Payments-related data must be stored only in India: RBI

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank Wednesday said all data related to payments must be stored only in India and data processed abroad will have to be brought back to the country within 24 hours.

"The entire payment data shall be stored in systems located only in India...," the RBI said in its FAQs on certain implementation issues raised by the Payment System Operators (PSOs).

The RBI had issued a directive in April 2018 on 'Storage of Payment System Data'. It had advised all system providers to ensure that within a period of six months, the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them is stored in a system only in India.

The FAQs further said there is no bar on processing of payment transactions outside India if so desired by the PSOs.

"However, the data shall be stored only in India after the processing. The complete end-to-end transaction details should be part of the data," the RBI said.

In case the processing is done abroad, "the data should be deleted from the systems abroad and brought back to India not later than the one business day or 24 hours from payment processing, whichever is earlier".

Last week, the issue of data localisation was raised by several e-commerce firms during their meetings with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

Meanwhile, Traders' body CAIT Wednesday said data localisation provisions should form an integral part of the proposed national e-commerce policy

In a communication to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said data localisation in the proposed e-commerce policy should be adhered to without any compromise.

The provision of data localisation is fairly spelled out in draft of e-commerce policy and, therefore, it should essentially be made integral part of the e-commerce policy, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.

The government might unveil a national e-commerce policy within 12 months to facilitate achieving holistic growth of the sector, officials said.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held his second marathon meeting with stakeholders, including e-commerce companies earlier this week.

The government, in February, had released the draft national e-commerce policy proposing setting up of a legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow and also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad. Several foreign e-commerce firms have raised concerns over some points in the draft pertaining to data.

An inter-ministerial panel under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade will be formed to address stakeholders' grievances on foreign director investment and draft e-commerce policy.