On 3 August, the Indian Central Government withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 (PDP Bill). The PDP Bill, which has drawn criticism from both privacy advocates and industry stakeholders, was first published in 2018 and was to be India’s first law on the protection of personal data. A government notice stated that the decision came following a review by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and its subsequent report published in December 2021, which suggested a long list of amendments and recommendations.

The government will now need to go back to the drawing board and present a new bill, which is expected later this year/early next year.  Timing of the new draft bill is still uncertain, however, if the new bill includes the amendments suggested by the JPC, it is expected that it will move faster than the PDP Bill, potentially coming into force in 2024.