Revised Data Protection Bill says companies may have to pay Rs 200 cr fine for no safeguards: Report

The revamped version of the Data Protection Bill mandates that companies which deal with customers’ personal data and fail to ensure safeguards to prevent data breaches may be slapped with penalties that go up to Rs 200 crore.

According to a report in The Indian Express, if violations are found, the companies will be given a chance to reveal their stand on the matter. The Data Protection Board, entrusted to enforce the provisions of the Bill, could impose a fine.

Penalties that may be imposed are likely to vary depending on the nature of non-compliance. If companies fail to notify people impacted by a breach of personal data, they may be fined a sum of Rs 150 crore. Those failing to protect children’s personal data may be fined around Rs 100 crore. In the older version of the Bill that was withdrawn earlier this year, the fine amount proposed for violation was Rs 15 crore or 4 per cent of the company’s annual turnover, higher of the two.

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The government is likely to release the new draft of the Data Protection Bill for public comments in a week, according to two government sources.

The government had in early August withdrawn the Personal Data Protection Bill, which was first presented in late 2019. It is learnt that breach of non-personal data, which means data that cannot compromise an individual’s identity, has been excluded from the new bill’s ambit.

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It is believed that the higher penalties being proposed will enable companies to build strong measures to protect the data of individuals.

Union telecom and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that the joint parliamentary committee which went through the original draft suggested 88 amendments to a bill of 91 sections, which led the government to decide that there was "no option" but to withdraw the original bill completely.

The Bill is likely to be introduced in the Budget session of Parliament next year.

(With inputs from PTI)