Introduction
India’s data protection landscape is undergoing its most significant shift in over a decade. The Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 (“SPDI Rules”), have long formed the core of personal data protection obligations under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act“) for body corporates handling sensitive personal data or information. These Rules, framed under Section 43A of the IT Act, prescribe requirements relating to consent, privacy policies, reasonable security practices and procedures, and restrictions on disclosure and transfer of sensitive personal data or information.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”), along with the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 (“DPDP Rules”), introduces a substantially different framework for the processing of digital personal data. The DPDP Rules were notified in the Official Gazette on 13 November 2025, and