The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, was introduced in Parliament in December 2019, and was referred to a 30-member Joint Parliamentary Committee for review. The Bill is the first legislation that focusses on privacy of citizens, and could potentially result in significant overhaul of digital businesses and companies. The Committee is expected to submit its report to the Parliament before the Budget Session concludes on April 3, 2020. Earlier this month, MediaNama held discussions in Delhi and Bangalore on the main aspects and impact of the Bill with a wide set of stakeholders. The discussions were held with support from Facebook, Google, and STAR India in Delhi, and with support Facebook and Google in Bangalore. The discussions were held under Chatham House Rule, so quotes have not been attributed. Quotes are not verbatim and have been edited for clarity and brevity. Read our full coverage of the discussions here: #NAMA India's Data Protection Law - January 2020. The following is Part I of our notes from the session on user rights and data fiduciaries,read Part II here. What will be the impact of the Bill on companies? How difficult will compliance be? Being India’s first comprehensive data protection legislation, the Bill is going to have a fundamental impact, said a speaker. "The current law, the IT Act, places limited obligations on companies, and only regulates sensitive personal information. With the new law, companies will have to overhaul operations, reconsider business practices, think through their plans, strategies, and the way they…
