The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday, November 9 announced that it has lifted the restrictions imposed on global card network Diners Club International Ltd., allowing to onboard fresh domestic customers after it had demonstrated compliance with RBI’s norms concerning storage of Payment System Data.
“In view of the satisfactory compliance demonstrated by Diners Club International Ltd with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular dated 6 April 2018 on storage of payment system data, the restrictions imposed, vide order dated 23 April 2021, on on-boarding of fresh domestic customers have been lifted with immediate effect,” the central bank notified in a statement released on Tuesday.
The RBI had barred Diners Club International from onboarding fresh customers on its card network through the issuance of a notice earlier this year on April 23. The restriction came into effect on May 1 and did not impact the card network’s existing customers. However, the RBI had stated that the restrictions would stay in place until Diners Club International complied with its norms for local data storage.
The central bank had instructed all payment system providers to assure that their entire data on operating payment systems is stored only in India through its circular on storage of Payment System Data released in April 2018,
Moreover, RBI also mandated payment systems providers to report compliance to the norms and present a System Audit Report (SAR) approved by the board under the specified timeline. RBI had directed payment service providers to comply with the regulations within six months and report compliance by 15 October 2018.
Along with Diners Club International, payment system provider American Express was also barred from onboarding new customers in April. Subsequently, Mastercard was restricted from onboarding new customers on July 22 due to non-compliance with RBI’s data localisation regulations. The restrictions imposed by the RBI on American Express and Mastercard continues to stay in effect.
