On December 11, 2019, the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 (“PDP Bill”) was introduced in the lower house of the Parliament, Lok Sabha. On the same day, the members of the Lok Sabha passed a motion to refer the PDP Bill to a joint committee of both the houses of the Indian Parliament (“JPC”).  On the next day i.e. December 12, 2019, the upper house, Rajya Sabha concurred with the motion and the PDP Bill was referred to the JPC.

The report of the JPC on the PDP Bill (“Report”) was expected on the first day of the last week of the budget session, 2020. However, this deadline was extended 6 (six) times.

On December 16, 2021, after extensive deliberation over 78 (seventy eight) sittings over a course of approximately 2 (two) years, under the chairmanship of Mr. P.P. Chaudhary, the JPC laid its Report before the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.

Before finalising the Report, the JPC:

1. heard the views and suggestions of 31 (thirty one) experts/ representatives of  statutory and regulatory bodies, cyber security experts and organizations representing the industry and the professional bodies.
2. invited the Unique Identification Authority of India (“UIDAI”), National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to present their views for the consideration of the JPC.
3. undertook a study tour of Mumbai and Bengaluru from October 26,2021 – October 29, 2021 where the JPC visited data centers of the State Bank of India (SBI) and the UIDAI, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Central Processing Cente of Income Tax Department.
4. completed a clause by clause consideration of the PDP Bill, including all proposed amendments to the PDP Bill. 

Please find a copy of the Report here.

This update has been contributed by Vinod Jospeh (Partner) and Anurag Prasad (Associate).

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