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ARTICLE · 05 NOVEMBER 2025

Voluntarily Provided Personal Data Under The DPDP Act, 2023: Legal Pitfalls And Compliance Obligations

King, Stubb & Kasiva
King, Stubb & Kasiva
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King, Stubb & Kasiva

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This reflects the reality that individuals routinely provide information while availing services such as phone numbers for one-time passwords, addresses for deliveries, or email IDs for receipts without always going through a formal consent process...

IndiaPrivacy
Jidesh Kumar
Jidesh Kumar
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Executive Summary

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act) introduces India's first dedicated statutory regime for digital personal data. Among its various lawful bases of processing, the Act recognises the category of "voluntarily provided personal data." This reflects the reality that individuals routinely provide information while availing services such as phone numbers for one-time passwords, addresses for deliveries, or email IDs for receipts without always going through a formal consent process.

While pragmatic, this category creates legal uncertainties. Businesses may be tempted to stretch "voluntary provision" to justify extensive data collection and secondary use. Individuals may not understand how their data is being processed beyond the immediate transaction. Regulators may view such practices as exploitative.

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