The new coalition government will not affect the pace of policy making in the technology space, which includes the rules to implement the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, Telecom Act, the Digital India Bill, AI regulations, as well as schemes on components and semiconductors, officials and industry experts said.
The new government will build on the work done till now on various fronts, without deviating from the directions being set on crucial legislations such as DPDP Act implementation and the Digital India Bill.
Ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) secretary S Krishnan on Wednesday said that the ministry will build on the legacy of past successes and outcomes, and also take up new initiatives as planned once the new government is formed.
The same assumes significance as usually it is seen that owing to ideological issues between political parties forming the coalition government, the pace of decision making slows down. However, since key legislations around technology are crucial for public interest and safety at large, the coordination is expected to be smooth, industry experts said.
“Policies on platform governance, DPDP rules, and AI regulations, are inevitable and parties forming the government should not have any issues related to these matters,” said Dhruv Garg, a tech and policy lawyer.
According to Garg, now there will be longer consultation timelines and a lot more discussions especially on legislative matters.
Political analysts said parties such as N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP know the relevance of policies shaping the technology landscape in India. Naidu, in his tenure as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1995 to 2004 and later as well, is known for making Hyderabad a technology hub.
Sagar Vishnoi, an independent political consultant said, “With Naidu being among the first few leaders to understand tech policies, TDP leaders have good hands on tech driven governance and kind of new changes required”.
According to Vishnoi, an alliance government is better as more discussions on issues happen and no party gets complete authority on legislation.
Key agenda of the upcoming government will be to release the rules to implement the DPDP Act after consultations, the telecom Act rules, clarity on AI regulations, and the draft Digital India Bill, besides coming up with a component manufacturing scheme.
“Keeping the politics aside, some of key digital policies like the DPDP rules should be the priority of the new government to establish privacy-first culture in the country. We believe that the process will continue to be consultative and stakeholders will be given opportunities to contribute,” said Kamesh Shekar, senior programme manager, privacy, data governance and AI at The Dialogue.
According to Shekar, the new government should continue with consultative processes like the Digital India dialogues to have discussions on the digital legislations with the stakeholders.
Ashok Chandak, president of India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) said, “over the past five years, Prime Minister Modi’s administration has implemented economic reforms fostering growth, particularly in the semiconductor and electronics sectors. IESA anticipates this trend will continue”.
At a time when the government is expected to come up with a new outlay for the semiconductor incentive scheme, IESA said it will present a blueprint to the new ministry, emphasising incentives and initiatives for these sectors over the next five years.
The goal is to enhance local value addition, reduce import dependence, and position India as a global leader in semiconductor and electronics production, Chandak added.
