What changed in Indian digital regulation.
What changed, and what it actually means for you — not just what was announced. Each entry shows its status today, the legal effect, and a link to the primary source.
Current & recent
In Force = enforceable now · Notified = published, duties start later · Scheduled = dated, not yet live · Watch = no binding effect yet · Under challenge = before the courts, could change.
- Watch24 Sep 2026AI Policy
Legal effect: Nothing binding. A speech, not a direction.
RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain said in a speech that governance must come before scale. He said AI can amplify errors as quickly as it amplifies efficiency.
- Watch1 Sep 2026Sector Rules
Legal effect: A consultation paper. No duty on anyone today.
IRDAI published a public consultation paper on a Public Insurance Registry. The paper calls it Digital Public Infrastructure. It refers to the DPDP Act and to consent-based processing.
- Watch19 Aug 2026AI Policy
Legal effect: Nothing binding. A speech, not a direction.
RBI Deputy Governor Shirish Chandra Murmu set out five principles for AI in banking. He said a bank that cannot name the person who owns a model's decision "has delegated its accountability". Where a decision materially affects a customer, such as a loan declined, there must be a route to a person who can look again.
- Notified12 Aug 2026Data Privacy
Legal effect: No change. It restates the existing timetable: the Board first, Consent Managers within one year, most duties within eighteen months.
In a Lok Sabha answer, MeitY restated that the DPDP Rules, 2025 were notified on 13 November 2025. It set out three phases over the 18-month transition.
- Watch9 Jul 2026AI Policy
Legal effect: Nothing changes today. There is no draft Bill, no consultation paper, and no timeline. This is stated intent, not law.
MeitY signals a standalone AI law: the Secretary told the press that discussions on standalone AI regulation are ongoing and drafting will begin soon.
On 10 June 2026 the Union IT Minister said in a media interview that a new law on AI is required and that the government is discussing a framework with industry. Press reports date a MeitY Secretary statement to early July 2026 (3 or 9 July) saying drafting would begin soon; we found no primary record. This is a shift from November 2025, when the India AI Governance Guidelines said a separate AI law was not needed and existing laws could be adapted. Watch for a draft Bill, a consultation paper, or Digital India Act text carrying AI provisions.
Reported, not confirmed — press reports date this to early July 2026 (3 or 9 July); no primary record foundPending - In Force22 Apr 2026 (in force 1 May 2026)Platforms
Legal effect: From 1 May 2026, social game and e-sport providers must keep a complaints system, and users can take complaints to the new Online Gaming Authority of India within 30 days (rule 20).
MeitY notified the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 303(E)), made under the Online Gaming Act, 2025.
- WatchMar 2026Platforms
Legal effect: Nothing binding yet. The draft is not notified. The February 2026 amendment (G.S.R. 120(E)), which carries the AI-media duties, is separately in force.
MeitY released the Draft IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Second Amendment Rules, 2026 for public consultation.
As drafted, it would make platforms follow MeitY's written advisories, directions and codes as part of their due diligence (proposed Rule 3(4)). It would apply the news-content oversight rules to news posted by ordinary users, not only publishers (proposed Rule 8(1)). It would let the oversight committee hear matters the Ministry refers to it (proposed Rule 14), and keep other data-retention laws in force alongside Rule 3(1)(g) and (h). It does not add new rules on AI-made content. It has no G.S.R. number and no start date.
- Under challenge7 Aug 2026Data Privacy
Legal effect: No stay, no judgment. The DPDP framework operates as normal while the case runs.
The Supreme Court heard further arguments in the constitutional challenge to the DPDP Act and the RTI amendment.
The matter was referred to a larger bench on 16 February 2026 and has moved past the referral stage: the Centre's response was sought, and arguments were heard on 7 August 2026 before Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana. Petitioners argued the amendment to Section 44(3) removes the public-interest balancing settled in Subhash Chandra Agarwal (2019), and that investigative journalism would be affected. The scope has widened beyond Section 44(3) to government access to data and Board independence.
- Watch3 Jun 2026AI Policy
Legal effect: No duty for businesses. We have not found the draft on sci.gov.in, so we do not describe its contents.
Reported, not confirmed: press reports say a Supreme Court committee published draft rules on how courts may use AI.
Reported, not confirmed — no document found on sci.gov.inPending - In Force10 Feb 2026 (in force 20 Feb 2026)Platforms
Legal effect: Platforms must now block harmful AI-made audio and video that looks real, label the rest, and remove content within 3 hours of a court order or authorised government notice. Large social media platforms must also collect and verify user declarations.
IT Rules 2026 amendment adds deepfake-labelling duties for intermediaries.
- Watch16–20 Feb 2026AI Policy
Legal effect: No binding legal effect — a policy declaration, not a rule.
India AI Impact Summit 2026 concludes with a declaration.
- WatchNov 2025AI Policy
Legal effect: Guidance only — it creates no obligation by itself, It proposes an AI Governance Group and a Technology & Policy Expert Committee, and more resources for the AI Safety Institute.
India's AI Governance Guidelines, published by MeitY on 5 November 2025, remain the national AI guidance.
- In Force28 Nov 2025Finance
Legal effect: Circulars and guidelines administered by the Department of Regulation were withdrawn and consolidated into function-wise Master Directions specific to each category of regulated entity. Instruments are now entity-specific: separate Directions exist for Commercial Banks, NBFCs, All India Financial Institutions and other categories, where a single circular previously applied across types. The exercise was department-scoped, not date-scoped: it covered circulars administered by the Department of Regulation. Instruments issued by other departments — for example the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, which issued the payment data storage circular — were not withdrawn by it, so a pre-28-November-2025 date alone does not mean a circular has gone.
RBI consolidates 9,000+ circulars into 244 Master Directions. This matters for digital products because older RBI rules you cite may now sit in a new Direction.
"Consolidation of Regulations – Withdrawal of Circulars": more than 9,000 Department of Regulation circulars and guidelines repealed and consolidated into 244 Master Directions — 238 issued function-wise, plus NABARD-issued instructions for Regional Rural Banks and co-operative banks consolidated in consultation with NABARD.
RBI — Consolidation of Regulations – Withdrawal of Circulars (28 Nov 2025)Pending - Notified13 Nov 2025Data Privacy
Legal effect: Starts the 18-month compliance window; the core obligations become enforceable on 13 May 2027, not before.
DPDP Rules 2025 notified in the Gazette.
The Rules are dated 13 November 2025 and were published in the Gazette on 14 November 2025. Some sources therefore give 14 May 2027. We use 13 May 2027; see Methodology.
Archive
Older entries, most recent first. Every one links back to its official notification.
- Watch2025Platforms
Legal effect: Nothing changes yet. We have not found an official bill or draft. The IT Act, 2000 remains the operative law.
The Digital India Act is a proposed law meant to replace the IT Act, 2000. We have not found an official bill or draft.
MeitY — Digital India Act (no enacted text to cite)Pending - In Force6 Feb 2025 (in force 10 Feb 2025)AI Policy
Legal effect: Binding today. Any person regulated by SEBI who uses AI or machine-learning tools — built in-house or procured from a third-party technology service provider, and irrespective of the scale and scenario of adoption — is solely responsible for the privacy, security and integrity of investors' and stakeholders' data including data held in a fiduciary capacity, for the output of those tools, and for compliance with applicable laws. SEBI may take enforcement action for violations.
SEBI notified the SEBI (Intermediaries) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025, inserting Chapter IIIB and Regulation 16C, "Responsibility for the use of artificial intelligence".
Notified F. No. SEBI/LAD-NRO/GN/2025/226 on 6 February 2025 under Section 30 of the SEBI Act, 1992; it came into force on publication in the Official Gazette on 10 February 2025 — the commencement date is the one that matters for readers. Two companion instruments approved in the same package at SEBI's 208th Board meeting carry the same AI provision: the Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025, in force 10 February 2025, and the SEBI (Depositories and Participants) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025, in force 1 April 2025. This is the binding layer; SEBI's June 2025 AI/ML consultation paper is the proposed layer and creates nothing today.
- Watch20 Jun 2025 (comments closed 11 Jul 2025)AI Policy
Legal effect: Proposal only — the proposed layer, not the binding one. The client-disclosure duty (product features, purpose, risks, model accuracy, fees) and the paper's governance, documentation and audit duties sit in a consultation paper whose comment window closed on 11 July 2025. We found no final guidelines in SEBI's guidelines list, last checked 6 October 2026. None of them exist as obligations today. What is binding is Regulation 16C of the SEBI (Intermediaries) Regulations, 2008 (in force 10 February 2025), which places sole responsibility for AI outputs, data and legal compliance on the regulated entity.
SEBI issued a consultation paper, "Guidelines for Responsible Usage of AI/ML in Indian Securities Markets", proposing client-disclosure duties for market intermediaries.
SEBI — consultation paper on responsible AI/ML use in securities markets (20 Jun 2025)Pending - WatchApr 2024AI Policy
Legal effect: The approval requirement was withdrawn, so it imposes nothing today; it remains a useful signal of how quickly MeitY can move.
MeitY issued — then walked back — an advisory requiring approval before deploying "unreliable or biased" AI models.
- Watch2024AI Policy
The IndiaAI Mission expanded national work on compute, datasets, and responsible-AI capacity.
- In Force2024Platforms
Legal effect: Communication features (VoIP, in-app messaging, video calls) sit under a new statute, but most operational detail depends on rules TRAI and the government still issue.
The Telecommunications Act, 2023 partly commenced on 26 June 2024 (Notification No. 2408(E), per India Code).
- Watch6 Oct 2025AI Policy
Legal effect: Advisory only — a market study, not an enforcement instrument. It states that any alleged anti-competitive conduct will be examined case by case under the Competition Act, 2002.
The CCI published its Market Study on Artificial Intelligence and Competition, conducted through the Management Development Institute Society (MDIS), Gurugram.
- NotifiedAug 2023Data Privacy
Legal effect: The Act is in force as law, but most operative duties only become enforceable on 13 May 2027 under the 2025 Rules.
The DPDP Act, 2023 received Presidential assent.
- In Force2021Platforms
Legal effect: Due-diligence, grievance, and takedown duties apply to intermediaries today; safe harbour depends on meeting them.
The IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were notified.
This page tracks what has moved. What isn't settled yet →
Last updated: 17 August 2026 · Written and edited by Sandesh Kokate
Educational only. Re-verify against the Gazette of India before relying on anything here.
Also watch: AI and copyright — DPIIT working paper (proposal, Part 2 pending)