CIPL-DSCI Report on Enabling Accountable Data Transfers from India to the United States under India’s Proposed Personal Data Protection Bill

Data flows between India and the United States are of unquestionable value to India’s modern digital economy and society. According to a 2019 digital trade report1 from the Hinrich Foundation, digital trade contributed $32.5 billion to India’s domestic economy in 2017. The report further notes that this has the potential to grow to $480 billion by 2030. Largely driven by India’s rapidly growing AI capabilities, IT and business process outsourcing industries, digital exports represent the largest export sector for India today. With respect to India-US trade specifically, India is the United States’ eight largest trading partner and trade in goods and services, including digital trade, between both nations surged from $16 billion in 1999 to $142 billion in 2018.

Given the economic importance of data flows to both India and the US, it is critical that cross-border data transfers are specifically enabled between the two countries. This is of particular importance in 2020 as India seeks to update its data privacy regime and introduce comprehensive data protection legislation for the first time. India’s proposed Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) (Bill No. 373 of 2019) was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 11 December 2019 and is currently being reviewed by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

CIPL and the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) put forward this joint report to highlight the importance of continued flows of data between India and the US following the passage of the PDPB. This report is intended to inform the Joint Parliamentary Committee’s review of the PDPB as well as Indian Government officials working on a potential future trade deal with the US. CIPL has previously provided extensive input on all aspects of the PDPB to the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and to the Joint Parliamentary Committee reviewing the PDPB.

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