Mastercard has been ordered to stop taking new customers in India, as authorities there say it violated the country’s rules on how data should be stored. From next Thursday, the company will be banned from issuing new debit, credit or prepaid cards, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
It did not stipulate how long the restrictions would last. In a statement Wednesday, the central bank said that Mastercard (MA) had been given “considerable time and adequate opportunities” to comply with a mandate announced in 2018.
That measure requires all payment providers to store data on Indian users and transactions only on locally based servers. Companies were given six months to comply with the mandate at the time.
The RBI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about why its action against Mastercard was coming now.
In its order Wednesday, the RBI said that Mastercard should direct all card-issuing banks “to conform” to the new restrictions. The move will not impact the company’s existing customers.
