Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted restrictions on Mastercard on Thursday, that it had imposed last year for failing to comply with local data storage norms. The central bank had barred the US-based payment gateway from onboarding new customers until it complies with Storage of Payment System Data norms.
‘In view of the satisfactory compliance demonstrated by Mastercard Asia / Pacific Pte. Ltd. with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular dated April 6, 2018, on Storage of Payment System Data, the restrictions imposed, vide order dated July 14, 2021, on on-boarding of new domestic customers have been lifted with immediate effect’, the central bank said.
The RBI had barred Mastercard Asia / Pacific Pte from on-boarding new domestic customers (debit, credit or prepaid) onto its card network from July 22, 2021. The restrictions were put in place because of the company’s failure to comply with local data storage norms that require payments companies to store data related to Indian customers only in the country.
Mastercard is a payment system operator authorised to operate a card network in the country under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act). RBI’s circular on Storage of Payment System Data on April 6, 2018, had directed all system providers to ensure that within a period of six months the entire data relating to payment systems was stored only in India. They were also required to report compliance to RBI and submit a board-approved System Audit Report conducted by a CERT-In empanelled auditor within specified timelines.
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