Govt. Ends Personal Data Protection Bill, IT Experts Applauds Decision

IT industry players appreciated the government's decision to remove the personal data protection bill. They have asked for participation in the new draft consultation process. Industry was critical of the data privacy bill that was introduced in Parliament by Joint Committee on Personal Data Protection Bill.

P P Chaudhary, a member of BJP, had presented his report to Lok Sabha on December 16, 20,21. It included a variety of points that were different from the Ministry of Electronics and IT's draft personal data protection bill (PDP Bill). On Wednesday, the government withdrew Personal Data Protection Bill from Lok Sabha. It stated that it would come up with "a set of new legislations" to fit within the comprehensive legal framework.

The US-based ITI, which includes all major IT companies like Amazon, Meta and Google, was pleased by the government's decision to withdraw the version of the bill from the Parliamentary panel.

"ITI is pleased to see Meity's plans to conduct a thorough stakeholder consultation, as it reexamines a comprehensive legal privacy framework in the digital ecosystem. ITI was actively involved in all consultations during the 2019 PDP bill's development and is eager to continue this engagement.

Kumar Deep, ITI's country manager for India, stated that "we are certain that government will consider all views once consultation on the framework starts and we look forward to participating." ITI was one of many global industry bodies to oppose the joint committee bill. These global industry bodies include JEITA and TechUK, US India Business Council and Business Europe, which represent thousands and major technology companies like Google, Amazon and Cisco.

A dozen industry organizations had written to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union IT and telecom minister, expressing concern that the implementation of the Data Protection Bill as recommended by a Parliamentary panel will severely degrade India’s business environment and decrease foreign investment flows.

Meta had stated in a regulatory filing that February that data protection bills have been introduced in India. These proposed laws would implement data protection or require local storage and processing. This could make it more expensive and complicated to deliver our services.