Data regulation provisions will be incorporated in the upcoming Digital India Act, according to MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The government intends to incorporate data regulation rules in a new Digital India Act, according to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT.

Chandrasekhar stated at a Foreign Correspondent Club event on 5G that the recently issued draft of Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) focuses on the protection of data of Indian citizens.

“It (DPDP) does not intend to appoint a regulator and create regulation for the data ecosystem. That is down the road when we create a new bill for Digital India Act. This is a bill which narrowly focuses on data protection of consumers,” Chandrasekhar said.

The government has issued a draft of a new data protection bill after withdrawing the previous version of the bill from the Lok Sabha in August, citing various overlapping requirements in the updated version of the bill.

Speaking of 5G, the minister stated that the next-generation technology is based on an open technological ecosystem, giving India the opportunity to lead the segment rather of simply being a consumer of the technology.