The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is India’s first completely detailed law for managing how digital personal data is collected, stored, used, and shared. Among the key digital personal data protection law benefits are stronger privacy safeguards for individuals and clear compliance rules that allow organizations to process data for legitimate purposes.
The Act is intended to balance individual rights with business and government requirements. It is inspired by global rules like the EU’s GDPR, but is specifically adapted for India.
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The DPDP Act applies to digital personal data processed within India. It also applies to organizations outside India if they offer goods or services to Indian users or monitor their behavior. The Act does not cover purely offline data, personal data used for private purposes, or data made public by the individual or under legal obligation.
Consent is the cornerstone of the Act. Companies can only use personal data if they have clear consent from an individual for a specific legal reason. Individuals have complete right to withdraw their consent at any time. Exceptions exist for legitimate uses, such as government services, medical emergencies, and legal compliance.
For children under the age of 18, verifiable consent from their parents is mandatory. The law also prohibits harmful processing or targeted advertising directed at minors.
Data Principals, individuals whose personal data is taken, have several key rights. They can access their data, ask for corrections/deletion, and even nominate someone to manage these rights on their behalf in case there is an incident of death or incapacity. One can also complain if they find their data is being misused. In return, the law expects them to give true information and not make false complaints.
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Data Fiduciaries, entities that collect or process personal data, must maintain data accuracy, use strong security, and delete the data if it is no longer needed. Significant Data Fiduciaries (those managing sensitive or huge amounts of data) have extra duties. These include hiring a Data Protection Officer, performing regular audits, and conducting data protection impact assessments.
The DPDP Act imposes heavy penalties for non-compliance. These penalties could range from INR 50 crore to INR 250 crore for issues like poor data security, not reporting data breaches, or violating children’s data rules. Data privacy tools can be helpful in managing compliance, securing personal data, and reducing the risk of such penalties.
The Act sets up the Data Protection Board of India (DPBI) to watch over compliance. The Board’s job is to monitor breaches, resolve complaints, and issue penalties. Individuals can appeal against its decisions to the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).
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The ‘Right to Privacy’ was declared a fundamental right by the Supreme Court of India on 24 August 2017 in the case of Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs Union of India.
After this, the government started creating a data protection framework and constituted a committee of experts under Justice B.N. Srikrishna on 22 December 2018.
The committee released white papers, asked for public feedback, and submitted its report. It led to the drafting of the Personal Data Protection Bill in 2018 and its revised version in 2019.
After cabinet approval and parliamentary deliberations, the 2019 Bill was withdrawn in August 2022, and a new draft was released for consultation in November 2022.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, was introduced, passed by both houses, and received Presidential assent on 11 August 2023.
Its implementation continued with the release of the DPDP Rules, 2025, to operationalize the law.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025, were recently notified, marking the start of implementation of the DPDP Act, 2023. The rules mainly set timelines and procedures for consent, breach reporting, and grievance handling.
Organizations are provided with some time to implement these rules while individuals get certain rights to understand how the organizations manage their data.
By focusing on citizens, the framework gives people clear control over how their personal information is collected, used, and shared.
The DPDP Act applies to almost every organization handling digital personal data related to India. This includes private companies, startups, e-commerce platforms, financial institutions, healthcare providers, and telecom companies.
Government departments and regulatory bodies are also covered, subject to specific exemptions. Foreign companies offering goods or services to people in India must comply, even if their data processing systems are located overseas.
| Covered Under DPDP Act, 2023 | Not Covered Under DPDP Act, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Digital personal data collected online | Personal data processed in purely offline form |
| Personal data collected offline and later digitized | Personal data used for personal or domestic purposes |
| Personal data of individuals within India | Data made publicly available by the Data Principal |
| Personal data processed outside India to offer goods or services in India | Data made public under a legal obligation, for example, court records |
| Processing by private companies, startups, and government bodies | Non-personal or anonymised data |
| Data processed with consent or for legitimate uses | Processing for research, archiving, or statistical purposes (subject to exemptions) |
| Children’s personal data (with parental consent) | Data relating to foreign nationals processed under a foreign contract |
Conclusion
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 creates a structured and modern framework to protect personal data in India. With clear rights, responsibilities, and penalties, it strengthens trust between individuals and organizations.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 bring practical clarity to compliance, enforcement, and grievance redressal. Together, they position India as a responsible digital economy that values privacy while enabling innovation and growth.
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