Prepare Your Organization for the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
Organizations that collect, store, or use digital personal data in India need to put clear processes in place for notice, consent, security safeguards, data principal rights, and breach response. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the DPDP Rules, 2025 set out these obligations, with penalties that can reach hundreds of crores of rupees for serious failures.
ConsultHive provides DPDP Act consulting support to help businesses assess how they handle personal data, identify compliance gaps, and build a practical, documented compliance programme.
Our approach focuses on data mapping, privacy notices and consent, data principal rights, security safeguards, breach response, children’s data, vendor arrangements, and the additional requirements for Significant Data Fiduciaries.
Whether you are starting your DPDP compliance journey, updating existing privacy practices, or preparing for the phased deadlines under the Rules, we help establish a structured approach to data protection compliance.
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What Is the DPDP Act?
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is India’s law on the processing of digital personal data. It applies to personal data collected in digital form, or collected in non-digital form and later digitized, and to processing outside India where it is connected with offering goods or services to individuals in India.
The Act uses specific terms. A Data Principal is the individual to whom the personal data relates. A Data Fiduciary is the person or organization that decides the purpose and means of processing. A Data Processor handles personal data on behalf of a Data Fiduciary.
The Act requires Data Fiduciaries to process personal data lawfully, mostly on the basis of consent or certain specified legitimate uses, to give clear notice, to keep data accurate and secure, to report personal data breaches, and to enable Data Principals to exercise their rights.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 were notified in November 2025 and provide the detailed procedures for notice, security safeguards, breach intimation, children’s data, consent managers, and the Data Protection Board.
Our DPDP Act Compliance Services
1. Personal Data Mapping and Inventory
Identify what personal data is collected, from whom, for what purpose, where it is stored, who has access, with whom it is shared, and how long it is retained.
The inventory forms the basis for notices, consent, retention, and breach response.
2. DPDP Gap Assessment
Assess current policies, processes, contracts, and technical controls against the requirements of the Act and the Rules.
The assessment identifies gaps, ranks them by priority, and provides a practical remediation roadmap.
3. Privacy Notice and Consent Framework
Prepare clear, plain-language privacy notices that itemize the personal data collected, the purpose of processing, and how the Data Principal can withdraw consent, exercise rights, and complain to the Data Protection Board.
We also help design consent collection and withdrawal flows that match your products and services.
4. Data Principal Rights and Grievance Redressal
Establish processes to receive and respond to requests for access, correction, completion, updating, and erasure of personal data, as well as grievance redressal and nomination of another person to exercise rights.
We help set up published contact points and response workflows.
5. Security Safeguards Review
Review technical and organizational measures such as encryption, masking, access controls, logging, monitoring, and backups, and identify improvements needed to meet the requirement for reasonable security safeguards.
The review also considers log and data retention requirements specified in the Rules.
6. Personal Data Breach Response Planning
Develop a breach response plan covering detection, assessment, containment, intimation to affected Data Principals, and reporting to the Data Protection Board, including the detailed report that the Rules require within 72 hours.
We also help organizations test the plan through a tabletop exercise.
7. Children’s Data and Verifiable Consent
Assess whether your services process the personal data of children, and design verifiable parental consent, age-appropriate practices, and controls against tracking and targeted advertising directed at children, subject to the exemptions provided in the Rules.
8. Vendor and Data Processor Arrangements
Review contracts with data processors and service providers, and update them to reflect responsibilities for security, breach notification, sub-processing, and deletion.
9. Cross-Border Transfer Review
Review transfers of personal data outside India and assess them against the restrictions that the Government may notify under the Act, along with any sector-specific requirements that apply to your business.
10. Significant Data Fiduciary Readiness
Help organizations assess whether they may be notified as a Significant Data Fiduciary and prepare for the additional obligations, which include appointing a Data Protection Officer based in India, an independent data auditor, and periodic Data Protection Impact Assessments.
11. Training and Awareness
Provide role-based training for management, HR, marketing, customer support, IT, and other teams that handle personal data.
Key Benefits of DPDP Act Compliance
A structured DPDP programme helps organizations reduce legal risk and build trust with customers, employees, and partners.
• Reduce Regulatory Risk: Address obligations whose breach can attract significant monetary penalties under the Act.
• Understand Your Data: Gain a clear view of personal data flows, storage locations, and retention.
• Build Customer Trust: Show customers that their personal data is handled lawfully and transparently.
• Prepare for Breaches: Respond faster and in a documented manner when a personal data breach occurs.
• Strengthen Security: Identify gaps in technical and organizational safeguards.
• Improve Vendor Control: Align contracts and oversight with processing risks.
• Support Business Growth: Meet the data protection expectations of enterprise customers, partners, and investors.
DPDP Compliance Areas Covered
A DPDP assessment typically reviews the following areas, depending on the agreed scope.
| Compliance Area | Key Focus |
| Lawful basis and consent | Consent requests, withdrawal, legitimate uses, records of consent |
| Notice | Itemized personal data, purpose, rights, complaint mechanism, plain language |
| Data principal rights | Access, correction, erasure, grievance redressal, nomination |
| Security safeguards | Encryption, access control, logging, monitoring, backups |
| Breach management | Detection, intimation to data principals, reporting to the Board |
| Children’s data | Verifiable parental consent, restrictions on tracking and targeted advertising |
| Retention and erasure | Retention periods, erasure on completion of purpose, log retention |
| Data processors | Contracts, security obligations, sub-processing, deletion |
| Cross-border transfers | Transfer mapping and review against notified restrictions |
| Governance | Contact point or Data Protection Officer, policies, training, records |
The actual scope is customized according to your business, the personal data you process, and your technology environment.
Our DPDP Act Compliance Process
Step 1: Initial Consultation and Scoping
Understand your business, products, personal data processing activities, and compliance objectives. Define the scope, teams, and systems to be covered.
Step 2: Data Discovery and Mapping
Collect information through interviews and system reviews, and prepare an inventory of personal data, processing purposes, data flows, and recipients.
Step 3: Gap Assessment
Assess practices against the requirements of the Act and the Rules and identify gaps in policies, processes, contracts, and controls.
Step 4: Remediation Roadmap
Prepare a prioritized action plan with owners and timelines, taking into account the phased dates for different provisions of the Rules.
Step 5: Policy and Process Implementation
Develop or update privacy notices, consent flows, policies, rights-handling procedures, breach response plan, and vendor contract terms.
Step 6: Training and Testing
Train relevant teams and test the breach response and rights-handling processes through practical exercises.
Step 7: Ongoing Compliance Support
Support periodic reviews, updates for regulatory developments, and records needed to demonstrate compliance.
What Is Included in a DPDP Compliance Engagement?
Depending on the agreed scope, deliverables may include:
• Personal data inventory and data flow map.
• DPDP gap assessment report with a prioritized remediation roadmap.
• Privacy notice and consent language for your products and services.
• Data principal rights and grievance redressal procedure.
• Personal data breach response plan and reporting templates.
• Retention and erasure schedule.
• Data processor contract clauses and vendor review checklist.
• Children’s data assessment, where applicable.
• Significant Data Fiduciary readiness assessment, where applicable.
• Training materials and awareness sessions.
The deliverables support your compliance programme but do not by themselves guarantee compliance, which depends on how the processes are implemented and operated.
DPDP Legal Framework and Timeline
The Rules were notified in November 2025 and bring the provisions into force in phases.
| Phase | What Applies |
| On notification (November 2025) | Provisions on short title and definitions and the Data Protection Board and Tribunal |
| One year after notification (around November 2026) | Registration and obligations of Consent Managers |
| Eighteen months after notification (around May 2027) | Notice, consent and verifiable consent, security safeguards, breach intimation, children’s data, retention and erasure, and other obligations of Data Fiduciaries |
The dates above follow the phased approach published with the Rules. Organizations should confirm the current position against the official notifications and any later amendments.
DPDP Act Requirements in India
The DPDP Act applies across industries to organizations that process digital personal data in India, and to certain processing outside India connected with offering goods or services to individuals in India.
The Act provides for penalties for non-compliance, which can be as high as 250 crore rupees for failure to maintain reasonable security safeguards, with other provisions carrying lower maximum amounts. The Data Protection Board of India decides on such matters.
Some sectors also have additional rules, for example from financial and health regulators, which continue to apply alongside the Act.
A DPDP assessment helps identify gaps and plan corrective action. It is not legal advice, and organizations should obtain legal opinion on specific questions of interpretation or applicability.
Who Needs DPDP Act Compliance Services?
Any organization that processes the digital personal data of individuals in India should assess its position under the Act.
• Technology and SaaS Companies: Platforms and applications that collect user, customer, or employee data.
• E-Commerce and Consumer Businesses: Online retailers, marketplaces, and consumer brands with large customer databases.
• Banking, Financial Services and Insurance: Organizations holding financial and identity information.
• Healthcare and Education: Hospitals, clinics, schools, colleges, and ed-tech platforms handling sensitive personal and children’s data.
• Manufacturing, Services and BPO Companies: Organizations processing employee, customer, and vendor personal data.
Why Choose ConsultHive for DPDP Act Compliance?
Structured Compliance Approach
Our approach follows the Act and the Rules, from data mapping to remediation, so that each requirement is linked to a documented action.
Practical Focus
We design notices, consent flows, and procedures that fit your actual products and operations.
Breach Readiness
We give particular attention to breach response planning, since breach intimation and reporting timelines are strict.
Management System Experience
ConsultHive supports ISO certification and audit services, which helps align data protection controls with information security and other management systems.
Clear Documentation
Findings, policies, and records are organized so that your team can maintain and update them over time.
Frequently Asked Questions About the DPDP Act
1. What is the DPDP Act?
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is India’s law governing the processing of digital personal data. It sets obligations for Data Fiduciaries and rights for Data Principals.
2. Who must comply with the DPDP Act?
Organizations that process digital personal data in India must comply, regardless of size, unless an exemption applies. It also applies to certain processing outside India that is connected with offering goods or services to individuals in India.
3. What are the key deadlines under the DPDP Rules?
The Rules are being brought into force in phases from their notification in November 2025. Consent manager provisions apply after about one year, and most obligations of Data Fiduciaries apply after about eighteen months. Please check the latest official position.
4. What is a Data Fiduciary?
A Data Fiduciary is any person or organization that, alone or together with others, decides the purpose and means of processing personal data.
5. What is a Significant Data Fiduciary?
A Significant Data Fiduciary is a Data Fiduciary or class of Data Fiduciaries notified by the Government based on factors such as the volume and sensitivity of personal data, risk to Data Principals, and risk to the security and sovereignty of the country. It has additional obligations.
6. What must a personal data breach report contain?
Affected Data Principals must be informed without delay, and the Data Protection Board must be informed without delay and then given a detailed report within 72 hours. The Rules specify the information to be included.
7. Is consent always required?
Consent is the main basis for processing, but the Act also lists certain legitimate uses, such as specified functions of the State and compliance with law, in which processing may be done without consent.
8. What are the penalties under the DPDP Act?
Penalties depend on the type of failure. The maximum is 250 crore rupees for failure to take reasonable security safeguards, with other maximum amounts for other contraventions. The Data Protection Board decides on penalties.
9. How long does DPDP compliance take?
The time depends on the size of the organization, the number of systems and processes involved, and the existing level of privacy maturity. Smaller organizations with limited data flows can generally complete the exercise sooner than large organizations with many systems.
10. How much does DPDP compliance consulting cost in India?
The cost depends on the number of data processing activities, systems, locations, the depth of assessment, and the level of implementation support.
Contact ConsultHive with your organization details to request a quotation.
Build a DPDP Compliance Programme with ConsultHive
Understand your personal data processing, close compliance gaps, and prepare for the phased requirements of the DPDP Rules with ConsultHive.
Our DPDP consulting approach helps organizations build documented, practical processes for notice, consent, rights, security, and breach response.
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