US tech giants eager to engage with new NDA government on pending tech regulations

A slew of pending tech regulations are expected to be taken up within the first 100 days of the formation of the new government

With the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) looking set to form the government at the Centre for the third consecutive time, a trade body representing United States tech majors such as Apple, Google, Meta and Amazon said that it is looking forward to engaging with the incoming team at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on pending bills and regulations.

Several regulations such as Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules, Digital India Bill, National Data Governance Framework and so on, which will have immense ramifications on Big Tech companies, have been in the pipeline for a while. It is expected that these policies and regulations will be taken up by the new government within the first 100 days of the government.

In a statement, Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC)'s country director Kumar Deep Banerjee said, "ITI looks forward to engaging with the new team at the IT Ministry. There are several pending bills and regulations that will require the incoming government's attention, such as rulemaking for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act and finalising the Digital India Bill, that we engaged with the previous government."

"IT continues to support a consultative, agile, and globally harmonized approach towards regulation, supporting innovation and growth for the ICT sector in India, and globally. We will continue to engage with the incoming government in the same spirit," Banerjee added.

ITIC's members include Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, HP, Lenovo, Intel, Honeywell, Mastercard, Salesforce, TCS, Toshiba, Adobe and others.

The DPDP Rules have been expected since August 2023, which was when the DPDP Act was passed in the Parliament. If the DPDP Act in its current form provides a framework for the legislation, the rules process will shape its contours. Earlier this publication had reported that the draft DPDP Rules can be released within 100 days of formation of the new government.

Moneycontrol had exclusively earlier reported how, under the rules, the government may exempt educational institutions, health establishments, and certain government entities from the restrictions on the processing of children's data mandated under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.

The rules may also mandate that any platform processing personal data of users, whether a private or government entity, must immediately notify the Data Protection Board (DPB) of any data breach upon becoming aware of it.

Another significant bill that will have a major impact on Big Tech companies is the Digital Competition Bill. The draft of the bill was released in February 2024, with the broad idea of curbing anti-competitive practices by Big Tech companies.

The draft bill can categorise Big Tech companies as Systematically Significant Digital Enterprises (SSDE), and additional compliance requirements will be applicable for such companies. For instance, The bill mandates that an SSDE will not favour its own services or products or those of its related parties, or third-parties with whom SSDEs collaborate when it comes to manufacture or sale of products or services.

The bill restricts an SSDE from leveraging the non-public data of its business users to gain an unfair competitive advantage against users operating on the SSDE's own platform.

If such companies violate provisions of the bill, they can face a fine of up to 10 per cent of their global turnover and in some cases, imprisonment for a maximum of three years.

The Digital India Bill, has also been under development for over two years now. The bill has become necessitated because the Information Technology Act was enacted at least two decades back, and lawmakers have struggled to keep up with technological advancements, from a policy point of view.

This law, too, will have a significant impact on Big Tech. Moneycontrol had earlier reported how the bill may bring in guardrails against AI algorithms, including empowering citizens to opt out from being subjected to an algorithm's decisions.

If a citizen chooses to opt out of being subjected to algorithmic decisions, the government may bring in caveats, including foregoing any corresponding digital service that cannot be provided without that algorithm's decisions.

Secondly, the government may also bring in provisions that would prohibit certain new and emerging technologies if they are likely to cause harm to users and so on.

Big Tech firms such as Nvidia and others will also be keenly looking at the Indian government for the implementation of the IndiaAI mission, whose ambit encompasses creating computing infrastructure for the country.

A part of the IndiaAI mission is the establishment of a non-personal data platform. The non-personal data platform will be backed by the National Data Governance Framework, whose draft was first introduced in 2022 by the IT ministry.

The draft lays down ways in which non-personal data will be collected, standardised and shared. Earlier, in media statements, ministers of the Modi government had said that such data will not be shared with Big Tech companies. It remains to be seen how that turns out.