NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from Google, Facebook, Whatsapp and Amazon on a plea filed by Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam seeking direction to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for framing regulation to ensure that data collected on UPI platforms is not “exploited” or used in any manner other than for processing payments.
The top court issued formal notices to the tech giants after Viswam, the Communist Party of India (CPI) leader, through Advocate Kapil Sibal had sought a direction to the RBI and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to ensure that data collected on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platforms is not shared with their parent company or any other third party under any circumstances.
On October 15, the apex court had sought responses from the Centre, RBI, NPCI and others including Google Inc, Facebook Inc, WhatsApp and Amazon Inc on the petition.
“In India, the UPI payments system is being regulated and supervised by RBI and NPCI. However, these bodies instead of fulfilling their statutory obligations and protecting and securing the sensitive data of users are compromising the interest of the Indian users by allowing the non-compliant foreign entities to operate its payment services in the country,” the plea alleged.
This situation put the sensitive financial data of Indian users at huge risks, especially when these entities have been “continuously accused of abusing dominance and compromising data”, the plea contended.
It also alleged that Google and Facebook already have access to “immense personal data of millions of Indian users” and if they are permitted to collect “unrestricted financial data” of Indian users while operating at the UPI platform, the same would give them “draconian control” over sensitive Indian data.
Meanwhile, the RBI appraised the top court that responsibility to ensure that tech giants like Whatsapp, Google and Amazon comply with rules and regulations governing UPI platforms, lies not with the RBI but with the NPCI and asserted that Third Party App Providers are not given any sanction by the Reserve Bank under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act).
The court posted the matter after four weeks asking all parties to file their responses.
(AGENCIES)
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