The draft Personal Data Protection Bill, which was circulated to Lok Sabha members on Tuesday, has raised concerns among tech firms, reported Business Standard. The bill gives the Centre powers to exempt any agency from the provisions of the legislation and it could raise expenses for the IT firms and threatens the businesses, added the report.

Technology companies and digital commerce firms are worried that the exemption clause could impact the way they work and their business models. "This is a myopic way of looking at data protection... Changing the way we work almost on a yearly basis is next to impossible," Business Standard quoted a senior vice president of a multinational digital commerce firm as saying.

Expenses on processing and handling data would surge and many companies would have to rethink investment plans, the executive told the newspaper. According to businessmen the passing of the bill in the current form will impact their day to day operations.

The bill allows the government to exempt government agencies from the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Bill in the name of "national interest", according to the report.

First Published:Dec 11, 2019 10:56 AM IST