The Government of India tabled the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 in the Parliament and its in consultation stages right now. The need is to move towards a strong data protection regulation and an accountable and independent regulator capable of enabling a state of robust data privacy practices.

At present, of the seven international agreements and standards relevant to data privacy, five require the establishment of an independent supervisory authority to oversee implementation and adjudication processes under the data protection framework. In the EU, both the GDPR (previously Directive 1995) and the Convention 108 of the Council of Europe do so. Around 90% of countries with data protection laws have opted for this model of an independent supervisory authority.

This stakeholder consultation seeks to further discussion on the aforementioned issues.