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ARTICLE · 17 AUGUST 2022

India's Data Privacy Bill Withdrawn: Why Did This Happen, And What Happens Next?

BTG Advaya
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Like the flying car or the new ‘Game of Thrones' novel, India's new data privacy law had been described as being ‘almost ready' and ‘a few months away' for a very long time!

IndiaPrivacy
Vikram Jeet Singh
Vikram Jeet Singh
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Like the flying car or the new 'Game of Thrones' novel, India's new data privacy law had been described as being 'almost ready' and 'a few months away' for a very long time! The draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, was in the public domain for a couple of years, raising hopes that India would have its own 'GDPR equivalent' privacy law very soon.

Then, in early August 2022, new broke that the Bill had been formally withdrawn from Parliament by the Indian Government. In this article we look at the history of this Bill, why it was withdrawn, and discuss what comes next for data protection in India.

State of Play of Data Protection In India

Despite the healthy debate engendered by the 2019 Bill during its lifetime, one issue on which there is no debate is that India needs a privacy law refresh.

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