India Should Let Data Roam Free
Forcing companies to store locally will only hurt consumers and startups.
Indians might feel safer with their data overseas.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
India has a long history of drafting laws to protect its companies. In the process, Indians themselves often suffer. That’s precisely what will happen if the government proceeds with plans to force companies doing business in India to store all customer data locally.
The first salvo in this campaign was fired in April, when the Reserve Bank of India ordered companies to store the “the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them … in a system only in India.” The central bank claimed this was necessary to ensure its “unfettered supervisory access” for “better monitoring.” While India isn’t the only country to prevent companies from sending their data offshore, the RBI edict was unusually strict. Even Russia allows copies to be kept elsewhere.