Regulators should explore new methods to encourage innovation: Prasad

Regulators need to explore new methods to encourage innovation in order to ensure that regulations do not become a "roadblock", Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Friday.

"Let regulators regulate but the governance must be done by those who are elected by people of India to govern... that sense of responsibility has to be very clear," Prasad who is the Minister for IT, Communications and Law said at a conference organised by Assocham.

He said that regulators need to change with time.

"Regulatory framework ... I can understand but today time has come when the regulators also need to explore innovative methods to encourage more and more innovation so that regulation and regulator do not become a roadblock," the minister said.

He said that social media and digital platforms, for which the country is a large market, need to work under the ambit of the law created by India.

"Anyone can do digital business in India...Facebook has a big presence in India, so does WhatsApp...Twitter...I appreciate all these bodies and platforms but remember one thing clearly, you have to work in the ecosystem of the law created in India," he said.

Noting that India is generating massive amounts of data, he said that the personal data protection bill - which has been referred to joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament - places consent at the centre stage of data collection and processing.

Explaining the broad tenets of the draft Bill, the minister said that he wants India to become a big data refinery for the world but asserted that the country will never compromise on its "data sovereignty".

Prasad said it is natural for India to transition towards USD 5 trillion economy given the country's demographic dividend, talent pool and size of the country and aspirations of her people.