India withdraws its Data Protection Bill

India’s Data Protection Bill 2019 has been withdrawn due to criticism on several aspects. India does not currently have a data protection law and the government plans to issue another Bill later this year. Work on the new bill is already at a very advanced stage, The Economic Times reports.

The government now intends to revise the legislative framework so that it would incorporate non-personal data, social media regulation, data localisation, and hardware security requirements in a separate law.

The overall long-term aim for India would be to renew its attempts to obtain a positive adequacy decision from the EU. Minister of State for IT, Rajeev Chandrashekhar said; "the idea is that it [Bill] will soon be replaced by a much more comprehensive framework that will address all of the contemporary and future challenges of the digital ecosystem."

See: The Economic Times - Government withdraws data protection bill