Update: There appears to be some disagreement on the nature of these restrictions, about whether they impact purchases only made in India, or they impact all purchases made using Indian cards in India (in which case, all transactions using Indian cards will have to be in INR). A different reading of the notice here, at Capital Mind. So, this either means that you'll find it difficult to make international purchases (which is how we read it), or that purchases of Indian apps in India will have to have to be payment gateways. Updates: - Meru Cabs: usage of foreign payment gateways violated RBI guidelines, FEMA rules - Uber may still be able to use a foreign payment gateway in India – Arkay & Arkay Earlier: The Reserve Bank of India yesterday mandated that entities that route online billing internationally, for goods and services purchased online using Indian cards, need to include a second factor of authentication, and route transactions through a bank in India. Services such a Uber, Amazon, Google Play, Apple App Store, international e-commerce stores like Alibaba, among others, were side-stepping norms applicable for Indian payment gateways. This directive has come into place already, but existing services have till October 31st, 2014 to comply with these instructions. This is an issue which MediaNama had flagged in December 2012, but was taken up by the only recently after Indian cab services such as Meru complained about a lack of parity to the RBI. The RBI has pointed towards a cash outflow to…
