Living in a fragmented world: India’s data way

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines India’s treatment of data and its relationship with sovereignty. In the absence of international norms or standards, the article draws on the various data-related rules, regulations, and policies, the country’s international stance on data, and the developments in its ongoing journey to a privacy law to infer how the Indian government seeks to exercise sovereign control over Indian data. The article shows that India’s treatment of data is a lot more nuanced and mobile than otherwise suggested. Instead, it is driven by more by economic and security imperatives rather than the need for control over Indian data.