Authorities ask Google and WhatsApp to clear air on data storage, says report

Updated : November 30, 2018 09:42 AM IST

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has asked Google and WhatsApp to clarify their plans regarding storage of data of Indian users within the country, reported The Economic Times.

The query is mainly aimed at the storage of data on their respective UPI-based payment apps, said the ET report.

“Companies say they store payments data in India, but are keeping a mirror copy abroad. India, however, is looking at keeping everything locally,” a top government official was quoted as saying in the report. The official also stated that the NPCI sending letters to both Google and WhatsApp points towards the former’s alignment with the stance taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The development comes as the central bank had set the deadline of October 15 for all payments companies to store data exclusively within India, despite hectic lobbying against the move from various sections, the report said.

While Google has not been clear about its stance regarding the move, the report said that WhatsApp had earlier claimed in a statement that it has started storing payments data in India. However it is still not clear whether the latter is storing data exclusively in the country.

While Google’s UPI-based payment service Google Pay reportedly has over 3 crore active users in the country, Facebook owned WhatsApp is still awaiting regulatory approval for its payments business, the report said.