Davos 2025: DPDP rules short-term pain but will bring long-term gains, says WEF cybersecurity chief Akshay Joshi

As India prepares for the implementation of the personal data protection rules, Akshay Joshi, Head of the Centre for Cybersecurity at the World Economic Forum (WEF), said the regulations can cause short-term complexities but will be beneficial in the long run.

"DPDP reminds me of the GDPR (European Union's General Data Protection Regulation). The initial reaction (from industry) was concern over conforming to the norms. But over time, organisations have learned to live with it, and it now works effectively," Joshi told Moneycontrol in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He was referring to the draft Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) rules which have been shared by the government with public, calling for suggestions.

"For the India story, it is short-term pain but long-term gain... If we are looking at that scenario, long-term intent is very good.
I don't mean to undermine by saying that in the short-term, there will not be teething problems especially since (notices) in 22 languages notices need to be provided," Joshi said.