India

India's Data Protection, AI and Cybersecurity Framework

India governs artificial intelligence, personal data and cybersecurity through many instruments rather than one statute. This library maps 70+ laws and guidelines of India, covering legislation, delegated rules, regulatory directions, sectoral frameworks, advisories, policy reports and technical material, with a plain-English purview for each, its issuing authority and its legal character.

Copyright remains with the publishing authority. For informational purposes only.

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REPORTCOMMITTEE REPORT

Standing Committee on Communications & IT - Impact of Emergence of Artificial Intelligence and Related Issues - 27th Report, 2026

Parliament of India - Standing Committee on Communications & IT2026Committee ReportGeneral

AI / PRIVACY / CYBER RELEVANCE

Important legislative-policy context for future AI regulation and for mapping gaps between AI risks and existing Indian laws.

AI: Very HighPrivacy: ModerateCybersecurity: Moderate

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  • Recommendations and chapters addressing application, adoption and regulation of AI in India

PURVIEW

Examines the rapid emergence of AI in India from a parliamentary and regulatory-policy perspective, including adoption, economic and social impact, institutional readiness, sectoral applications, risks and the adequacy of the existing legal framework. For an AI-law repository, it is valuable for identifying regulatory gaps and policy directions concerning accountability, safety, rights, data use and institutional oversight. It can therefore be read alongside the DPDP Act, IT Act framework and sectoral regulations to understand the broader legislative context in which India’s AI-governance model is developing.

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GUIDELINEPOLICY DOCUMENT

India AI Governance Guidelines - Enabling Safe and Trusted AI Innovation

Government of India / MeitY - IndiaAI policy framework2025Policy DocumentGeneral

AI / PRIVACY / CYBER RELEVANCE

AI governance, transparency, accountability, safety, fairness, privacy and sectoral regulation. It expressly tells industry to comply with existing Indian laws rather than creating a freestanding AI offence or licensing regime.

AI: Very HighPrivacy: HighCybersecurity: High

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  • Part 4 - Practical Guidelines: “ensure compliance with all Indian laws”
  • Part 3 - risk mitigation and accountability
  • proposed AI Governance Group / AI Safety Institute

PURVIEW

Sets out the Government’s national governance approach for safe, trusted and responsible AI in India. Its purview is not limited to a single sector: it addresses AI risk classification and mitigation, accountability, transparency, safety, fairness, human oversight, institutional capacity and practical responsibilities for developers, deployers and regulators. For privacy, it connects AI deployment with privacy, responsible data use, security and accountability, making it a useful umbrella framework for interpreting the Indian AI-regulatory landscape and identifying where sectoral laws, the DPDP regime and cybersecurity requirements attach to an AI system.

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POLICY / STRATEGYPOLICY DOCUMENT

NITI Aayog - Responsible AI for All: Facial Recognition Technology

NITI Aayog2022Policy DocumentGeneral

AI / PRIVACY / CYBER RELEVANCE

Directly relevant to biometric AI, automated identification and privacy/security risks.

AI: Very HighPrivacy: Very HighCybersecurity: Moderate

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  • Facial-recognition use-case analysis
  • privacy, fairness, consent, accuracy and accountability sections

PURVIEW

Applies Responsible AI analysis specifically to facial-recognition technology, making it one of the most directly relevant policy documents for biometric AI. Its purview includes privacy and consent, proportionality, bias and discrimination, accuracy, false matches, surveillance risks, security, accountability and the consequences of deploying automated identification in public or institutional settings. The paper therefore provides a practical policy lens for evaluating biometric AI against privacy, fairness, necessity, security and human-oversight principles.

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POLICY / STRATEGYPOLICY DOCUMENT

NITI Aayog - Responsible AI for All: Part 1 - Principles for Responsible AI

NITI Aayog2021Policy DocumentGeneral

AI / PRIVACY / CYBER RELEVANCE

Useful as a responsible-AI benchmark when applying DPDP, sectoral laws and cybersecurity controls to AI systems.

AI: Very HighPrivacy: HighCybersecurity: Moderate

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  • Part 1 - principles for Responsible AI, especially privacy/security, transparency and accountability

PURVIEW

Establishes a structured set of Responsible AI principles for India, covering safety and reliability, inclusivity and non-discrimination, privacy and security, transparency, accountability and human-centric design. For data protection and AI regulation, it functions as a policy benchmark for assessing whether an AI deployment has appropriate privacy, security, fairness and accountability safeguards even where a binding sector-specific AI rule does not yet exist.

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POLICY / STRATEGYPOLICY DOCUMENT

NITI Aayog - Responsible AI for All: Part 2 - Operationalizing Principles for Responsible AI

NITI Aayog2021Policy DocumentGeneral

AI / PRIVACY / CYBER RELEVANCE

Relevant to AI impact assessment, bias mitigation, monitoring, governance and implementation of privacy/safety principles.

AI: Very HighPrivacy: HighCybersecurity: Moderate

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  • Operationalisation chapters
  • governance mechanisms
  • risk assessment and mitigation tools

PURVIEW

Moves from Responsible AI principles to their practical implementation by addressing governance structures, risk assessment, mitigation mechanisms, monitoring, institutional responsibilities and technical or procedural safeguards. It is useful for organisations designing an internal AI governance programme because it asks how principles such as privacy, fairness, transparency and accountability can be embedded across the AI lifecycle rather than treated as after-the-fact compliance statements. In the Indian regulatory context, the document helps bridge voluntary responsible-AI practices with binding obligations under privacy, cybersecurity, consumer, sectoral and other laws.

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POLICY / STRATEGYPOLICY DOCUMENTHISTORICAL

NITI Aayog - National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (#AIForAll), 2018

NITI Aayog2018Policy DocumentGeneral

AI / PRIVACY / CYBER RELEVANCE

Provides early Indian policy foundations for trustworthy AI, privacy, cybersecurity, bias and sectoral deployment.

AI: Very HighPrivacy: ModerateCybersecurity: Moderate

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  • Chapter on “Ethics, Privacy, Security and Artificial Intelligence”
  • recommended governance and capacity-building measures

PURVIEW

Provides the foundational national policy architecture through which NITI Aayog first mapped India’s AI opportunity, priority sectors, research ecosystem, skills, infrastructure and governance risks. Its importance for regulation lies in the dedicated treatment of ethics, privacy, security, bias, explainability and responsible adoption, particularly in high-impact sectors such as healthcare, finance, education and mobility. For privacy, it is especially useful for tracing the early policy recognition that large-scale AI deployment creates data-governance, surveillance, security and accountability questions that cannot be solved only through technical performance.

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This library reproduces the metadata and purview summaries of official Indian instruments for research navigation. Copyright in each document remains with the publishing authority. Legal status indicates whether this resource is legislation, delegated regulation, regulatory direction, guidance, policy, research or technical material. Inclusion in this library does not by itself make a document legally binding.