). The most important thing in this is that one of these methods should be ‘dynamic’, that is, a password or code that is new every time. This new system will ensure that even if a fraudster gets hold of any of your information, he will not be able to withdraw money from your account.
Why did we lose trust in OTP?
In the last few years, the graph of digital payments in the country has seen a rapid jump. But parallel to this, cases of online fraud, phishing and transactions taking place without permission have also increased significantly. Till now our system was mainly dependent on OTP. But in this era of technology, hackers have come up with many new and dangerous ways to steal OTP. Now your savings cannot be left on the basis of just one message. Sensing this danger, the Central Bank has taken this decision to implement a more robust and secure system.
If money is deducted, the bank will bear the loss, not the customer.
The biggest benefit of this new guideline is going to be given to the common consumer. If there is any lapse in the security rules set during any transaction and a fraud occurs with a customer, then the responsibility will be directly on the bank or that payment company (Fintech). In such a situation, the customer will not have to suffer any financial loss, but will have to return all the money to the concerned institution. This strict rule will put pressure on banks and payment companies to make their security systems more impenetrable.
The level of security will decide the amount of the transaction
Along with tight security, full care has also been taken for the convenience of the people. The Reserve Bank has started ‘Risk-Based Authentication’. This simply means that there will not be the same strictness on every transaction. If you are making small payments on a daily basis, then even less verification will suffice. However, if the amount is large or any suspicious activity is observed, the system will ask for additional security checks. Not only this, this rule will not be limited to India only. By October 1, 2026, it will also be implemented on international online transactions, due to which payments made abroad will also become completely secure.