Payment service will be launched only after complying with RBI norms: WhatsApp tells SC

Instant messaging app WhatsApp Friday told the Supreme Court that it is conducting a trial run of its payment service and will comply with RBI norms on data localisation before launching the full service.

The trial run is likely to be completed by July end this year, it said.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Saran was hearing a plea filed by an NGO, Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), which has claimed that WhatsApp has not fully complied with RBI’s circular which prescribed data localisation norms.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arvind Datar, appearing for the messenger app owned by US-based Facebook, told the bench that they are only having a trial run which is likely to be completed by July and it will not launch payments services without fully complying with RBI norms.