Parliamentary Panel Questions Paytm About Chinese Investment; Google Over Resisting Data Localisation

 

Indian e-commerce finance company Paytm on Thursday offered a suggestion to the joint committee of Parliament on personal data protection bill that the government should “handle” encryption and decryption of data held by tech companies, only to withdraw it after several objections by members of the panel.

The only indigenous Indian company among tech majors like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter to be examined by the panel, Paytm was asked about the quantum of Chinese investments it has received, why parts of Paytm revenues, via its digital payment gateways, were pumped back to China, and the details of Paytm’s online betting App, which was removed temporarily from Google Play Store for violating its gambling policies earlier this year.

Paytm vice presidents Narendra Singh Yadav and Dharmendra Jhamb acknowledged about 35% Chinese investment in Paytm, and also that some sensitive and personal data may be transferred outside India “for the purpose of processing” when explicit consent is given by the “data principal” for such transfers

Separately, the committee also directed posers at Google which argued, in a 25-page note it submitted to the panel, that “India should avoid data localisation”, arguing that it is “ill-suited to protect privacy and security”.
Sources said the committee took a dim view of the arguments put forward by Google’s representatives Geetanjali Duggal, Aman Jain and Rahul Jain, and asserted that the PDP Bill, once enacted, would only strengthen privacy and security.

The committee also asked Google pointed questions about its links and operations in China and whether the Chinese Navy is indeed, its client. In addition, the committee sought to know whether the effective tax rate paid by Google was “absurdly low” in comparison to the revenues it generated through its businesses in India, and over the tech major’s market control of the smart phone market since android phones use Google as a platform.

With the tech companies evading some and unable to answer other questions by the committee, panel chief Meenakshi Lekhi is understood to have directed both Paytm and Google to turn in affidavits in one week’s time, on behalf of the company’s highest authorities and containing responses to each of the committee’s posers on backward linkages, corporate and revenue models, what is done with the data they hold, and company norms over data privacy.

Sandip Ginodia , CEO

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