Banks to stop issuing new cards on Mastercard network from July 22 after RBI ban

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ban on Mastercard Asia Pacific to onboard new debit, credit or prepaid card customers will came into effect from 22 July 2021. India’s central bank pulled the plug on Mastercard over non-compliance with directions on ‘Storage of Payment System Data’ which mandates all system providers to store entire data of domestic customers relating to payment systems only in India. “Mastercard shall advise all card issuing banks and non-banks to conform to these directions,” the RBI said. In April 2018, the RBI issued a circular notifying all payment networks to store data locally, including end-to-end transaction details, and information collected, carried, and processed as part of the message or payment instruction. The monetary authority also directed the companies to report compliance and submit an audit report conducted by a CERT-In empanelled auditor “within the timelines specified therein.” The central bank initially gave companies six months to comply with the directions. “Notwithstanding lapse of considerable time and adequate opportunities being given, the entity has been found to be non-compliant with the directions on Storage of Payment System Data,” the RBI said in a release.