The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill holds immense importance in the present digital landscape and it will solidify India’s position as a global leading innovation hub, IT industry body Nasscom said on Thursday.
It said that a bill that is tech-agnostic and caters to the dynamic digital ecosystem will help stimulate India’s digital thought leadership globally. “The Union Cabinet’s approval of the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill is a significant milestone that will bolster trust and solidify India’s position as a global leading innovation hub,” Nasscom said in a statement. The cabinet has cleared the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) bill which the government plans to table in Parliament during the upcoming monsoon session.
The draft of the bill is leant to have received 26,600 comments during the consultation process. “The extensive industry consultations undertaken by the government have contributed to a sharper focus on personal data protection. This is visible in the removal of default data residency obligations, hardware certification provisions and other obligations which are not focused towards safeguarding privacy,” the statement said. The industry body said that the proposal to set up a data protection board with the objective to enable swift and effective redressal of user grievances is expected to be a significant step forward in strengthening privacy protection.
“Nasscom appreciates the government’s comprehensive consultation process, which actively engaged with the industry, startups, and SMEs at every stage. This collaborative approach seeks to establish a robust framework of privacy protection while enabling innovation, thus creating an environment of trust which is conducive to sustainable business growth,” the statement said. Law firm INDUSLAW partner Namita Viswanath said that the new framework will empower data principals to enforce their fundamental right to privacy, manage their personal data more efficiently, and make businesses more accountable to their users.
“Since the bill has been through multiple revisions, it remains to be seen whether and to what extent some of the concerns raised on the provisions of the previous drafts have been addressed,” Viswanath said.
