BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: Whatsapp on Wednesday bowed to the Reserve Bank’s diktat on data localisation, just days before the deadline for compliance runs on October 15. With the company’s announcement that it has built a system that stores payments data locally in India, it is set to join India’s exploding digital payments ecosystem.“In response to India’s payments data circular, we’ve built a system that stores payments-related data locally in India,” said a company spokesperson.
While the platform has been conducting limited pilots of its payments system since early this year, the RBI’s April order stipulating that payments firms keep payments data stored within the country threw off expectations of a July rollout. The RBI had given until October 15 to comply with the new conditions.
India currently has several large digital payments firms operating in the market, both global and home-grown. While the RBI’s circular was welcomed by Indian firms like Paytm and Flipkart-backed PhonePe, global players like Google (Google Pay), Amazon (Amazon Pay), Whatsapp, Visa and Mastercard had initially raised objections. Whatsapp’s move to toe the RBI line comes after reports that Google, which had expressed reservations on the conditions, has consented to comply. However, it is reported that Google and other foreign players have requested until December to comply with the norms.
Whatsapp’s entry into the digital payments systems is widely expected to throw open the floodgates to digital payments in India, with the platform boasting over 200 million users. Over one million of whom are already testing out Whatsapp’s pilot payments system. India’s digital payments sector saw volumes grow at 44.6 per cent in 2017-18. Whatsapp’s compliance with RBI’s rules also indicates that other global players are likely to follow suit in haste, said an e-payments analyst.