Countries / India

India

India has no AI-specific statute; it governs AI through principle-based MeitY guidelines, binding deepfake-labelling duties in the IT Rules, the phased DPDP privacy regime and sector regulators (RBI, SEBI, ICMR).

Sector regulators and guidelinesApproach
10Rules tracked
4Binding and in force
1Upcoming deadlines

Latest developments in India

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In force (8)

  • AI Governance Guidelines
    GuidelineMinistry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), under the IndiaAI MissionNon-binding

    Principle-based national framework built on seven 'sutras' (e.g. trust, people first, innovation over restraint) that relies on existing laws rather than a new AI statute. It recommends new institutions (an AI Governance Group, a Technology & Policy Expert Committee and an AI Safety Institute), voluntary industry measures, techno-legal tools and a national AI incident database.

    In forceEffective 5 Nov 2025
  • IT Rules SGI/deepfake amendment
    RegulationMinistry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)Binding

    Defines 'synthetically generated information' (AI-made or altered audio/visual content that appears real) and requires intermediaries that enable its creation or sharing to prevent unlawful SGI, label it prominently and embed permanent metadata/unique identifiers. Significant social media intermediaries must collect user declarations on whether content is synthetic, verify them technically and label before publication; takedown timelines were cut (3 hours on government/court orders, 2 hours for non-consensual intimate imagery).

    In forceEffective 20 Feb 2026
  • DPDP Act & Rules
    LawParliament of India / Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)Binding

    India's horizontal data protection law, governing how 'data fiduciaries' (including AI developers and deployers) collect and process digital personal data, with consent, notice, security, breach-notification and data-principal rights. The DPDP Rules 2025 (notified 13/14 Nov 2025) operationalise it in phases: Data Protection Board provisions immediately, Consent Managers after 12 months and the main obligations after 18 months.

    Partly in forceEffective 13 Nov 2025
  • RBI FREE-AI Framework
    GuidelineReserve Bank of India (RBI)Non-binding

    RBI committee report setting 7 'sutras' and 26 recommendations under six pillars for AI use by banks, NBFCs and other regulated entities, including board-approved AI policies, AI incident reporting, disclosure to customers and an AI innovation sandbox. It is a framework report, not binding directions.

    In forceAdopted 13 Aug 2025
  • SEBI Reg 16C (AI responsibility)
    RegulationSecurities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)Binding

    Makes every SEBI-regulated person that uses AI/ML tools – whether built in-house or bought from third parties – solely responsible for investor data privacy and security, for the outputs of those tools, and for compliance with applicable law. Parallel amendments apply to stock exchanges/clearing corporations and depositories.

    In forceEffective 10 Feb 2025
  • ICMR AI health ethics guidelines
    GuidelineIndian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)Non-bindingPartly confirmed

    Ethical principles and stakeholder responsibilities for developing, validating, deploying and adopting AI in biomedical research and healthcare in India, including ethics-committee review processes and informed-consent requirements for AI-based research.

    In force
  • IndiaAI Mission
    StrategyUnion Cabinet / Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)Non-binding

    National programme approved by the Union Cabinet with an outlay of ₹10,371.92 crore to build AI compute (subsidised GPU access via public-private partnership), datasets (AIKosh), foundation models, skills and 'Safe & Trusted AI' projects. By Feb 2026 the government reported over 38,000 GPUs onboarded.

    In forceAdopted 7 Mar 2024
  • ANI v OpenAI (interim ruling)
    Court rulingHigh Court of Delhi (Justice Amit Bansal)Binding

    The Delhi High Court refused ANI's application for an interim injunction against OpenAI, holding prima facie that storing ANI's articles to train the LLMs behind ChatGPT falls within the fair-dealing exception in Section 52(1)(a) of the Copyright Act and that ChatGPT's RAG-based outputs were not substantially similar to ANI's works. The findings are expressly prima facie; the substantive questions go to trial.

    In forceEffective 24 Jul 2026

Proposed or in consultation (2)

  • Draft IT Rules Second Amendment
    RegulationMinistry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)Binding

    Draft rules that would make compliance with MeitY clarifications, advisories, directions, SOPs and codes of practice part of intermediaries' due-diligence duties (new Rule 3(4)), tied to safe-harbour. A revised draft of 21 Apr 2026 added a requirement for a continuous, clearly visible label on synthetically generated visual content for its full duration.

    In consultationProposed 30 Mar 2026
  • RBI draft Model Risk Management guidance
    GuidelineReserve Bank of India (RBI)Binding

    Draft RBI guidance covering governance of all models, including AI/ML and generative AI, used by commercial and co-operative banks, NBFCs, all-India financial institutions, ARCs and credit information companies. It builds on the 2024 draft on credit-model risk and the FREE-AI report, addressing explainability, bias, drift, hallucination, human oversight and customer disclosure of AI use.

    In consultationProposed 24 Jun 2026

What the rules require

Obligation types found across India's instruments. Filled dot: imposed by a binding instrument. Ring: guidance only.

Risk classificationAI Governance Guidelines, RBI draft Model Risk Management guidance
Transparency to usersAI Governance Guidelines, IT Rules SGI/deepfake amendment, Draft IT Rules Second Amendment, RBI FREE-AI Framework, RBI draft Model Risk Management guidance, ICMR AI health ethics guidelines
Labelling AI contentIT Rules SGI/deepfake amendment, Draft IT Rules Second Amendment
Impact assessmentICMR AI health ethics guidelines
Human oversightAI Governance Guidelines, RBI FREE-AI Framework, RBI draft Model Risk Management guidance, SEBI Reg 16C (AI responsibility), ICMR AI health ethics guidelines
Incident reportingAI Governance Guidelines, DPDP Act & Rules, RBI FREE-AI Framework
Data governanceDPDP Act & Rules, RBI FREE-AI Framework, RBI draft Model Risk Management guidance, SEBI Reg 16C (AI responsibility), ICMR AI health ethics guidelines
Bias and non-discriminationRBI draft Model Risk Management guidance, ICMR AI health ethics guidelines
Copyright and training dataANI v OpenAI (interim ruling)
Security testingRBI draft Model Risk Management guidance
Regulatory sandboxAI Governance Guidelines, RBI FREE-AI Framework
Government use of AIIndiaAI Mission
Consumer rightsDPDP Act & Rules, RBI FREE-AI Framework
PenaltiesIT Rules SGI/deepfake amendment, Draft IT Rules Second Amendment, DPDP Act & Rules

Timeline