# Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and DPDP Rules, 2025 - **Record type**: Policy instrument - **Jurisdiction**: India - **Instrument type**: Act / statute - **Status**: Partially applicable - **Binding**: Yes - **Issuing body**: Parliament of India; Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Rules) - **Adopted**: 2023-08-11 - **Published**: 2023-08-11 ## In brief The India DPDP Act is a binding act of India, issued by the Parliament of India; Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Rules). Its current status is partially applicable. Data Fiduciaries (controllers) and Data Processors handling digital personal data of individuals in India, including foreign entities offering goods or services to India. The DPDP Act is India's cross-sector personal-data law. ## Summary The DPDP Act is India's cross-sector personal-data law. It applies to digital personal data processed in India and to processing outside India connected with offering goods or services to people in India. It requires a lawful basis (consent or specified legitimate uses), notice, purpose limitation, data accuracy, security safeguards, breach notification to the Data Protection Board and affected individuals, and grants rights of access, correction, erasure and grievance redress. Significant Data Fiduciaries face extra duties such as impact assessments and audits. The Act does not mention AI specifically, but it governs the personal data used to train and operate AI systems. ## Scope Data Fiduciaries (controllers) and Data Processors handling digital personal data of individuals in India, including foreign entities offering goods or services to India. Excludes personal or domestic use and publicly available data made public by the individual or under law. ## Who it applies to Any organisation processing digital personal data of individuals in India, including AI developers and deployers using such data. ## What organisations must do Map personal data flows into AI systems, obtain valid consent or identify a legitimate use, publish notices, implement security safeguards and breach-notification processes, honour data-principal rights, and, if designated a Significant Data Fiduciary, appoint a Data Protection Officer, run data protection impact assessments and audits. ## Key dates Assent 11 August 2023; DPDP Rules notified November 2025 with phased commencement; core obligations expected to apply about 18 months after notification (to be confirmed). ## Penalties The Data Protection Board may impose monetary penalties up to INR 250 crore per instance for failure to take reasonable security safeguards, with lower caps for other breaches, as set out in the Schedule to the Act. ## Notes on dates Commencement is phased by notification; see the deadlines table and confirm with the official source. ## Obligations recorded against this instrument (3) - **Process personal data only with valid consent or a legitimate use, after notice** (Sections 4 to 7) — Personal data may be processed only for a lawful purpose with the individual's free, specific, informed and unambiguous consent, or for certain legitimate uses listed in the Act. A notice must describe the data, purpose, and how to exercise rights and complain. - Binding: yes - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/india-dpdp-consent-and-notice - **Implement reasonable security safeguards and notify breaches** (Section 8(5) and 8(6); DPDP Rules on breach intimation) — Data Fiduciaries must protect personal data with reasonable security safeguards and, on a personal data breach, inform the Data Protection Board and each affected individual in the form and manner prescribed by the Rules. - Binding: yes - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/india-dpdp-security-and-breach-notification - **Significant Data Fiduciaries must appoint a DPO and run impact assessments and audits** (Section 10) — Entities notified as Significant Data Fiduciaries, based on factors such as volume and sensitivity of data and risk to individuals, must appoint a Data Protection Officer based in India, an independent data auditor, and periodically undertake data protection impact assessments and audits. - Binding: yes - Record: https://aipolicytracker.org/obligations/india-dpdp-significant-data-fiduciary-duties ## Dated deadlines - 2023-08-11 — Presidential assent (precision: exact, status: scheduled) - 2025-11-13 — DPDP Rules 2025 notified (precision: exact, status: scheduled) - date not set — Phased commencement of substantive obligations (precision: tbd, status: scheduled) ## Provenance - **Permanent id**: AIPT-POL-0094 (https://aipolicytracker.org/id/AIPT-POL-0094; never changes or gets reused) - **Record page**: https://aipolicytracker.org/policies/india-dpdp-act - **Official source**: https://www.meity.gov.in/data-protection-framework - **Source document**: Data Protection Framework — Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 - **Published by**: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India - **Provision**: Act No. 22 of 2023 - **Review status**: verified - **Confidence**: medium - **Facts last confirmed**: 2026-09-26 - **Confirmed by**: Bhaskar Bhatt (see https://aipolicytracker.org/reviewers) - **Retrieved**: 2026-10-27 - **Licence**: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - **Cite as**: AIPolicyTracker (2026). "Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and DPDP Rules, 2025" [AIPT-POL-0094, record version 1, verified 26 September 2026 by Bhaskar Bhatt]. https://aipolicytracker.org/id/AIPT-POL-0094 (accessed 27 October 2026). > This record is a structured summary with a link to the official text. It is not legal advice. Open the official source before relying on any date or duty. How current each record type must be is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/verification; what a record must carry at all is published at https://aipolicytracker.org/coverage.