Calling this decade ‘a Techade’, Prime Minster Modi laid out the strategy for India’s growth story during his Independence Day speech. As announced by the government, this period will witness India’s tech prowess, driving data and its demographic dividend to nurture the country into an economic powerhouse.
Since 2014, the Digital India initiative has made several strides in including and empowering the population of India under the digital umbrella. There have been massive technological developments in India accelerated by the launch of 5G technology. The government recently announced Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) for the public with an aim to create a national-level platform for the e-commerce sector, similar to what UPI achieved for the digital payments industry.
Undoubtedly, digitisation has augmented the lives of Indian citizens significantly. With the unveiling of the new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (DPDP Bill), the government has proven its potential to drive regulation and innovation hand in hand.
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The draft Bill out for public consultation addresses concerns over the privacy of personal data and the usage of data by “Data Fiduciaries”, the technical term for any platform/firm/individual which uses or processes the said data. The Bill has been prepared keeping in mind seven core principles for data processing namely, lawful, fair and transparent processing; purpose limitation; data minimisation; accuracy of personal data; storage limitation; integrity and confidentiality; and accountability.
In simple terms, the DPDP Bill ensures the protection of the personal data of Indian citizens in the digitised world by establishing a robust data protection framework and a stronger privacy regime.
Data privacy has been a prickly subject for India’s 658 million active internet users. The new DPDP bill is the right step by the government towards establishing a progressive data protection regime for the country. To address the issue of personal data, the Bill has incorporated provisions that call for consent as a paramount requirement for “data fiduciaries” to collect user data.
The Bill also proposes setting up a Data Protection Board, that will be responsible for monitoring and determining non-compliance and accordingly imposing penalties. This is the right step towards regulating something that is as inexhaustible as data. Some data fiduciaries will also be mandated to assign Data Protection Officers who must be stationed in India. All these provisions aim to create a foundation for trust between individual users and digital platforms.
Narrowing the scope of the data protection regime/framework to personal data protection is welcomed as it solves the serious concerns of various stakeholders. As social media evolves into the genre of short video applications, the Bill will be beneficial to the creator economy as it will build trust and encourage more creators to join this crusade towards a techade.
Unlike its previous versions, the new Bill is pro-business, especially for startups. The new draft is principle oriented focusing on critical aspects of data processing. Early interpretations of the new draft of the Bill indicate that compliance costs for startups are likely to be lower. For example, the draft Bill introduces the concept of ‘deemed consent’ or situations where consent is deemed to have been given. This is seen to be welcomed by the industry because taking repeated consent can be arduous for businesses.
Provisions encouraging the cross-border flow of data have been added as they will play a significant role in attracting foreign investment and further pushing India’s digital exports globally. By removing data localisation, the Bill will allow trusted data flow, which is anticipated to help the domestic digital ecosystem. Relaxation of data localisation norms will aid startups and MSMEs in reducing costs for local storage and data processing on top of other compliance norms. It presents an opportunity for businesses to use their resources for R&D and Innovation.
This relaxation will significantly reduce operational costs for a start-up business, eventually allowing the entire ecosystem to flourish over time. Although the current version of the Bill is not perfect and has faced flak for certain new provisions and the removal of some old ones, we believe it is a step in the right direction towards achieving a robust and stringent data protection ecosystem in India.
— The author, Ian Goh is the Co-founder & CEO of the short-video platform Tiki. All views expressed are personal.
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