Introduction
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 ("DPDP
Act") and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025
("DPDP Rules") together create a horizontal compliance
regime that materially alters how NBFCs may collect, use, share,
retain, secure, and monetise personal data across the NBFC value
chain, ranging from sourcing and onboarding to underwriting,
disbursal, servicing, collections, litigation, securitisation, and
outsourcing.
For NBFCs, the DPDP regime does not operate in isolation; it
overlays and intersects with RBI expectations around customer
confidentiality, agent conduct, outsourcing governance, and
IT/cyber risk and, practically, becomes a Board-level prudential
and reputational risk. RBI's NBFC directions expressly require
agents to observe strict customer confidentiality and prohibit
privacy-intrusive collection conduct (including intrusion into the
privacy of family/referees).