Indian Personal Data Protection Bill: what is the latest?
Published on 27th Feb 2020
A new draft data privacy bill in India is moving through the legislative process. BTG’s last update on this law can be downloaded using this link.
The Indian Parliament’s review panel has asked for (likely final) public comments by February 25, 2020 (see here). Following this, this bill should be placed before the Parliament for passage and enforcement. There will likely be a compliance period (as with the GDPR); this could be between 12 to 24 months. Whatever its final form, this law will be a monumental change in how India regulates personal data. This law tracks GDPR for the most part, establishes a data protection authority, provides for individual data subject rights, and requires additional IT security and operational compliances of data collectors.
This is a major development for companies doing business in India, or having an Indian entity. Companies who already have GDPR compliances in place globally have a head start, but every entity should start looking carefully at its data collection and processing practices in India in anticipation of this law.
