India Inc hopes high on PDP Bill

New Delhi: Industry stakeholders on Thursday said the new framework for Personal Data Protection Bill should emphasise on cross-border data flow and data localisation requirements, bringing ransomware, Blockchain-based crypto/NFT scams and even the huge tax evasion by Chinese tech companies into its ambit.

IT industry's apex body Nasscom said that data is the bedrock for 'Digital India' and the new framework can build on the learnings from global implementation of data privacy laws and stakeholder feedback on the earlier bill.

"The key imperatives will be to operationalise the fundamental right of privacy and enable data protection in a manner that grows trust in data driven businesses and allows data-led services to grow in a safe and trusted manner," Nasscom said in a statement.

The government withdrew the contentious Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill 2019 that saw 81 amendments to date, saying that it will soon introduce a new, sharper bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework to protect the data of billions of citizens.

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the draft of the new PDP Bill is almost ready that will protect the digital privacy of individuals.

According to Sajai Singh, Partner at law firm J Sagar Associates (JSA) the key issue is the practicality of a Bill becoming the law of the land.