Data privacy law: Digital payment companies, NPCI seek pause on consent clause
Payment companies have sought an exemption from Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act provisions that require user consent for each transaction. The mandate will lead to a rise in cost and complexity, the companies said in submissions to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Re-skilling techies, compute capacity & geopolitics in focus for second IndiaAI report
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Jobs displacement due to adoption of artificial intelligence , re-skilling of the tech workforce, raising compute power and addressing geopolitical challenges are some of the issues that are expected to be among the main agendas ahead of the government as it prepares for the second edition of the IndiaAI report , officials report is planned to be readied before the key AI Impact Summit that India will chair in New Delhi in February 2026. Requests for feedback submission will soon go out to all central ministries, autonomous bodies as well as state governments, officials at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in October 2023, the first IndiaAI report had laid out the full fulcrum of India's AI aspirations, with detailed inputs from seven working groups. These had recommended the setting up of 3 AI centres of excellence, development of large, multimodal AI foundation models trained on Indian languages and datasets, and driving cross-sector development in areas like health, agriculture, education and governance through AI."The previous report had laid out the foundational strategy and roadmap for India's national approach to artificial intelligence. The next one is planned to build on it to further fine tune targets to meet the goals under the Viksit Bharat 2047 initiative," an official the approval of the IndiaAI Mission, the government had allocated Rs 10,300 crore over five years beginning March 2024 to strengthen AI capabilities. The upcoming report may call for augmenting that amount considering the central position that AI has acquired in innovation and governance since then, he government wants solutions to emerge for large-scale re-skilling of the technological workforce, much of which in India's IT industry remains anxious of retrenchments due to AI. Similar to last time, senior executives from the private sector and academicians are expected to be part of the working groups that will give recommendations for the computing power would also be a key focus, people in the know said. While the government had initially targeted the development of a high-end common computing facility equipped with 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), India has successfully overshot the mark by empanelling 34,333 GPUs through the IndiaAI Compute platform . But the government is wary of export controls on critical hardware being placed by foreign governments, specifically the the previous Joe Biden administration's Artificial Intelligence Diffusion Framework, the US had placed India among Tier-2 countries with a volume cap of 50,000 H100-equivalent GPUs through 2027. Under Donald Trump, US' new AI policy has called for exporting the full US AI technology stack to 'allied nations' willing to join America's AI alliance, but also stresses on denying foreign adversaries access to US compute power citing geostrategic competition and national security. These two categories are not defined, and India would need to quickly find its feet, an official said."This and other geopolitical challenges such as the rapidly evolving AI power dynamics beyond nations have pushed the government to hold the summit in India next year,' this official said. 'It will build on the 2025 AI Action Summit in Paris co-chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It will showcase India's emerging leadership in creating consensus for global AI governance frameworks ."
Economic Times
3 hours ago
- Economic Times
Data privacy law: Digital payment companies, NPCI seek pause on consent clause
iStock Digital payment companies Google Pay, PhonePe and Amazon Pay as well as the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have sought exemption from Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act provisions that require user consent for each transaction, arguing that this will be too onerous, people aware of the development told mandate will also be applicable on recurring payments and will lead to a rise in cost and complexity, the companies said in submissions to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The issue will be more pronounced in the case of smaller companies and startups, they said. The law hasn't been operationalised yet since rules floated in January for stakeholder consultation are yet to be notified. Representatives of the companies met MeitY in this regard last week. Google Pay, PhonePe, Amazon Pay and NPCI declined to respond to queries. NPCI runs the payment and settlement system, including the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). MeitY did not respond to queries. 'The core of the issue lies in the Act's emphasis on explicit consent for every data processing activity,' said one of the persons cited. 'While seemingly straightforward, industry players argued that the current interpretation and implementation of this clause could significantly disrupt existing digital payment workflows.' Recurring payments such as electricity bills or subscriptions are typically debited automatically after initial permission. Under the DPDP Act's consent requirements, industry's worry is that this will necessitate fresh user consent. 'This multi-level authentication and consent process, while enhancing security, introduces significant friction and incremental costs,' said the person cited. 'Smaller players and startups, in particular, may struggle to bear these costs and adapt their technical infrastructure, potentially hindering their growth and competitiveness.' Also Read: Explainer: Draft DPDP rules 2025 aim to protect citizens' dataThey may also face data flow challenges.'The data processing is going to become all the more tougher for the smaller players if every time they have to get a consent,' said the person. 'It's going to impact the digital data flow. Whereas the larger bigger companies would be able to manage… there would be incremental costs, yes, but they will be compliant. But some of the smaller and newer players will find it tougher.'There also appears to be ambiguity in how the law's provisions are being interpreted by government and industry, leading to uncertainty about compliance, the person original debate over data localisation engendered by the legislation, where the government focused on volume of data and industry on its criticality, foreshadows the current consent-related discussions, experts 17, subsection 5, of the DPDP Act empowers the central government to exempt certain data fiduciaries or classes of data fiduciaries from specific provisions for a specified period. This exemption can be granted through a notification before the expiry of five years from the law's industry is aiming for a time window through this clause to develop and implement alternative solutions that align with the spirit of data protection without stifling digital innovation, according to the companies.'The exemption period is seen as a window for the industry to collaborate with the government and propose viable alternatives that balance data protection with ease of digital transactions,' said the person cited. 'While no concrete alternatives have been finalised, discussions are ongoing, with some proposals reportedly in advanced stages and expected to be discussed in early August.' NPCI view While Google Pay and PhonePe, as market leaders, are seeking relief for their own operations, NPCI's submission primarily advocates for small startups and other industries that rely on the UPI framework. Its concerns stem from the potential impact on a vast ecosystem of smaller businesses that may not have the resources to overhaul systems to meet new compliance financial implications of noncompliance are substantial, with heavy fines stipulated under the Act. This incentivises companies to bake compliance costs into their operational models, which could eventually be passed on to consumers, sources submissions were made toward the end of June or early July, with others following suit after NPCI's initial representation. Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Can Coforge's ambition to lead the IT Industry become a reality? BlackRock returns, this time with Ambani. Will it be lucky second time? Amazon is making stealthy moves in healthcare, here's why! The trader who blew the whistle on Jane Street Stock Radar: Globus Spirits breaks out from 9-month consolidation; check target & stop loss for long positions Weekly Top Picks: These stocks scored 10 on 10 on Stock Reports Plus These large-caps have 'strong buy' & 'buy' recos and an upside potential of more than 25% Stock picks of the week: 5 stocks with consistent score improvement and upside potential of up to 36% in 1 year
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Data privacy law: Digital payment companies, NPCI seek pause on consent clause
Synopsis Payment companies have sought an exemption from Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act provisions that require user consent for each transaction. The mandate will lead to a rise in cost and complexity, the companies said in submissions to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
