2 passwords must for online transactions:RBI

Shopping online through foreign websites can come a cropper with the Reserve Bank insisting on an additional password for all kinds of online transactions. 

The requisition of an additional authentication hampers online shopping when Indian credit/debit cards are used on foreign websites and also when foreign cards are used on Indian sites. 

In a notification to the banks on Monday, RBI made it clear that it's not going to compromise on the security of online transactions. It had on August 1, 2009, made a second factor or an additional authentication mandatory for online transaction using credit and debit cards. Before that, users required only the 16-digit card number and the CVV number for online shopping. 

According to an official of a public sector bank, some banks continued to provide the facility of online transaction on foreign portal without the second factor authentication. In this regard, the Reserve Bank issued a clarification that the additional validation is compulsory for "all transactions using cards issued in India, for payments on merchant site where no outflow of foreign exchange is contemplated".