India working with industry on transition timeline for controversial data protection regime

Rajeev Chandrashekar, the Minister of State for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has stated that the government is actively in discussions with the industry to establish a timeline for transitioning to the digital personal data protection framework.

The new law allows the government and private entities to access personal data without explicit consent under certain circumstances. Critics have also said that the law gives the centre immense ''virtual censorship'' powers.

Chandrashekar said, “We certainly look at transition at the shortest possible time required for a meaningful transition so that there is no disruption. We recognise that there is a move from an existing regime of data protection to a new much stricter data protection and therefore there is industry that has come to us and asked us for a transition period. We are open to considering that, but we certainly have not preconceived mind on what the duration of transition should be but it should be the absolute minimum that is realistically required for such a transition.”