Whatsapp building system to comply with RBI data norms

NEW DELHI: Whatsapp has built a system that stores payments-related data locally in India as the Facebook Inc.-owned messaging service begins the process of complying with data localization norms of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

A spokesperson for Whatsapp said it has started a pilot project with almost one million users in the country. “In response to India’s payments data circular, we’ve built a system that stores payments-related data locally in India,” the spokesperson told Mint. “Whatsapp Payments is useful for people in their daily lives and we hope to expand the feature to all of India soon so we can contribute to the country’s financial inclusion goals.” Whatsapp’s move comes at a time when most payment firms still have limited data storage in India and are struggling to comply with the new data localization norms. RBI has set October 15 as the deadline for all payment system operators to store data. Besides Visa, American Express, Facebook, Paypal, and Mastercard among others, Google and Whatsapp are also required to store their data.

At a meeting of Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai and information technology (IT) minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View in August, the company agreed to comply with the norms but sought time until enddecember, a senior government official said in September, requesting anonymity. Google has yet to confirm the development.

A person aware of the matter said the Us-india Business Council is in talks with the government and RBI to resolve the issue. The person said while payment firms have sought extension of deadline, they are ready to comply.

(Shayan Ghosh in Mumbai contributed to this story.)