India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules are forcing the country’s advertising and martech ecosystem to undertake its most far-reaching reconstruction yet. The new consent regime, requiring permissions to be “free, specific, informed, and unambiguous”, has effectively outlawed the behavioural tracking mechanism that fuelled everything from big sale banners to festival-time ads. Penalties can climb to `250 crore for every instance of non-compliance. Companies now have 18 months to rebuild data flows, redesign consent journeys and change their stacks before enforcement begins in full.
While DPDP compliance may seem intimidating at first glance, it presents an opportunity for marketers to build trust with their audience and deliver more personalised, relevant campaigns.
Subarna Mukherjee, founder and global CEO of Shop Culture, says the rules are “fundamentally rewiring the campaign planning ecosystem”. For years, 65-70% of audience targeting in India relied on third-party cookies and probabilistic data. First-party data, she notes, is becoming the fastest-growing asset, with 76% of CMOs in APAC planning to increase investments.
First, the immediate hurdles for brands and marketers.
An overwhelming majority of India’s MSMEs depend on targeted digital advertising on platforms such as Google Search, YouTube and Amazon, while another big chunk says WhatsApp for Business is critical to sales. That dependence now sits on uncertain ground. Karan Taurani, executive vice-president at Elara Capital, warns that one should initially expect some negative impact on e-commerce advertising and the digital adtech ecosystem as seen in the case of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation. The biggest unknown, he argues, is whether apps will be allowed to restrict usage if users reject data permissions, a decision that could “directly impact addressability, programmatic supply, and compliance requirements”.
Compliance itself is an additional cost, at least to begin with. Says Vaishal Dalal, co-founder and director at Excellent Publicity, “Compliance costs have already risen by 10-15% due to mandatory investments in privacy audits, consent management systems, data encryption, audit trails, and revamped data storage processes.”
He adds that privacy reviews are now mandatory for every campaign, making compliance “a board-level priority and a major budget line item.” Compliance spending, Mukherjee adds, has risen 18-25% YoY, and tech overhauls can cost up to `2 crore.
The rules are particularly stringent when minors are involved. Child-focused brands must secure verifiable parental consent before processing any personal data. “Data fiduciaries need to implement technical and organisational measures to verify that the individual claiming to be the parent or a lawful guardian is an identifiable adult,” says Akshaya Suresh, partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors.
No pain, no gain
Experts, however, argue DPDP isn’t just about avoiding penalties — it’s an opportunity to build trust with the audience and differentiate your brand through responsible data practices.
The starting point would be creating a privacy-first culture, crucial for long-term DPDP compliance.
Many brands, warns Paritosh Desai, chief product officer and chief marketing officer at IDfy, lack visibility on “how many players touch their impressions and logs,” leaving them incapable of tracking purpose, transfer or retention obligations. The real test, he says, is “consent traceability… every targeting decision can be linked back to a valid user choice.”
This compliance-heavy reset is reshaping marketing fundamentals. The industry is shifting back to contextual and creative-led strategies as retargeting shrinks. Dalal says brands are renewing focus on storytelling and attention-first formats. ROI expectations, he adds, are stabilising as consented audiences are expected to yield “cleaner signals, higher engagement, and better conversion quality.”
The shift is cultural too. At Mashrise, co-founder Achyuta Nand Chand says DPDP is changing campaign planning in a way that aligns perfectly with what audiences expect today. With intrusive tracking fading, contextual and creative work is outperforming predictable targeting, and “ROI is being redefined by attention, resonance and cultural alignment.”
That said, the burden is uneven. Smaller players face rising acquisition costs and shrinking targeting pools. Dalal expects the regime to “widen the gap between large, well-funded players and smaller brands or agencies,” while Chand cautions that though the gap may widen, “creativity has always been the great equaliser”.