Data localisation only for specific purposes

The draft Digital Personal Data Protection Rules will take a targeted approach to data localisation, affecting only specific categories of personal data and for specific purposes, information technology (IT) secretary S Krishnan said, adding that there are no easy solutions to verifying children's age online.

- Aditi Agrawal

NEW DELHI:

The statement comes soon after the Centre released the draft rules for public consultation, setting the stage for operationalising India's personal data protection regime more than 16 months after the act was notified in August 2023.

In an interview to HT, Krishnan emphasised that the data localisation provision is limited in scope and will not automatically apply. "This could potentially only be for certain limited categories [of personal data], and for certain limited purposes," he said, but disagreed with its characterisation as a broad localisation mandate.