The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has directed Google and WhatsApp to give complete and clear information on their data storage plans meant for India.
Reportedly, NPCI has sent letters to Google and WhatsApp and asked them about their plans pertaining to data storage, in adherence to the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
“Companies say they store payments data in India but are keeping a mirror copy abroad. India, however, is looking at keeping everything locally,” said a senior official from NPCI.
Chat messenger WhatsApp had earlier notified in a statement that it has begun storing payments data in India but offered no clarity on whether it is storing data “exclusively” in the country, a key stipulation of RBI.
Search engine Google, on the other hand, has not submitted any information on the local storage of payments data and has been voicing support for the free flow of cross-border information.
“We are working closely with the Indian government, NPCI, and multiple banks including our payments service providers to expand the feature to more people and support India’s digital economy,” said WhatsApp’s spokesperson.
