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Transformation towards a digital economy: Standing Committee on Finance (2017-18)

A parliamentary committee suggested that the government should come out with a legislation on data privacy at the earliest, as the country moves towards digitalisation of economy. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, also suggested to create a coordinating authority, reporting directly to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), to deal with issues related to information infrastructure. The report titled Transformation Towards A Digital Economy, which was tabled in Parliament, also expressed concern over lack of trained professionals to deal with rising cyber challenges. The report said that India should have a sound consumer privacy and data protection law "lest we become a digital colony with global entities having virtual control over data". The committee said the country "now urgently needs a data minimisation, data privacy and data residency law to ensure security of public and private data". The panel has urged the the government to bring such a data protection legislation before Parliament at the earliest.