DPDP Act Compliance: A Practical Guide for Indian Businesses
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is changing how organizations in India need to think about personal data. With the DPDP Rules, 2025 notified in November 2025 and implementation following a phased timeline, organizations should move beyond privacy policies and begin building practical compliance capabilities. For most businesses, personal data is distributed across multiple environments—websites, applications, CRM platforms, HR systems, cloud infrastructure, SaaS applications, marketing tools, analytics platforms, vendors, and AI systems. This makes data visibility the starting point for DPDP compliance. What Should Businesses Do? 1. Build a Personal Data Inventory Identify what personal data your organization collects, where it is stored, which systems process it, who can access it, and which external parties receive it. The inventory should be continuously updated as new applications and vendors are introduced. 2. Map Data Flows Understand how personal data moves ...