Data Protection Bill will not be tabled in monsoon session of Parliament

According to sources, the government is looking at measures to introduce relaxation for startups and also looking introduce amendments to the Information Technology Act and the Competition Act. The Centre is also considering the rollout of a national data governance framework policy, the officila said.

As part of reshaping the regulatory regime, the Personal Data Protection Bill was introduced in 2018. The bill has been subject to a series of controversies and has already been amended three times.

Following referral to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that included members of both Houses of the Parliament, the JPC report and revised Data Protection Bill were published on December 16, 2021. The key changes include empowering the government to frame rules on non-personal data and empowering the Data Protection Authority (DPA) to regulate non-personal data in the event of a breach.

Later, several associations representing the information and communications technology industry in India and enterprises worldwide made recommendations to the ministry on the report. Some of these include separating personal and non-personal data, eliminating localisation requirements on sensitive and critical personal data, and establishing clear parameters for government access to data.