India to Relax Local Data Storage Laws for Foreign Payment Companies

India’s finance ministry revealed this week that the directive from the country’s central bank that requires global payment firms to store customer data only locally may be relaxed.

The move was said to be in reaction to intense lobbying by U.S. companies and trade bodies. It is expected that the proposal would relieve firms like Visa, Mastercard, and American Express of costs that could potentially run up to millions of dollars.

The finance ministry said in June that a possible solution could be to allow companies to store data offshore, as long as a copy was kept in India.

Source: Reuters