CAIT seeks PM's intervention to exempt Visa, Mastercard from data norms

Taking a contrarian stand to the RBI, traders body CAIT has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in exempting payment technology companies, like Visa and Mastercard, from mandatory storing of financial data locally.

The Reserve Bank had given six months time till October 15 to global payment companies to store transaction data of Indian customers within India.

In a letter to the prime minister, CAIT said there are various payment technology companies like Visa, Mastercard and Rupay, which only have a 16 - digit card number stored with them.

"...as such that is not personally identifiable data and should not be forced to be stored in India, as it does not serve any purpose with regards to law enforcement, or misuse," the letter said.

The letter was shared to media at a press conference here on Wednesday.

It further said that only digital platforms like Facebook, Amazon, and Google, and banks have access to personal consumer data (like names, contact details, KYC), and they should be asked to "necessarily" store data in India to prevent any misuse.