Google will comply with RBI rules, seeks extension of deadline
NEWDELHI: Technology giant Google has agreed to comply with the data localization norms set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but has sought an extension of the deadline to put a proper mechanism in place.
During the recent meeting of Google CEO Sundar Pichai and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, the company agreed to comply with all the norms and sought time till the end of December, said a senior government official, requesting anonymity.
The RBI had set October 15 as the deadline for payment system operators to store data in India. Besides Visa, American Express, Facebook, PayPal, and Mastercard, among others, Google also requires to store date in the country. Currently, the firms have limited data storage in India.
Google Pay, the digital wallet developed by Google, has access to financial data of Indians. “We maintain that cross-border data flows today are ubiquitous and an essential phenomenon for global economic activity and universal access to information. Soaring data flows generate more economic value and hence the socioeconomic impact of restricting data flows must be thoroughly considered while framing any policy. There is a need to find practical and contemporary solutions to policy issues in line with global best practices. We have nothing to add at this point of time,” said a Google spokesperson, while responding to queries from Mint.
“There is no comparison between the financial data stored by Google and other payment operators such as Visa and Mastercard. Google Pay is a payment app, which works on a payments platform built by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), whereas Visa and Mastercard have their own payment networks,” said a payments expert who did not wish to be named.
Also, Google Pay has limited customer base and only domestic transactions take place on its platform, whereas Visa and Mastercard have to process much more data most of which is crossborder transactions, the person added .