The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday said it lifted business restrictions imposed on Mastercard Inc with immediate effect as the global card player had achieved ‘satisfactory compliance’.

In July 2021, the central bank had barred Mastercard from on-boarding new domestic customers for failing to comply with norms related to storage of payment data.

The ban on Mastercard for almost a year had allowed rivals like US-based Visa and National Payments Corp of India’s RuPay to increase their market share. 

“In view of the satisfactory compliance demonstrated by Mastercard Asia / Pacific Pte. Ltd. with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular dated April 6, 2018 on Storage of Payment System Data, the restrictions imposed, vide order dated July 14, 2021, on on-boarding of new domestic customers have been lifted with immediate effect,” the RBI said in a statement on Thursday.

The restrictions imposed on Mastercard by RBI included on-boarding new domestic customers (debit, credit or prepaid) onto its card network for non-compliance with the RBI circular on storage of payment system data. The ban on on-boarding new customers came into effect from 22 June.

As per this rule introduced by the RBI in April 2018, foreign payment operators had to store card and customer related data in servers physically present in India. The processors can transfer card storage data abroad for smoothing flow provided this data is deleted within 24 hours.

Mastercard has been found to be non-compliant with the directions on storage of payment system data, notwithstanding the lapse of considerable time and adequate opportunities given, the RBI had earlier said.

The others who were barred on these grounds before Mastercard included American Express and Diners Club International.

Welcoming RBI’s decision, Mastercard said it is committed to support the digital needs of India.

“India is an important market for us, both in terms of the innovation created here and the value we deliver to our customers and partners. We will continue to invest in the country’s future with the same passion and dedication as we always have,” the global card player added.