Privacy law compliance can be staggered to help start-ups: MeitY official

'We will see to it that compliance does not trump the benefits that we want to bring to the technology ecosystem and citizens with the bill', said MeiTy Additional Secretary Dr Rajendra Kumar

There are special provisions being put in the personal data protection bill to give technology start-ups enough cushioning time to comply, said MeitY Additional Secretary Dr Rajendra Kumar at an industry webinar on Tuesday. A regulatory sandbox will also ensure that start-ups can continue to innovate and experiment, he said.

“We will see to it that compliance does not trump the benefits that we want to bring to the technology ecosystem and citizens with the bill. There can be a staggered implementation of the PDP bill so that they get enough time to comply with the law,” said Kumar.

The top bureaucrat also said that the PDP bill is being modelled on the Aadhaar Act. “I would like to highlight that Aadhaar data has not yet seen any compromises because of the strong provisions in Aadhaar’s privacy framework,” he added.

Several governments have reached out to the Indian government with some concerns on the PDP bill which are being worked on by MeitY.  “The IT sector would benefit from having several advanced concepts that are not even there in the US and Europe’s privacy frameworks," he said.

Business Standard reported recently that India’s Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 is expected to increase compliances for tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook about dealing with personal data of individuals in the country. Besides an additional load of commitment for data protection, it would also require them to spend time, money and resources on ensuring compliance with the regulation.