The government will implement the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act from October 1, and the long-awaited Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) rules will be notified within the next 10 days, Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday. Speaking at a pre-event conference for the upcoming AI Impact Summit 2026, the minister said both measures followed extensive stakeholder consultations and were now in their final stages.
The Online Gaming Act, passed by Parliament last month and now notified as law, prohibits all forms of online money games while encouraging e-sports and social gaming. Vaishnaw said the government has been in continuous discussions with the industry for nearly three years, including multiple rounds even after the law was passed, to fine-tune its implementation. Banks and other stakeholders were also roped in to resolve issues such as the handling of funds left in user accounts.
What did Ashwini Vaishnaw say?
“We have finalised the rules, but we will hold one more round of discussions with the industry. If more time is needed, we will consider it, since our approach has always been consultative,” Vaishnaw said. Despite this flexibility, he underlined that the government is targeting October 1 as the start date for enforcement.
On the DPDP rules, Vaishnaw said that the framework is complete and ready for release. “The rules are ready, about to be published in a few days from now,” he said, indicating they will be notified by September 28. The regulations are expected to bring clarity on consent, data storage and user rights, completing the operational framework of the DPDP Act that was cleared earlier.
Vaishnaw on the next wave of economic reforms
Separately, at the Public Affairs Forum of India’s annual event, Vaishnaw stressed the need to maintain focus on growth and self-reliance amid global turbulence. He cited recent initiatives in semiconductors and 5G as evidence of India’s drive to build resilient talent and technology ecosystems, and urged stakeholders to actively contribute ideas for the next wave of economic reforms.