Visa Ready To Adhere To India’s Data Localisation Norms: Visa Head Ryan Mclnerney

In a bid to strengthen data privacy laws in India, the government is mending ways on how companies and organisations treat non-personal and personal data of individuals and other businesses. 

At present, the draft personal data protection law proposes that companies have to store all payments related information within India, making overseas companies unhappy since it increases the cost of operation in India. However, multinational financial services corporation, Visa claims that they are ready to adhere to the data localisation norms.  

In an interview with ET, Visa’s global president Ryan Mclnerney also shared that the company is aiding the government’s Make in India initiative by manufacturing products for global markets in Bengaluru. 

While sharing its ambitious plans for India, Mclnerney said that Visa has scaled up its staff strength to more than 1,300 now from as little as 50 in 2015. 

He also responded to the question of the Visa’s stance on data localisation and informed that Visa has always been supportive of the moves from the RBI and is extremely committed to the new regulations put in place by it. 

“We already have a team here in Bengaluru comprising some of the best Indian engineers. I think there is a combination of multiple things that are happening in India meant to create a safer and better environment for online commerce and we are fully committed to being a part of it,” Mclnerney said.

The Visa president also emphasised that its commitment to India is a long term one and they want to work in a way the RBI feels is right. “We have engaged with them in every step,” he added. 

During the interview, Mclnerney told ET that Visa has already built an architecture, safe for its new payments processing platform in India. The company also feels confident about how it is going to work here. 

Moreover, Visa feels that unlike China, India allows international companies to become a part of its digital payments growth story. However, Mclnerney feels that issues like the Jan Dhan case where RuPay cards were mandated to participate in the financial inclusion game have concerned Visa in the past. 

How Data Localisation Came To India? 

The idea of data localisation initially came forward from the Srikrishna Committee’s Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 (PDP Bill). Further, the government’s cloud computing policy, RBI’s mandate for financial data have further pushed this demand. The justification of all the demands remains that data localisation is directly linked to the sovereignty, national security, and economic development of the country.

BN Srikrishna, while heading the committee, made several recommendations, which included the jurisdiction of personal data, setting up of an independent regulatory body enabling the data protection norm, and penalties for its violations, among other clauses. Further, the draft bill is also expected to apply to data collected by both private and government entities in India.