Data Strategy Briefing — August 3, 2022

Executive briefing: On 3 August 2022 India’s government withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 from Parliament, announcing plans to replace it with modern legislation addressing privacy, innovation, and enforcement concerns.^{Press Information Bureau statement}

Key governance checkpoints

Regulatory horizon. Monitor the forthcoming Digital Personal Data Protection Bill and sectoral rulemaking to recalibrate compliance roadmaps.
Data localisation. Reassess localisation strategies across financial services, telecom, and e-commerce given the anticipated changes to storage mandates.
Consent and rights. Prepare for revised consent frameworks, children’s data protections, and data fiduciary duties signalled by the withdrawal notice.

Operational priorities

Stakeholder alignment. Engage legal and policy teams to provide feedback on upcoming consultations and ensure business requirements inform new legislation.
Inventory refresh. Update registers of processing activities, cross-border transfers, and vendor contracts so they can be rapidly mapped to the new bill’s obligations.
Communication planning. Brief boards and partners on interim controls under existing sectoral directives to avoid compliance regressions during the transition.

Enablement moves

Coordinate with industry associations to shape localisation, enforcement, and penalty provisions in the replacement bill.
Benchmark privacy operating models against global frameworks (GDPR, LGPD, PDPA) to leverage established controls when India finalises its new regime.
Scenario-plan for enforcement timelines and regulator structure changes to inform staffing and budget requirements.

Sources

Zeph Tech supports Indian and multinational teams with legislative tracking, localisation strategy reviews, and future-state privacy operating model design.