Davos 2025: DPDP Rules enable free transfer of data with trust, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Minister for electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw at the World Economic Summit in Davos on January 23

Union Minister for Electronics and IT (MeitY), Ashwini Vaishnaw, on January 23, emphasised India’s approach to cross-border data transfers under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules, 2025, describing it as one of “free transfer with trust.”

"There was a little bit of clarity that people wanted about cross-border data transfer, which I think we have already clarified, that our approach is free transfer with trust," Vaishnaw said in an interview to Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The draft rules released on propose additional obligations for significant data fiduciaries (SDF). One of such obligations include restrictions on transferring specific personal data, which a yet-to-be-appointed committee, outside the country will decide.

Industry had raised concerns about these restrictions on cross-border data transfer, and had requested the government for clarity.

"We decided to have this committee mechanism where if any sector wants to impose some restrictions, let the proposals be made, let there be consultations with the industry, with all the stakeholders. Then we decide what kind of restriction to impose. So that clarity has already gone out," Vaishnaw explained.

Also read: Startup founders raise concerns over DPDP rules, govt assures separate consultation

The IT minister also said that the industry has appreciated the provisions of the protection of children's data.

"Child data protection has been really appreciated. And the approach is also very welcome because we in India have a very strong digital architecture. So using that digital architecture, can we develop a virtual token-based verification system, which is very different from many other geographies," he said.

On January 22,  Akshay Joshi, Head of the Centre for Cybersecurity at the World Economic Forum (WEF), said DPDP Rules can cause short-term complexities but will be beneficial in the long run.

The government is currently accepting feedback on the draft rules till February 18. However, that deadline is expected to be extended.

In the first consultation meeting that was taken up at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, provisions of the rules that was discussed included on restriction on processing of children's data, the consent manager mechanism, obligations for significant data fiduciaries including the data transfer restriction requirement and so on.