Central Bank of India restricts Mastercard from onboarding new customers

India’s central bank has barred Mastercard indefinitely from issuing new debit or credit cards to domestic customers. The Reserve Bank of India has accused the company of violating data storage laws, according to BBC.

The bank said Mastercard had not complied with rules requiring foreign card networks to store data on Indian payments exclusively in India.

There has been no response from the global payments service provider.

Mastercard will be prohibited from issuing debit, credit or prepaid cards to customers in India from 22 July.

The Reserve Bank’s decision will not have any impact on Mastercard’s existing customers. 

The central bank said the payments service provider had violated a 2018 order directing payments data to be stored in India. This would allow the regulator „unfettered supervisory access” to payment details.

„Notwithstanding (the) lapse of considerable time and adequate opportunities being given, the entity (Mastercard) has been found to be non-compliant with the directions of Storage Payment System Data,” the RBI said in a notification.

Last year, Mastercard accounted for 33% of all card payments in India, according to London-based payments start-up PPRO quoted by AFP news agency.

The central bank has asked the company to advise all card issuing banks and non-banks to confirm to these directions, according to The Times of India.

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Under the PSS Act, RBI had directed all system operators in India to ensure that entire data relating to payment systems operated by them is stored in India. The platforms were given six months to adhere to these norms.

The directed was issued by the Reserve Bank on April 6, 2018.

Mastercard becomes the third major payment system operator (after American Express & Diners Club International) on which restrictions have been imposed for non-compliance with RBI’s direction on storage of payment system data.