American Express may partially resume operation in India from today: Report

The RBI has been taking strict actions against financial entities like Mastercard and American Express over non-compliance to regulatory guidelines in the country.

American Express (AmEx) may partially resume its business in India from today (i.e. Saturday, August 7), more than three months after the foreign card payment network was barred by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from taking in new customers over non-compliance with data storage rules in the country. The central bank had earlier this year imposed a bunch of regulations on the American Express Company and Mastercard, asking the companies to not sell any new cards for failing to localise data here.

American Express logo as seen in this illustration. (File Photo / REUTERS)

American Express has, however, since amended its policies in line with "RBI instructions" and is set to partially resume operations from August 7, according to reports which cite a piece of communication sent by the company on July 28 to its banking partners.

As per the report, American Express said that it will strictly adhere to RBI instructions and will not engage in any business that it is not permitted to do by the central bank.

Hindustan Times has not independently verified the story.

The RBI has been taking strict actions against financial entities like Mastercard and American Express over non-compliance to legal guidelines in the country. The central bank asked Mastercard and American Express to not sell any new cards for data localisation non-compliance.

Speaking about the measures, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday that the central bank is keen to "ensure compliance to regulatory guidelines", thus initiating strong actions against financial entities.

"Whenever there are deviations or violations of the regulatory guidelines, as the regulator, it is our job, it is our responsibility to ensure compliance," Das said. "All our actions are an outcome of our keenness and our responsibility to ensure that regulatory guidelines are complied with."

The RBI governor said a regulated entity, be it a card company, bank, or non-bank lender, is expected to comply with regulatory guidelines.