The RBI's ban on Mastercard issuing new cards was termed as “draconian” in private emails by a senior U.S. trade official, according to a Reuters report. The move may cause panic in the markets, revealed the U.S. government emails accessed by Reuters. Brendan A. Lynch, the deputy assistant U.S. trade representative for South and Central Asia at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), wrote these emails on July 16, two days after the RBI's ban. The US federal agency is responsible for developing and promoting American trade policy. Lynch urged USTR officials in India to get to the root of what is unfolding at the RBI. The emails referred to the ban imposed by RBI on American Express, Diners Club, and Mastercard due to the failure of these companies to comply with local data storage norms. Lynch's emails also revealed that Mastercard had embarked on an all-out effort to lobby officials in Washington to call on the Indian government, the report added. This is the first instance of concerns expressed, over the RBI’s ban on foreign companies, by the United States government which is a crucial trade partner of India. It is an indication that the RBI’s ban has become another sore point between India-US trade relations which have been frosty over disagreements on tariffs, foreign investment limitations, and agricultural trade. The RBI's data localisation guidelines In 2018, the RBI had issued the following directions after it observed that not all payments companies were storing data in India: Entire data relating to…
