DPIIT to meet on data issues in e-com policy

Representatives from companies including Accenture, Adobe, Facebook, Genpact, Google, HCL, Infosys, Intel, Microsoft and TCS are expected to participate in the deliberations, they said. Besides, officials from Nasscom, E-commerce Council of India, Informational Technology Industry Council, CII and FICCI would also attend the meeting, they added.

The meet will be chaired by an additional secretary level officer of the DPIIT. The meeting assumes significance as the department is working to release the national e-commerce policy by the end of the current financial year. The Centre in February last year released a draft national e-commerce policy, proposing setting up a legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow and also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad. Several foreign e-commerce firms have raised concerns over some points in the draft pertaining to data.

The department has received huge response on the draft and it is examining all the views and comments.

As the draft policy includes several provisions related to data, the department is also looking at the Personal Data Protection Bill approved by the Cabinet last month.