US trade official called RBI’s ban on Mastercard ‘draconian’: Reports

Following India’s decision in July to ban Mastercard from acquiring new customers, a senior US trade official had called the decision “draconian” and said it caused “panic” news agency Reuters reported based on US government emails.

The ban had reportedly triggered a series of emails between US officials in Washington and in India in which they had discussed the next steps with Mastercard, including approaching the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Reuters reported citing the emails.

“We’ve started hearing from stakeholders about some pretty draconian measures that the RBI has taken over the past couple days,” Reuters cited from an email by Brendan A Lynch, the deputy assistant US trade representative for South and Central Asia.