Question : Policy for Digital Economy

(a) whether the Government is planning to introduce new policies for the growing digital economy;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has taken cognizance of the manners in which e-commerce can help with value addition in Indian GDP;
(d) whether the Government is taking up measures towards understanding data flows from the aspects of privacy, security, safety and free choice, ownership and sharing of data, gains and costs of cross border flow of data and how to monitor the use of data; and
(e) if so, the details thereof?

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THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE &INDUSTRY
(SHRI SOM PARKASH)


(a)to(c): The Government has recently introduced National Policy on Electronics (NPE) and National Policy on Software Products (NPSP) in 2019 for the growing digital economy. The details are available on Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology’s website (https://meity.gov.in/). Further, a draft National e-Commerce policy has been prepared and placed for comments in public domain. The draft National e-Commerce policy has been prepared to create a facilitative regulatory environment for growth of e-commerce sector in India and to leverage access to data such that data of Indians can be used for the growth of digital economy in India. The policy establishes strategies which aim to (i) empower domestic entrepreneurs and encourage Make in India; (ii) safeguard interests of the consumers; (iii) ensure creation of jobs in the digital sphere in the times to come;(iv) promote domestic research and development in digital innovation and (v) prevent misuse of data while maintaining the spirit of existing regulations.

(d)&(e): The government had constituted a committee of expert on data protection, chaired by Justice (Retd) B.N. Srikrishna, Supreme Court of India to study various issues relating to data protection and come out with Data Protection Bill. The said committee has brought out a draft Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB). The framework seeks to put in place a culture of privacy by design and promoting concepts such as consent framework, purpose limitation, storage limitation, and data minimization among various other privacy-oriented concepts. Wide-ranging consultations have been conducted on the recommendations of the committee with a view to finalizing the draft legislation.
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