Themes for Digital India Bill: An Analysis

The full report can be accessed here.

Nearly 23 years after India passed the Information Technology (IT) Act 2000, we are again looking at passing an ambitious Digital India Act. Much has changed in the intervening years since the last Act and technology as well as services have undergone a paradigm shift. In 2000, the IT Act was passed to cater to the newly emerging IT and IT Enabled Services (ITES), which has now become a
significant contributor to India’s GDP.

India is poised to continue its journey as a major contributor to the global technology pool and its Digital India program is an ambitious push towards this goal. The proposed DIA is an opportunity to repeat the success of the IT Act, keeping in mind new and emerging technologies, services and India’s potential to dominate digital markets globally.

DeepStrat has begun a series of position papers that draws on experiences from India and abroad on laws, regulatory frameworks, academia and start-ups to look at issues that are pertinent to the DIA. This is the first of the series where it looks at elements such as Intermediary classification and liability, online harms, cybersecurity and innovation in fair markets.