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Public Policy
Monthly Mailer |
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| Inaugural Meeting | Special Interest Group for Data Centres |
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| On April 04, 2025, Nasscom organised the first meeting of the SIG in Delhi, a Nasscom-led initiative comprising of major organisations in the Indian DC industry, like colocation DCs and CSPs. Eleven member organisations, namely AWS, Bharath Cloud, CtrlS, Equinix, Google, HPE, Larsen & Toubro, Pi Datacenters, NTT Global, Sify, and Tata Communications participated in the meeting. |
The SIG has been constituted to advance the following objectives:
- Estimate and enable the growth of DC ecosystem in a sustainable manner
- Deepen industry, government, and regulatory engagement.
- Provide inputs on industry’s functioning including technical and business insights, its plans, priorities and challenges to the central and state -level authorities and regulators, and
- Focus on the common asks of industry, including power, telecom, taxation, and other policy issues.
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| Special invitees of the meeting included senior representatives from MEITY, MoP, DoR, CEA, NIC, and GIFT City. Nasscom is working with the industry and the government on the action items arising from the discussions. For more information kindly contact Sudipto Banerjee (sudipto@nasscom.in). |
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| MOF | Request for extension of time Limit for Filing TDS Correction Statements |
| We have made a submission requesting a 3-month extension for filing TDS correction statements. The Finance Act 2024 amended the Income Tax Act to impose a 6-year time limit on filing such corrections, where previously no limit existed. With the introduction of this amendment, the due date for filing correction statements till the 3rd quarter of FY 2018-19 (till third quarter) was March 31, 2025. As a result, many assesses began addressing historical discrepancies based on vendor feedback. Despite efforts to meet the March 31, 2025 deadline, technical glitches in the system during late March prevented timely filing of numerous correction statements. Without an extension, taxpayers face potential undue tax demands and recovery notices with interest charges. (Read more) |
| RBI | Draft Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2025 |
As part of our feedback to RBI on the draft regulations, we have highlighted the need for:
- Implementing data integration between GST authorities and RBI to eliminate redundant information filing in Export Declaration Forms;
- Allowing single EDF submission with a comprehensive Annexure 1-A that includes all invoice details;
- Standardising documentation for export verification with a 30-day submission window from the month-end of invoice issuance;
- Alowing authorised dealer banks to credit export proceeds immediately upon receipt, without waiting for documentation completion or EDPMS portal closure, and
- Linking realisation timelines with the export date rather than individual item sale dates for e-commerce exporters, amongst others. (Read more)
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| Telangana | Gig and Platform Workers (Registration, Social Security, and Welfare) Bill, 2025 |
As part of our ongoing advocacy at the state level ( Rajasthan, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Haryana) on legislative proposals for social security and welfare of platform-based gig workers, we submitted feedback to the Telangana government on the draft law for gig and platform workers. We highlighted the need to address certain key issues in the Draft Bill for its smooth operation and to ensure that the industry is not disproportionately burdened. Our key recommendations:
- Need for a sunset clause so that when the CoSS, 2020 comes into operation, there is no regulatory overlap, and gig and platform workers are uniformly covered under a single, nationally coordinated framework.
- Making obligations compatible with the gig platform business models without compromising on the intended objectives. These include minimum notice period for termination, automated monitoring and decision-making systems, monitoring and tracking mechanism.
- Aligning definitions (like, gig workers, aggregators, platform worker) with the CoSS to help maintain consistency and clarity, avoid broad data-sharing requirements to safeguard personal data and commercially sensitive information, leveraging of the UAN generated by the e-Shram portal, removal of criminal liability and strengthening of the grievance redressal mechanism. (Read more)
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| CGPDTM | Draft CRI Guidelines, 2025 |
We submitted feedback on the Draft Guidelines for Examination of Computer-Related Inventions (CRI), 2025, issued by the Office of CGPDTM on March 25, 2025. Our feedback focused on the need for clarity and consistency in the Draft Guidelines, wherein we recommended that:
- The Patent Office should set up mechanisms for regular engagement with experts from industry, legal fraternity, and academia, for regular discussions on patent-related aspects of emerging technologies,
- For AI-related inventions, characteristics of training data should amount sufficient disclosure, and disclosure of entire dataset should not be required, and
- The Draft Guidelines should provide more details on the evaluation of the technical effects of CRI. For instance, the example of claims can include reasoning for patentability/non-patentability of claims. (Read more)
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| DeepTech | Closed-door Policy Roundtable on DeepTech Fund |
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| On April 3, we organised a closed-door roundtable discussion on the sidelines of Startup Mahakumbh 2025, on creating a truly world class accelerator program for DeepTech start-ups in India. Alongside the public policy and Deep Tech functions at Nasscom, key government officials from MeitY, DST, BIRAC, PSA office and investors including IAN Alpha Fund, Peak XV, SEA Fund, GrowX Venture, and Bharat Innovation Fund took part in the discussions. The focus of the discussions was to build upon the Union Budget 2025’s allocation of ₹20,000 crore, focusing on operationalising funding and strengthening India’s innovation ecosystem. |
| Some of the key actionable items for the government which emerged from the discussion are as follows: |
- Suggestion was made for the Government to explore the possibility of using Techno-Commercial Readiness & Market Maturity Matrix developed by NITI Aayog for evaluating start-ups for public funding.
- Start-ups could be identified into two tracks i.e., commercial segment and strategic segment.
- Government to provide enabling lab to market infrastructure for startups at different stages, like incubators and focused acceleration program for high potential eligible DeepTech start-ups.
- Further, such startups should be identified through a panel of external experts.
- Given the problem of average low investment ticket size, investments should range between ₹50–200 crore to match global standards and cater to the capital-intensive needs of DeepTech startups.
- The DeepTech FoF should act as an anchor investor by deploying capital upfront to instill confidence and reduce risk perception among private VCs. This approach could stimulate significant private sector investment. Co-investment structures for direct investment alongside private investors in selected DeepTech startups should be enabled. (Read more)
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| AI | Closed-door Roundtable on Copyright and AI |
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| On April 4, we organised a closed-door technical roundtable in Delhi on copyright-related aspects in training of AI models. The roundtable saw participation from a diverse set of stakeholders, including Nasscom's Responsible AI function, representatives from the DPIIT, AI developers, like Adobe, AWS, Meta, and OpenAI, technology companies, such as HCL, Infoedge, Infosys, Reliance, TCS, and Unisys, and representatives from the side of content creators, like Manupatra, Taylor & Francis, and STM Association. |
| During the discussion, it was noted that concerns of content creators primarily relate to the unauthorised use of copyrighted works, and the inability to feasibly track such uses. Developers and deployers noted that given the scale of training data required, seeking licenses from each rightsholder is not possible. One possible way forward discussed was for an explicit TDM exception to be provided under the Copyright Act to provide legal certainty for both developers and deployers of AI. The second approach discussed the possibility of obtaining collective license under the mechanism of existing copyright societies to license copyrighted works on behalf of multiple copyright holders. Nasscom will continue to closely engage with the industry and the government to enable clarity on the issue of copyrighted content for AI. |
| Rules and guidelines on E-waste management and global best practices |
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| We, along SERI organised a webinar on Rules and guidelines on E-waste management and global best practices on April 30, 2025. During the webinar, Dr. Sandip Chatterjee, Senior Advisor, SERI provided insights on e-Waste Management Rules, 2022 and there was detailed discussion regarding collection and processing of e-waste only by registered producers, recyclers and refurbishers. The participants also discussed global best practices and how to deal with refurbished IT assets, data vulnerability, necessary data sanitisation, international standards and practices. (Read More) |
| BIS | Draft BIS Standard for E-Commerce Self-Governance |
| On April 11, Nasscom participated in the BIS industry discussion on the draft E-commerce Principles and Guidelines for Self-Governance, highlighting key concerns to ensure the standard is practical and aligned with existing regulations. Nasscom stressed the need for clarity on the scope, recommending that the standard explicitly define its focus on platforms or expand to cover online sellers and service providers. It raised concerns over the proposed prohibition on platform-affiliated sellers, noting this could disrupt legitimate business models, and questioned the practicality of requiring platforms to verify the authenticity and accuracy of millions of third-party product listings, given they don’t hold inventory. Nasscom also flagged challenges in disclosing material composition and environmental impact, especially for complex products like electronics, and called for the standard to provide clearer compliance guidance and practical examples across these areas. (Read More) |
| Data Protection | IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2025 |
| Ashish Aggarwal from Nasscom participated in the Summit and spoke on the likely operational impact of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the draft Rules. He was speaking in a panel discussion along with Rahul Matthan, Partner, Trilegal and Monika Tomczak-Gorlikowska, Group Head of Privacy, Digital & Regulatory, Prosus and Naspers. |
| There was an immense interest in the global participants in understanding the impact on cross border data flows, effect of limited scope of legitimate uses, way forward on consent managers, implications of age assurance/ tokenisation, role of sectoral laws and the transition process and timelines. Privacy professionals from a diverse industry set participated in the session and included many MNEs with a strong presence in India. Ashish shared insights from his extensive discussions with the industry and the government in recent months. |
| The Summit was held in Washington DC during April 23-24. The reference presentation used at the session is available here. |
| AI | Economic Times Digital Transformation Dialogues |
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| Speaking at the third edition of the event, Ashish Aggarwal underscored the need for AI developers and deployers to ensure compliance with existing laws that protect users from harms and focus on empowering users. He suggested the need for identifying areas or use cases where existing laws or enforcement mechanisms may be insufficient. He highlighted the steps taken by Nasscom, along with the industry to operationalise Responsible AI principles. Nasscom’s Developer’s Playbook for Responsible AI in India is available here and Nasscom’s Responsible AI Resource Kit is available here. |
| Nasscom’s Developer’s Playbook for Responsible AI in India is available here and Nasscom’s Responsible AI Resource Kit is available here. |
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| Shri Ram Conquonomics 2025 | Nasscom forged knowledge partnership with Sri Ram College of Commerce |
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| We collaborated with the Sri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, one of the leading educational institutions in India, as its knowledge partner for the annual event Shri Ram Conquonomics 2025. Nasscom curated cases studies on AI and economic growth: Exploring opportunities and challenges and the Interplay between Copyright framework and AI. Further, as member of the jury, we were invited to select innovative and impactful policy proposals from eleven teams from colleges across India who made their case based on a hypothetical situation involving international relations in the Indo-Pacific region. (Read more). |
| CeRAI, IIT Madras | Roundtable on launch of discussion paper on AI self-regulation in India |
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| The Centre for Responsible AI (CERAI), IIT Madras held a roundtable dialogue in Delhi to launch a discussion paper 'Making Self-Regulations Work – Perspectives from India on Voluntary AI Risk Mitigation’. Ankit Bose and Sudipto Banerjee from Nasscom participated in the discussion and elaborated upon various industry-nasscom led initiatives with a focus on self-regulation. Further, there was discussion on adoption of voluntary commitments in the field of AI. The need to develop a clear understanding of the scope of applicability of such voluntary commitments and outcome were highlighted as essential factors for its successful adoption by the industry. |
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| AI |
Artificial Intelligence |
| BIRAC |
Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council |
| BIS |
Bureau of Indian Standards |
| CBDT |
Board of Direct Taxes |
| CEA |
Central Electricity Authority |
| CERAI |
Center for Responsible AI |
| CGPDTM |
Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks |
| CLS |
Cable Landing Station |
| COSS |
Code on Social Security |
| CSPs |
Cloud Service Providers |
| DC |
Data Centre |
| DPDP |
Digital Personal Data Protection |
| DPIIT |
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade |
| DGFT |
Directorate General of Foreign Trade |
| DoR |
Department of Revenue |
| DST |
Department of Science and Technology |
| EDPMS |
Export Data Processing and Monitoring System |
| EODB |
Ease of Doing Business |
| GCC |
Global Capability Centre |
| GST |
Goods and Services Tax |
| IAPP |
International Association of Privacy Professionals |
| ICP |
Internal Compliance Program |
| ICT |
Information and Communication Technology |
| IoT |
Internet of Things |
| IP |
Intellectual Property |
| IT |
Information Technology |
| ITE&C |
Information Technology, Electronics & Communications |
| MEITY |
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology |
| MoP |
Ministry of Power |
| NBC |
National Building Code |
| NIC |
National Informatics Center |
| OEM |
Original Equipment Manufacturer |
| PE |
Permanent Establishment |
| PSA |
Principal Scientific Adviser |
| RBI |
Reserve Bank of India |
| SCOMET |
Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment, and Technologies |
| SERI |
Sustainability Electronics and Recycling Initiative |
| SIG |
Special Interest Group |
| TDM |
Text and Data Mining |
| VC |
Venture Capitalist |
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| www.nasscom.in |
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