> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.grantex.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# DPDP Act 2023 and DPDP Rules 2025

> How Grantex features map to India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 and the DPDP Rules 2025 for AI agent deployments, what Grantex provides and what remains the Data Fiduciary's responsibility.

## Overview

The **Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023** (Act 22 of 2023, the DPDP
Act) is India's data protection law. It sets duties for **Data Fiduciaries**
(who decide the purpose and means of processing), rights and duties for **Data
Principals** (the individuals the data is about), and a **Data Protection
Board of India** to enforce it. The **Digital Personal Data Protection Rules,
2025** (G.S.R. 846(E), notified 13 November 2025) are the final implementing
rules; the January 2025 text (G.S.R. 02(E)) was a draft.

When an AI agent reads a mailbox, places an order or processes documents for a
person, it processes that person's digital personal data. The organisation
that decides why and how is usually the Data Fiduciary. The agent is software,
not a Data Processor: a Data Processor is a person that processes data on a
fiduciary's behalf (s.2(k)).

<Warning>
  This page maps Grantex features to DPDP provisions. It is not legal advice
  and not a certification. Grantex is a technical control that helps a Data
  Fiduciary evidence some obligations; it is not a registered Consent Manager,
  and it does not notify the Board or Data Principals. Consult qualified
  counsel about your own obligations.
</Warning>

Grantex is owned by Orchestrum Technologies LLP. Inventor and owner:
Sanjeev Kumar. Ownership or IP questions may be sent to
[sanjeev@orchestrum.in](mailto:sanjeev@orchestrum.in) or
[mishra.sanjeev@gmail.com](mailto:mishra.sanjeev@gmail.com).

## When the obligations apply

The Rules bring the Act into force in three stages (Rules r.1). As of
30 September 2026 only the first has started.

| Date | What comes into force |
| - | - |
| **13 November 2025** | The Board and institutional provisions: Act ss.1(2), 2, 18-26, 35, 38-43, 44(1) and 44(3); Rules 1, 2 and 17-21 |
| **13 November 2026** | Registration of Consent Managers: Rule 4 and the First Schedule; Act ss.6(9) and 27(1)(d) |
| **13 May 2027** | The substantive obligations: notice, consent, security, breach intimation, erasure and retention, contact details, children, Significant Data Fiduciaries, Data Principal rights, cross-border transfer and penalties (Act ss.3-17 and 27-34, 36-37; Rules 3, 5-16, 22 and 23) |

A proposal in January 2026 to shorten the transition was not adopted as of
this writing. Check the current position before relying on these dates.

## Territorial scope (s.3)

The Act applies to the processing of digital personal data within India,
whether the data was collected in digital form or collected otherwise and
digitised. It also applies to processing outside India if it is in connection
with offering goods or services to Data Principals within India. It does not
apply to processing by an individual for a personal or domestic purpose, or to
personal data the Data Principal made publicly available, or that another
person made publicly available under a legal obligation. Whether it applies
to your deployment depends on these facts, not on where your servers are.

## Section and rule mapping

"Grantex provides" describes shipped behaviour of the auth service's
`/v1/dpdp` routes and core grants. Everything else is yours.

| Provision | Requirement (summary) | What Grantex provides | What remains your responsibility |
| - | - | - | - |
| **s.4** Grounds | Process only for a lawful purpose, with consent or for a legitimate use (s.7) | Consent records store the purposes agreed; grants bound agent authority by scope and can carry a [purpose](/concepts/purpose-bound-grants) | Choosing the lawful basis and purposes; Grantex does not check that agent actions stay within the consented purposes |
| **s.5 + r.3** Notice | A notice that is understandable on its own: itemised personal data, specific purposes and the goods or services they enable, how to withdraw consent, exercise rights and complain to the Board; English or an Eighth Schedule language | Versioned, per-language [consent notices](/api-reference/dpdp/consent-notice-content) with a content hash, structured r.3 fields and a `validation` block; `DPDP_NOTICE_REQUIRE_RULE3=true` refuses incomplete notices | Writing the notice, showing it before consent, and judging that it is clear and accurate (the validation checks presence only) |
| **s.6(1)** Consent | Free, specific, informed, unconditional, unambiguous, by clear affirmative action, limited to necessary data | Consent records bound to an active grant and the notice version shown | Designing the consent step so that it meets these conditions |
| **s.6(4)** Withdrawal | Withdraw at any time, as easily as consent was given | [`POST .../withdraw`](/api-reference/dpdp/withdraw-consent) with a required reason | The user-facing control that makes withdrawal as easy as consent |
| **s.6(6)** Cease processing | After withdrawal the fiduciary and its processors cease processing within a reasonable time | Optional revocation of the record's grant (`revokeGrant`, or `DPDP_WITHDRAWAL_REVOKES_GRANT=true`; the full grant cascade with `DPDP_REVOCATION_CASCADE=true`), and a `dpdp.data_deletion.requested` webhook | Stopping processing in your systems and your processors' |
| **s.6(10)** Proof of consent | The fiduciary bears the burden of proving notice and consent | A signed consent proof (compact JWS, EdDSA) binding the record, grant, principal, notice version and hash, and purposes; records are retained after withdrawal and erasure | Keeping the key (`ED25519_PRIVATE_KEY`) stable and the database retained |
| **s.7** Legitimate uses | Grounds other than consent, (a) to (i) | Nothing specific | Deciding and documenting any legitimate use |
| **s.8(5) + r.6** Security safeguards | Reasonable safeguards including encryption or masking, access control, logs and monitoring, backups, security terms in processor contracts; keep logs and personal data for **one year** to detect and remediate unauthorised access (r.6(1)(e)) | A hash-chained audit log that Grantex never rewrites or deletes; scoped, revocable grants | Your security programme, processor contracts, and database retention of at least one year |
| **s.8(6) + r.7** Breach intimation | Inform each affected Data Principal and the Board **without delay**; send the Board a detailed report **within 72 hours** of becoming aware (extendable on written request); no risk threshold | A [breach register](/api-reference/dpdp/record-breach) with `boardDetailedReportDueAt`, overdue flags, principal intimation records and deadline webhooks | Sending the intimations and the report; Grantex files nothing. CERT-In reporting (6 hours) is separate |
| **s.8(7), (8) + r.8** Erasure and retention | Erase when consent is withdrawn or the purpose is no longer served, and have processors erase. The three-year inactivity erasure and **48-hour** advance notice (r.8(1)-(2)) apply only to Third Schedule platforms (large e-commerce, online gaming and social media). r.8(3): keep personal data, traffic data and processing logs for **at least one year** from processing | [Erasure](/api-reference/dpdp/request-erasure) revokes grants, marks records erased and reports what is retained and why; with `DPDP_ERASURE_EXPANDED=true` it also redacts grievances and deletes stored exports | Erasing your own and your processors' data; inactivity tracking and the 48-hour notice where they apply |
| **s.8(9) + r.9** Contact details | Publish the contact of a DPO or a person able to answer questions, and include it in every response to a rights request | A `contact` field on notices | Publishing it and including it in responses |
| **s.8(10), s.13 + r.14(3)** Grievance redressal | An effective grievance mechanism; publish a response period of **no more than 90 days**; the principal must use it before approaching the Board | [Grievances](/api-reference/dpdp/file-grievance) with a reference, `responsePeriodDays` (1 to 90), `expectedResolutionBy`, and a `submitted` / `in_review` / `resolved` / `rejected` workflow | Publishing the period, handling and answering grievances within it |
| **s.9 + r.10-12** Children | Under 18; verifiable parental consent; no tracking, behavioural monitoring or targeted advertising directed at children; Fourth Schedule exemptions | Nothing specific | Age and parental consent checks, and restricting agent behaviour for children |
| **s.10 + r.13** Significant Data Fiduciaries | DPO in India, independent data auditor, DPIA and audit every 12 months; localisation only where the Government specifies (r.13(4)) | Exports and the audit log as inputs to an audit | The designation-driven duties |
| **s.11 + r.14** Access | A summary of the personal data and processing, and the fiduciaries and processors it was shared with | [Principal records](/api-reference/dpdp/list-principal-records) and principal-filtered exports of what Grantex holds | Assembling the full summary, including data in your systems |
| **s.12** Correction and erasure | Correct, complete, update and erase on request, unless retention is required by law | Erasure as above | Correction and completion in your systems |
| **s.14** Nominee | Nominate a person to exercise rights on death or incapacity | Nothing specific | Handling nominations |
| **s.16 + r.15** Cross-border transfer | The Government may restrict transfer to countries it notifies (a negative list), and may set requirements by order; not a general localisation or adequacy regime | Self-hosting lets you choose where Grantex data sits (see [Data Residency](/compliance/data-residency)) | Checking transfers against any notified restriction |
| **ss.6(7)-(9) + r.4** Consent Managers | A Board-registered, interoperable platform through which principals give, manage and withdraw consent | Not provided (see below) | Integrating with a registered Consent Manager if you use one |
| **s.33 + Schedule** Penalties | Up to Rs 250 crore (security safeguards), Rs 200 crore (breach intimation; children), Rs 150 crore (SDF duties), Rs 50 crore (other provisions); Rs 10,000 for Data Principal duties | Not applicable | Not enforceable before 13 May 2027 |

## Consent Managers, and why Grantex is not one

A Consent Manager is a person registered with the Board through which Data
Principals give, manage, review and withdraw consent (ss.6(7)-(9)). Under
Rule 4 and the First Schedule, registration opens on 13 November 2026 and
requires, among other things, an Indian company with a net worth of at least
Rs 2 crore, an interoperable platform independently certified, data that the
Consent Manager itself cannot read, a seven-year machine-readable record of
consents, and no sub-contracting of its obligations.

Grantex is not registered as a Consent Manager and is not built as one: it
acts for the developer (the Data Fiduciary), not for the Data Principal, and
it keeps consent records the developer can read. Use it to keep the
fiduciary's own evidence.

## Retention floors and erasure

Two retention floors from 13 May 2027 shape what erasure can remove:

* **r.6(1)(e)**: logs and personal data kept for one year to detect and
  remediate unauthorised access.
* **r.8(3)**: personal data, associated traffic data and processing logs kept
  for at least one year from the date of processing, for the purposes in the
  Seventh Schedule, even after an erasure request.

Grantex's erasure therefore marks consent records `erased` and keeps them, and
never modifies audit entries; its response lists what was retained and why.
Deleting retained rows after the floor passes is your database retention
decision.

## Examples

Record consent against an active grant:

```typescript theme={null}
import { Grantex } from '@grantex/sdk';

const grantex = new Grantex({ apiKey: process.env.GRANTEX_API_KEY });

const record = await grantex.dpdp.createConsentRecord({
  grantId: 'grnt_01HXYZ...',
  dataPrincipalId: 'user_abc123',
  purposes: [{ code: 'order_placement', description: 'Place orders you approve' }],
  consentNoticeId: 'shopping-assistant',
  processingExpiresAt: '2027-12-31T23:59:59Z',
});
```

Produce a DPDP audit export for a period:

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST https://api.grantex.dev/v1/dpdp/exports \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GRANTEX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "type": "dpdp-audit", "dateFrom": "2027-05-13T00:00:00Z", "dateTo": "2027-06-30T23:59:59Z" }'
```

The export's `data` holds `exportType`, `dateRange`, `generatedAt`,
`developerId`, `consentRecords`, `auditLog` (at most 1,000 entries; see
`truncated`) and `grievances`. It is not a format prescribed by the Board.
See [DPDP Compliance](/features/dpdp-compliance) for every feature.

## FAQ

### Do the DPDP obligations apply to us today?

As of 30 September 2026 the notice, consent, security, breach, erasure,
rights and penalty provisions are not yet in force; they apply from
13 May 2027. Building the controls now gives time to test them.

### Does Grantex handle grievances for us?

No. Grantex records grievances, the response period you publish and the due
date, and a review workflow. Receiving, answering and meeting the period is
your process, run by your DPO or designated person.

### Does withdrawal revoke the agent's access immediately?

Only if you ask: pass `revokeGrant: true`, or set
`DPDP_WITHDRAWAL_REVOKES_GRANT=true`. The record's own grant is revoked;
grants delegated from it are revoked too only with
`DPDP_REVOCATION_CASCADE=true`. The revocation is visible to services that
check revocation state.
Processing in your own systems must also stop.

### Is Grantex a Consent Manager?

No. See [above](#consent-managers-and-why-grantex-is-not-one).

### How does this relate to GDPR?

The same records support a GDPR Art. 15 access export (`gdpr-article-15` with
`dataPrincipalId`). GDPR has its own rules, for example a one-month response
time for access requests (Art. 12(3)) and breach notification to the
supervisory authority within 72 hours unless the breach is unlikely to result
in a risk (Art. 33).

### What are the penalties?

The Schedule to the Act sets maximum penalties per breach of a duty, up to
Rs 250 crore for failing to take reasonable security safeguards. They are not
a percentage of turnover, and they cannot be imposed for conduct before the
relevant provisions commence.

## Sources

* [Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023](https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2024/06/2bf1f0e9f04e6fb4f8fef35e82c42aa5.pdf)
* [Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 (G.S.R. 846(E))](https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/11/53450e6e5dc0bfa85ebd78686cadad39.pdf)

## Related Resources

* [DPDP Compliance Module](/features/dpdp-compliance) — what each feature does
* [EU AI Act](/compliance/eu-ai-act) — EU AI Act mapping
* [Compliance Evidence Pack API](/api-reference/compliance/generate-compliance-evidence-pack) — audit-chain evidence
* [Compliance Matrix](/guides/compliance-matrix) — cross-framework mapping
* [Blog: DPDP Act and AI Agents](/blog/dpdp-act-ai-agents)


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