Data Localisation Policy

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo begins India visit today

US President Donald Trump and PM Narendra Modi will meet at G20 in Japan

US has strongly opposed India’s data localisation plans

The process is expected to be completed by the end of this year

The move is in compliance with RBI’s data localisation norms

It has also been storing data of Indian users in local servers since October 2018

Amazon Data Services India provides servers, cloud storage and data protection solutions

The government has urged companies to store user and financial data in India

Prior to this, Amazon had invested about $214 Mn in the business in 2016

US criticised both India’s data localisation policy and national ecommerce policy draft

The country claimed certain proposals were discriminatory and trade distortive

US also believes that India lacks the infrastructure to store data in its local servers

Government released draft data localisation rules in December 2018

Draft calls for internet companies to store data in Indian servers

Intermediary guidelines significantly impact user’s rights over internet

Amazon India has set up a team within Amazon Pay to work on the RBI guidelines

The RBI has asked payment companies to provide updates on the progress made in storing data in India

Google has also sought a couple of months more to comply with the directive

Why are so many global payment behemoths fiercely lobbying against this mandate?

Data localisation is bound to make India’s digital payments ecosystem much more resilient to foreign attacks and global politics

The policy will allow for better regulatory oversight and plug business-jurisdiction related loopholes that some foreign companies have long exploited to evade paying fair taxes in India

• The RBI had given six months time to global payment companies to secure data in India
• Google, Microsoft, Paytm etc supported the decision
• The finance ministry has proposed that companies store a copy of their data in India

The National Ecommerce Policy Framework Will Take Inputs From The Impact Of The EU GDPR And More

MeitY Had Written To The NPCI Previously On The Matter, But Wasn’t Satisfied With The Response, So It Has Asked Specific Questions This Time