72% Indians allege personal data leak by govt departments, telcos, banks: Report

Ahead of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, which is likely to be tabled in the Parliament on August 3, a majority of Indians have alleged that their personal data has been compromised by the government, telecommunication service providers and banks.

A new report by online community platform LocalCircles, has found out that 72 per cent citizens believe that one or more of their personal data elements are already in the public domain or in databases that have been compromised.

Among the 8,524 respondents who shared that their personal information has been leaked - about 72 per cent indicated mobile number, 63 per cent indicated email address, 53 per cent indicated Aadhaar number, 50 per cent stated PAN card number, 25 per cent indicated Voter ID number, 22 per cent indicated credit/debit card number, 9 per cent stated annual income/salary, and 19 per cent stated other details, according to the report.

On asking which entities they hold responsible for their data leaks, most shared the view that various arms of the government, telcos and banks are responsible for the leak of their personal data, some of which is in the public domain.

Among the 11,365 citizens who responded, around 81 per cent blamed state/local government offices, databases, Staff (RTO, municipality, hospitals, public distribution system, property registration office, etc).

Nearly 75 per cent mentioned telecom service providers, 69 per cent banks and financial service providers, 56 per cent Central government offices, databases, staff (EPF, Passport, CoWIN, Aarogya Setu, Aadhaar, Income Tax, Vehicle Ownership, Voter ID, etc), 44 per cent e-commerce apps/sites, 31 per cent payment apps/sites, 25 per cent Education institutes/apps, and 25 per cent other businesses/entities.

The principle of the proposed Bill is that usage of personal data by organisations must be done in a manner that is lawful, fair to the individuals concerned. It also seeks to ensure that the data is used essentially for the purpose it was collected.

In July, the DPDP Bill was approved by the Union Cabinet. The bill was released in 2022, after which it has undergone several rounds of consultations. The government has made several changes to the bill based on these consultations.

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