House panel moots penalties up to Rs 15 crore for data violations

NEW DELHI: The joint parliamentary committee on personal data protection has re-introduced a recommendation of heavy penalties for serious data violations in its final report with fines up to Rs 15 crore, or 4% of global turnover, while lesser violations will have a limit of Rs 5 crore, or 2% turnover.
The provision, if it becomes a law, will pose a strong deterrent for social media giants and top tech companies such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, Amazon, and Apple. The final report, submitted in Parliament on Thursday, brought back penalties — the provision had been left to the government in the draft report — much in line with the original provisions in the 2019 Data Protection Bill, as well as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).