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Expert Panel Suggests Indian Gov't Should Completely Ban Overseas Data Storage

The panel has also recommended a penalty to the tune of 4 percent of a firm’s total worldwide turnover if it is found guilty of the cross-border transferring and storage of data of Indian citizens. The recommendations are likely to form the basis of a new data protection law in India.
Sputnik

A high-level panel of experts has recommended to the Indian government that there should be a complete prohibition on the cross-border transfer of personal critical user data while emphasizing that such data be processed locally.

READ MORE: Local Data Storage is India’s Sovereign, Legal Requirement — Expert

Submitting a comprehensive report on Friday, the committee of experts, under the chairmanship of Justice BN Srikrishna, also recommended a hefty penalty to firms found guilty of the violation. 

"Sensitive or critical personal data will include passwords, financial data, health data, official identifier, sex life, sexual orientation, biometric and genetic data, and data that reveals transgender status, intersex status, caste, tribe, religious or political beliefs or affiliations of an individual," the report reads.

The committee has further recommended that in case of data misuse, the penalty may extend up to 4 percent of the guilty firm's total worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year.

READ MORE: India Serves Second Notice to Cambridge Analytica, Facebook on Data Leak Issue

The committee was tasked to make the recommendations following reports of enormous misuse of data by global firms, thereby increasing the scrutiny by governments across the world on how companies handle user data.

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