Union Budget: IT ministry allocates ₹5 crore for Data Protection Board in FY26
The government had allocated ₹2 crore to meet the establishment and salary expenses of the Data Protection Board in FY25.
The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has increased budgetary allocation for Data Protection Board of India (DPBI) by 2.5 times to ₹5 crore for FY26. Of this, ₹50 lakh have been allocated towards capital expenditure (which includes fixed assets such as the digital portal in this case) and ₹4.5 crore towards revenue expenditure (which includes salaries, etc.).
The government had allocated ₹2 crore to meet the establishment and salary expenses of the Data Protection Board in FY25.
In order to operationalise the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which was notified in the gazette in August 2023, establishing a DPB is crucial. MeitY released draft data protection rules for consultation on January 3, which proposed staggered implementation of the rules with provisions related to the DPB going into effect first.
The rules are expected to be notified by the middle of this year, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said after the release of draft rules. The government and private companies will be given about 24 months to ensure compliance, the minister and IT secretary S Krishnan had said.
Under the act, the DPB is to function as a digital office as far as possible and will be “digital by design”. It will consist of a chairperson and a number of members to be determined by the central government who will hold the office for two years.
The salaries will also be determined by the central government. The DPB is empowered to direct data fiduciaries to take remedial or mitigation measures in case of personal data breaches, or act when a user complains to them.