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S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), at Sanghamitra organised by Rotary District 2324, in Chennai on Saturday.
Photo : Bijoy Ghosh | Photo Credit: BIJOY GHOSH

MeitY’s Digital Personal Data Protection Rules provide an 18-month compliance period, empowering individuals and adapting to evolving artificial intelligence regulations.The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules have been framed in a way to support easy compliance and the 18-month window is a “liberal time frame” for organisations to get on board, S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has said.“The compliance mechanism is all very simple. It’s an entirely digital office; the returns are easy to be filed. You have to do a one-time investment in terms of seeking consent,” Krishnan said in an exclusive interaction with businessline. “Many of them [the large social media companies] have some of these provisions; so they should be able to handle it,” he said.

From MeitY’s side, the platform/digital office needed for the functioning of the Data Protection Board (DPB) is ready, he says, and once the the appointments are made, they will be rolled out. DPB is the central authority for compliance and handling grievances under DPDP. “We will be using the 18-month period to work more on awareness creation, something we have done in the past two years also,” he added.

When asked about the larger vision, Krishnan said India has struck a balance between “an extreme laissez-faire position” and one that is onerous. “The key is we recognise that the ownership of the data lies with the individual, and we are giving them agency.”With data being key for training Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, the government is also cognisant of refining the DPDP Act to keep pace with developments. “The AI regulation in the country is evolving, and the DPDP Act will permit a further evolution of this. We can address these as and when they come up,” he said.

When asked about the larger vision, Krishnan said India has struck a balance between “an extreme laissez-faire position” and one that is onerous. “The key is we recognise that the ownership of the data lies with the individual, and we are giving them agency.”With data being key for training Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, the government is also cognisant of refining the DPDP Act to keep pace with developments. “The AI regulation in the country is evolving, and the DPDP Act will permit a further evolution of this. We can address these as and when they come up,” he said.

When asked about concerns around the DPDP Rules diluting the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Krishnan said: “Our opinion internally in the Ministry is that it does not (dilute), because the omnibus provision of public interest is contained in Section 8(2) of the RTI Act.” Section 8(2) allows for disclosure of information that is otherwise exempt if the public interest outweighs potential harm.

With the new AI Governance Guidelines setting off talks of digital legislations needing tweaks, Krishnan clarified that the government is “not inclined to legislate and regulate” right now but stands ready if the risks around AI increase.As for the much-anticipated unveiling of India’s sovereign Large Language Models (LLMs), MeitY is “hoping” to get it out by AI Impact Summit in February 2026, said the bureaucrat.