GDPR vs. India's DPDP Act: Key Differences Compliance Officers Must Know

Two Giants of Privacy Regulation

While the European GDPR is the global reference point for privacy, India's DPDP Act takes a simplified, language-focused, and operational approach to data principal rights. Multinational compliance teams cannot assume GDPR compliance equals DPDP compliance.

Key Differences

Feature	GDPR	DPDP Act
Consent Notice	Broad explanation of rights	Itemized notice in scheduled languages
Children's Data	Age limit varies (13-16)	Strict limit of 18; requires parental consent
Cross-Border Transfer	Standard Contractual Clauses	Allowed by default, unless blacklisted by Government

Operational Impact

Privacy officers must update consent managers to support scheduled Indian languages, establish distinct workflows for children's data verification, and ensure local data principal request responses align with DPDP guidelines.