Data localization norms: Reserve Bank unlikely to extend deadline

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to extend the deadline for foreign payment companies such as Mastercard, Visa and Paypal to adhere to its data localization norms, a senior official aware of the matter said. Earlier, major payment firms had sought more time to comply with RBI norms, which mandates storage of data within the country. “Over 60 companies have already complied with RBI rules. It’s some of the major players which are yet to fall in line,” said the official mentioned above.

“We will also not accept data mirroring which was one of the suggestions made by these firms,” he said, requesting anonymity. On Wednesday, RBI officials met representatives of payment system providers that are likely to be impacted by the new norms. These companies highlighted their concerns and have sought grace period from the central bank, said a person familiar with the development.

“The deadline set by RBI was technically October 6. RBI gave payment companies six months’ time from the date of issue of circular (April 6) to comply with the norms. The date to submit compliance report by these firms is October 15,” said an industry expert, who did not want to be named. Mails sent to Amazon India, Mastercard and Visa didn’t get any response. RBI spokesperson declined to comment. On Tuesday, Whatsapp said that it 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 the data localization norms.

(Shayan Ghosh contributed to this story.)