Airtel, Truecaller for storing data locally

New Delhi: Swedish caller identification App Truecaller and Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel have told a joint committee of Parliament on the personal data protection bill that they are in favour of storing and processing all subscriber data locally, in the country of operation, because doing so increases operational efficiencies and is cost-effective.

Of the various multi-national companies that have appeared before the parliamentary panel so far — Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook among them — all, except Truecaller, have expressed reservations over storing subscriber data locally. This despite several members of the committee pointing out that the MNCs must comply with Indian laws in this regard, just as they are doing in other parts of the world, where they do business.