State Bank of India has notified its customers that the Magstripe Debit Cards will be in a blocked condition after Dec 31, 2018 and the presently in force, EMV Chip Cards would be used.

The leading state-run lender has put a notification on the bank's website stating that "It has been decided by the Bank that all the Magstripe Debit Cards which are in blocked state as on 28-Feb-2017 and to all such requests for blocking thereafter will remain blocked permanently. Instead free EMV Chip Cards have to be issued to them". Hence those SBI bank customers possessing these outdated magstripe debit cards need to apply for the new and replaced EMV Chip Card via logging into internet banking or visiting their home bank branch.

On its twitter handle, the bank tweeted, "Dear Customers, it's time to make a shift. As per the RBI guidelines, you are required to change your Magstripe Debit Cards to EMV Chip Debit Cards by the end of 2018. The conversion process is absolutely safe and comes with no charges."

So, you need to make the replacement at the earliest as after December 31, 2018, these Magstripe debit cards will no longer be operable on the SBI ATM machines.

Also, on a more recent basis, the State Bank of India bagged the title as the "most patriotic Indian brand". Others in the survey conducted by online market research and data analytics company YouGov, based out of the UK, include Tata Motors, Patanjali, Reliance Jio and BSNL.

Sector-wise financial sector took the lead with two companies including SBI and LIC, followed by auto, consumer goods, food and telecom sectors.

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