Why data localisation triggers heated debate

Driven by a view that data is wealth (or “new oil”) that needs to be secured and controlled for the development of the nation, India has advocated data localisation — the storage of personal data on servers located within the physical boundaries of the country.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi put it at Davos earlier this year: “Today, data is a real wealth and it is being said that whoever acquires and controls the data will have hegemony in the future. The global flow of data is creating big opportunities as well as challenges.”

Be it the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 (PDP Bill), most policy statements linked to data governance have argued in favour of data localisation.