The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ('MeitY') announced, on 18 November 2022, on Twitter, the issuance of a new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, and launched a public consultation on the same. In particular, the bill applies to:

• the processing of digital personal data within the territory of India where:
  • such personal data is collected from data principals online; or
  • such personal data collected offline, is digitised; and
• the processing of digital personal data outside the territory of India, if such processing is in connection with any profiling of, or activity of, offering goods or services to data principals within the territory of India.

Notably, the bill permits the transfer of personal data outside of India, to certain notified countries and territories; however, an assessment of relevant factors by the Central Government would precede such a notification.

Moreover, the bill provides that the Data Protection Board of India ('the Board'), to be established by the Central Government, would be tasked with enforcing its provisions. Notably, the bill stipulates that, in case of significant non-compliance with the bill, the Board may impose financial penalties not exceeding INR 500 crore (approx. €59 million).

Comments on the bill may be submitted via the dedicated portal until 17 December 2022.

You can read the announcement here, the notice of public consultation here, the bill here, and the bill explanatory note here.

UPDATE (19 December 2022)

MeitY extends deadline for sumbitting comments

The MeitY announced, on 17 December 2022, that it had extended the deadline for the sumbission of comments to 2 January 2023.

You can read the annoucement here.