RBI postpones implementation of Certain norms related to Cards by 3 Months

Current Context: Reserve Bank gave three more months to banks and NBFCs issuing credit and debit cards to comply with certain norms including activation of cards without the consent of customers.

• Banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) were to implement the Master Direction on 'Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2022' from July 1st.
• As per the recent circular of RBI, the timeline for implementation of certain provisions of the Master Direction extended to October 01, 2022.
• As per the Master Direction, card issuers must seek One Time Password (OTP) based consent from the cardholder for activating a credit card.
• No consent is received for activating the card, card issuers should close the credit card account.
• Apart from that, it has also postponed the implementation of a norm related to unpaid charges and the compounding of interest by three months.

Question:

Q.1 RBI has extended the timeline to __________for implementing the Master Direction on 'Credit Card and Debit Card.
a. 4 months
b. 3 months
c. 2 months
d. 5 months