Double-Edged Data: The Trade Secret Dilemma In India's DPDP Act

I. Introduction

Trade secrets are important for business competitiveness, encompassing confidential information like formulas, processes and design because they hold economic values due to their secrecy. To qualify, information must be secret, possess commercial value from its secrecy, and be actively protected through reasonable efforts, such as Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), physical security, and digital safeguards. According to its reason for being, the DPDP Act aims to promote privacy, raise safety standards in the data industry and ensure clear guidelines for processing digital personal data which lead with consent, transparency and responsibility and give users more control over their data. A key paradox arises from trade secrets requiring information not to be public knowledge, while the DPDP Act exempts data voluntarily made publicly available by individuals. If personal data, potentially part of a trade secret (a customer list), becomes public