'Nations protesting India's data localisation plans are implementing stricter policies in their own country'

NEW DELHI: Countries that are protesting against India’s proposed policy for data localisation are actually implementing stricter policies in their own backyard through laws such as the Cloud Act and GDPR, said India’s national cyber security advisor Dr Gulshan Rai here on Saturday.

Participating in a panel discussion on Data Regulation, Transparency & the Power of the World’s Most Valuable Resource at the Global Business Summit, Rai, said that the country favours data localisation to protect its data resources that is more valuable than oil as it is mobile and can be reused in different ways.

“Every country I the world is doing its own data colonisation,” said Rai, adding that laws such as Cloud Act and the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are ways to colonise data by these countries.


Oyo Hotels and Homes Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said corporates and organisations should take the responsibility of protecting the data of its users and not put the onus on customers who share data for a service.

Alan Mamedi, Co-Founder & CEO, TrueCaller said the fundamental belief of organisations should be that the “data belongs to the individual” and they are the custodians of such data.

Amit Shah, Group President at YES BANK said the data of users should be handled responsibly not just within an organisation but also the ecosystem as organisations work with multiple partners in handling data of consumers.