Data curb plan
According to reports in August 2020, India plans to regulate ‘non-personal’ data, has raised major concerns among U.S. tech giants Amazon, Facebook, and Google and a lobby group representing them are preparing to push back against the proposals. The group expressed its disagreement with the panel’s recommendation to mandate local storage for non-personal data and called the attempt a “dramatic tightening” of India’s international data transfer regime.
A government-appointed panel, headed by Kris Gopalakrishnan, a founder of Indian technology giant Infosys Ltd., in July 2020, recommended that a regulator for information must be set up, such that information is anonymised or devoid of personal details but critical for companies to build their businesses. The panel proposed a mechanism for firms to share data with other entities, even competitors with the aim to provide a more conducive environment for the growth of the digital ecosystem. Research, national security, and policy-making are among the purposes for which such data should be shared.
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As per Kris Gopalkrishnan, the group will work with the government to review input from the industry. If adopted by the government, the report will form the basis of a new law to regulate such data. The report is open for public comments until September 13.
However, as per a draft letter for India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is not in favour of the move and called imposed data sharing ‘anathema’ to promoting competition. It is of the opinion that such a step undermines investments made by companies to process and collect such information and amounts to confiscating investors’ assets and dealing a blow to intellectual property protections. The letter describes “forced data sharing” as a detriment to foreign trade and investment in developing countries, and states that the panel’s proposals are contrary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s calls for U.S. companies to invest in India.
U.S. tech companies are already battling tighter e-commerce rules and data storage norms that several countries are also developing and the proposed regulation of data by India comes as a major irritant for them.
New Delhi and Washington are already at odds on such issues, as well as over digital taxes and tariffs.
India data curb plan
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