Update (September 11, 2020 12:30 pm): The deadline to submit comments has been extended to November 30. NITI Aayog has released a framework on Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) which it calls a “consent-based data-sharing framework to accelerate financial inclusion”. The apparent aim of this framework is to allow people to access their data and securely share it with third party institutions. The framework essentially proposes the implementation of an RBI Account Aggregator system in all sectors as a way to manage users' consent. Account Aggregators are basically consent managers within the financial sector and seven such aggregators have already received their “in-principle regulatory licence” and two have received “operational licences”. Comments can be submitted via email until November 30, 2020 at annaroy@nic.in. As per the report, this framework is “set to launch in 2020”. The scale of the project is evidenced by the spectrum of government ministries and regulators involved in the project: RBI, SEBI, PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority), IRDAI, Finance Ministry (Department of Revenue, Department of Economic Affairs, Financial Sector Development Committee), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the National Health Authority, the Ministry of Information and Technology, and TRAI. According to the acknowledgements page which has been signed by Anna Roy, senior adviser at NITI Aayog, iSPIRT team, specifically Siddharth Shetty and Kamya Chandra, prepared this paper. Shetty is a Fellow at iSPIRT and leads their work on DEPA while Chandra is a Fellow at iSPIRT who has worked on the National Health…
