The Centre intends to notify and begin implementing the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules (DPDP Rules) well before the next session of Parliament, minister of electronics and information technology (MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw said in an interview to Moneycontrol. The almost-ready rules aim to operationalise the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023.
“I must thank the industry, they came up with so much openness, positivity, constructive ideas. And that's practically done now. We should be able to publish it well before the next session of Parliament,” he said in the interview.
The Winter session of Parliament is usually held in November and December.
The rules have been much-awaited since the Act was passed in Parliament in August 2023. India's first data privacy law, which brings safeguards to prevent personal data breaches, has still not yet been implemented, as many provisions require additional rules.
Vaishnaw added that the government had gone through multiple rounds of consultations with nearly every stakeholder before finalising the rules. Further, even the press had raised concerns at one point, fearing that journalists could be punished under the Act for investigative reporting, Vaishnaw said.
“That was more of an understanding issue. We had almost three months’ consultation with them and clarified it. They have also given a set of questions for which they wanted an FAQ. We are working on that and practically it’s done,” he said.
The Centre has urged both industry and public bodies to begin aligning their systems and building capacities under the DPDP Act, instead of waiting for the rules to be formally notified, Moneycontrol reported in October 2024.
Also read: India engaging with US, global firms to protect IT jobs, says Ashwini Vaishnaw
Update on gaming ban
On the recent real-money online gaming ban, Vaishnaw said the government has requested companies to ensure an “orderly transition” as the matter proceeds in the courts.He said that around 50 stakeholders, including gaming firms and federations, attended a meeting with the ministry to raise their doubts and suggestions.
On August 22, Parliament gave nod to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, barring all forms of online real money games while promoting e-sports and other online games.
“We had made a lot of efforts to have some sort of self-regulatory body and make sure that the harms that are coming to society and increasing at an exponential rate should be contained, and the number of suicides, people losing their entire life savings, and young children getting hooked. All those things were really, really causing serious harm in society,” he said. Algorithms designed to drive addiction, he added, had worsened the problem.
Also read: India is no longer just a back office: Ashwini Vaishnaw on Apple, Tariffs, and Tech Design Shift
The minister highlighted that while the government supports the growth of the gaming industry, it wants the focus to shift towards e-sports and social gaming, which can be developed responsibly without causing social harm.
“Yes, we need economic activity but it should be aligned with what society needs. Government is not against the industry. We want e-sports to develop and we want India to become a champion in playing and developing e-sports. But we also want to protect society, especially the middle classes, from these harms,” Vaishnaw said.
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