Section 18 establishes the Data Protection Board of India from a date appointed by Central Government notification. The Board is a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal. Subject to the Act, it may acquire, hold and dispose of movable or immovable property, contract, and sue or be sued. Its headquarters shall be at a place notified by the Central Government.

Section 17 disapplies Chapter II requirements, except section 8(1) and (5), Chapter III, and section 16 for defined processing, including legal claims, judicial or regulatory functions, law enforcement, foreign-data contracts, approved corporate restructuring, and assessment of loan defaulters' financial information. It allows broader exclusions for notified State processing on specified public-interest grounds and for research, archiving, or statistical purposes where no decision is made about a Data Principal and prescribed standards are followed.

Cross-border processing of personal data may be restricted through notification for transfers by a Data Fiduciary to specified countries or territories outside India. The provision preserves the operation of Indian laws imposing higher protection standards or stricter restrictions on transfers of personal data outside India, whether concerning particular personal data, Data Fiduciaries, or classes thereof.

Section 15 requires Data Principals to exercise personal-data rights in compliance with applicable laws. They must not impersonate another person, suppress material information when furnishing personal data for State-issued identity or address documentation, or lodge false or frivolous grievances or complaints. Information furnished while exercising correction or erasure rights must be verifiably authentic.

Right to nominate enables a Data Principal to designate another individual, in the manner prescribed by law, to exercise the Data Principal's rights upon death or incapacity. The nominee acts in accordance with the applicable statutory framework and governing rules. Incapacity means inability to exercise Data Principal rights because of unsoundness of mind or infirmity of body.

Section 13 grants a Data Principal the right to readily available grievance redressal against acts or omissions of a Data Fiduciary or Consent Manager concerning personal-data obligations or the exercise of rights. Data Fiduciaries and Consent Managers must respond within the prescribed period. The Data Principal must exhaust the available grievance-redressal process before approaching the Board.

Data Principals may seek correction, completion, updating and erasure of personal data processed on the basis of prior consent, subject to applicable legal requirements and procedures. Data Fiduciaries must correct inaccurate or misleading data, complete incomplete data, and update personal data upon request. Erasure must be carried out unless retention is necessary for the specified purpose or compliance with applicable law.

A Data Principal may, through a prescribed request, obtain from a consenting Data Fiduciary a summary of personal data processed, related processing activities, and further prescribed information. The Data Principal may also obtain identities of recipients with whom data was shared and a description of the shared data. Recipient-disclosure obligations are excluded for legally authorised sharing pursuant to written requests concerning prevention, detection or investigation of offences or cyber incidents, or prosecution or punishment of offences.

Significant Data Fiduciary status may be notified after considering the scale and sensitivity of personal data processing and related risks to Data Principal rights, national interests, electoral democracy, State security, and public order. Such fiduciaries must appoint an India-based Data Protection Officer and an independent data auditor, conduct periodic Data Protection Impact Assessments and audits, and comply with further prescribed measures.

Data Fiduciaries must obtain verifiable consent from a child's parent or lawful guardian before processing a child's personal data and must not undertake processing likely to harm the child's well-being. Tracking, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising directed at children are prohibited. Prescribed exemptions may apply to specified Data Fiduciaries, purposes and conditions. Where processing is verifiably safe, an age-based exemption may apply to specified consent and child-protection obligations.

Data Fiduciaries remain responsible for compliant personal-data processing undertaken by them or by Data Processors, who may be engaged only under valid contracts. They must maintain data quality for consequential decisions or disclosures, implement technical and organisational compliance measures, maintain reasonable security safeguards, and notify the Board and affected Data Principals of breaches. Personal data must be erased on consent withdrawal or when its purpose ends, unless legal retention is required, including erasure by Data Processors. They must also publish appropriate contact information and provide effective grievance redressal.

A Data Fiduciary may process personal data for the specified purpose for which a Data Principal voluntarily supplies it, provided the Data Principal has not indicated non-consent, and must cease processing when requested assistance is no longer required. Processing is also permitted for prescribed State benefits and functions, legally required disclosures, compliance with judgments or orders, medical emergencies, public-health threats, disasters, public-order breakdowns, and employment purposes. Employment-related processing includes protection against loss or liability, prevention of corporate espionage, confidentiality of trade secrets, intellectual property or classified information, and provision of employee-requested services or benefits.

Consent-based personal data processing requires free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous affirmative consent, limited to data necessary for a specified purpose. Consent requests must use clear language, permit access in English or a listed constitutional language, and provide rights-related contact details. Consent may be withdrawn as easily as it is given; the Data Fiduciary and its Data Processors must then cease processing within a reasonable time unless otherwise authorised by law. The Data Fiduciary must prove compliant notice and consent where disputed.

A Data Fiduciary must provide notice with or before a request for consent, identifying the personal data proposed for processing, its purpose, the means of exercising rights, and the complaint mechanism. For consent obtained before commencement, comparable notice must be given as soon as reasonably practicable. Processing under earlier consent may continue until consent is withdrawn. Notices must be accessible in English or an Eighth Schedule language.

Personal data processing is permitted only in accordance with the Act and for a lawful purpose. Processing a Data Principal's personal data may proceed where the Data Principal has given consent or where it falls within certain legitimate uses. A lawful purpose is one not expressly forbidden by law.

Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 applies to processing of digital personal data within India when collected digitally or subsequently digitised, and to certain processing outside India connected with offering goods or services to Data Principals in India. Coverage excludes personal data processed for personal or domestic purposes and data publicly made available by the Data Principal or by a person legally obliged to disclose it.

Digital personal data comprises personal data in digital form, while processing includes automated operations throughout the data lifecycle, including collection, storage, use, sharing, restriction, erasure and destruction. A Data Fiduciary determines the purpose and means of processing, and a Data Processor acts on its behalf. A Data Principal is the individual to whom the data relates. A personal data breach includes unauthorised processing or accidental events compromising confidentiality, integrity or availability.

Section 1 assigns the short title Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and establishes a notification-based commencement mechanism. The Central Government may appoint the effective date through notification in the Official Gazette and may appoint different dates for different provisions. A reference to commencement within a provision means the date on which that particular provision comes into force, enabling phased implementation.

Fees collected for investment advisory services provided without required registration cannot be retained merely because no investor responds to a refund invitation. Such amounts must be deposited with the regulator, which must invite and verify investor claims. Any balance remaining unclaimed after that process must be transferred to the Investor Protection Fund. The absence of refund claims does not legitimise retention of fees earned through unregistered investment advisory activity.

Digital personal data may be processed only for a lawful purpose based on valid consent or specified legitimate uses. Consent must be free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous, supported by clear notice, and withdrawable with comparable ease. Data Fiduciaries remain responsible for processing undertaken by themselves or their processors, must maintain security safeguards, notify personal data breaches, erase data when no longer needed unless legal retention is required, and provide grievance redressal. Children's data requires verifiable parental or guardian consent, with restrictions on harmful processing, tracking, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising.