DPDP for the DPO / Privacy lead in Manufacturing

Your company decides why contract workers' data is collected at your plant: gate access, attendance, safety and the records the Labour Codes ask for. So for that data you are responsible, even when a manpower agency or contractor collects it. Agencies need a contract with data terms. Collect only what the gate and the law need, and delete biometric templates and photos when a worker leaves.

Section 7 covers purposes of employment and duties under law. Section 8(1) keeps you responsible for processors. Section 8(7) asks for erasure when the purpose is over. Section 7 · Section 8(1)–(2) · Section 8(5) · Rule 6 · Section 8(7) · Rule 8 · Section 5 · Rule 3

1. List what is collected for each contract worker: ID, photo, biometric, bank details, medical fitness.
2. Remove what the gate and the Labour Codes do not need.
3. Give a short notice in the worker's language at enrolment.
4. Add a data schedule to every agency and contractor contract.
5. Delete templates and photos at exit; keep only the registers the law requires.

• Enrolment field list with reasons
• Notice in local languages
• Signed agency data schedules
• Exit deletion log

• Agencies keeping their own copies of Aadhaar cards
• Templates of workers who left years ago
• Worker lists shared with contractors on chat groups

Under the OSH Code, workers in hazardous processes have pre-employment, periodic and post-exposure medical examinations, and their health records are mandatory and accessible to the worker and to inspectors. Keep these records with the medical centre or occupational health team. HR and supervisors need only the fitness decision. Keep the records for the period the Code and state rules prescribe, then destroy them with a log.

Section 7 covers duties under law and purposes of employment, so examinations need no consent. Section 8(5) needs strong safeguards. Section 11 lets the worker ask for a summary. Section 7 · Section 8(5) · Rule 6 · Section 8(7) · Rule 8 · Sections 11–14 · Rule 14 · Section 8(1)–(2)

1. List where health records sit: medical centre, outsourced clinic, HR files, contractor files.
2. Move all results to the medical team; give HR a fit, unfit or restricted note.
3. Restrict access by name and log every opening.
4. Give workers a simple way to see their own record.
5. Set retention from the Code and state rules and destroy on schedule.

• Record location list
• Access list and logs
• Fitness note format
• Retention schedule and destruction log

• Blood and lung test results in HR personal files
• Outsourced clinic keeping records with no contract
• Contract workers' results held only by the agency

Subsidised fertiliser is sold through PoS devices at retailers, with Aadhaar-based farmer authentication on iFMS, a government platform built by NIC for the Department of Fertilizers. The scheme decides why farmer identity is collected in that flow. Your company sees sales data from it and supplies the retailers. Treat any farmer-level data you see as personal data, use it only for supply and subsidy work, and never for marketing. For your own farmer meetings, soil testing and agronomy apps, you are the Data Fiduciary with full duties. Get a written legal view on your role.

Section 4 needs a lawful basis for each use. Section 6 needs consent for your own programmes. Section 8(1) and 8(5) apply to any data your staff, dealers or vendors handle for you. Section 4 · Section 6 · Section 8(1)–(2) · Section 8(5) · Rule 6 · Section 5 · Rule 3

1. Write down which farmer data you see from the scheme, and which you collect yourself.
2. Limit company dashboards and exports to what supply and subsidy work needs.
3. Remind dealers and retailers not to keep Aadhaar copies or note numbers in registers.
4. Give a notice and ask consent in your own farmer apps and meetings.
5. Keep scheme data and marketing data apart in your systems.

• Written role view
• Dashboard access list
• Dealer circular
• Farmer app notice and consent records

• Using scheme purchase data to target offers
• Retailers keeping Aadhaar photocopies
• Farmer meeting registers kept for ever

A notice must tell people, in plain words, what data you collect, why, how they can withdraw consent, how they can use their rights and how they can complain to the Data Protection Board. It has to stand on its own, separate from long terms and conditions, and be shown at the point where data is collected.

Gate pass forms, contract worker enrolment, the medical centre, dealer and mason app sign-ups and warranty cards each need a short notice, in the language people use.

Section 5 and Rule 3 ask for a notice that can be understood on its own, with an itemised list of the data and the purpose for each item. Data you already hold from before the Act also needs a notice, as soon as reasonably practicable. Section 5 · Rule 3 · Section 6 · Sections 11–14 · Rule 14

1. List every point where personal data comes in: forms, apps, counters, calls, emails, partner feeds.
2. Write one short notice per collection point, with the data items and purpose side by side.
3. Add how to withdraw consent, how to make a request and the DPO or contact person's details.
4. Offer the notice in English and in the languages your workers and customers actually use.
5. Keep each version with the date it went live.

• Screenshots or copies of the notice at each collection point, with dates
• Notice version history
• Translations, where used

• Hiding the notice inside terms and conditions
• One notice for everything, with no link between data items and purposes
• Forgetting old data collected before the Act

For every use of personal data you need one basis: consent, or one of the legitimate uses in Section 7, such as a legal duty, employment, a medical emergency, or data a person gave voluntarily for a specific purpose. Anything beyond what the person expects, such as marketing, profiling or sharing with partners, usually needs consent.

Attendance, wages and OSH Code medical examinations rest on employment and legal duty. Loyalty schemes, contests and connected-vehicle sharing need consent.

Section 4 allows processing only with consent or for a legitimate use. Section 6 sets what valid consent looks like. Section 7 lists the uses that need no consent. Section 4 · Section 6 · Section 7

1. List each purpose for which you use personal data.
2. Against each purpose, write the basis: consent or the exact clause of Section 7.
3. Where the basis is consent, check that it was asked separately, with a clear action and no pre-ticked box.
4. Stop or re-paper any purpose with no basis.
5. Review the list whenever a new product, campaign or system starts.

• Purpose and basis register
• Consent records with date, version and channel
• Legal sign-off on each legitimate use relied on

• Treating account terms as consent for marketing
• Bundling several purposes in one tick-box
• Relying on 'legitimate interest', which the Indian Act does not have

Send a summary of the personal data you hold about them and what you do with it, and the names of the other organisations you shared it with and what was shared. Check the person's identity first, log the request and keep a copy of your reply.

A contract worker's summary should include what the agency and the medical centre hold for you.

Section 11 gives the right to a summary and the list of organisations it was shared with. Rule 14 asks you to publish how requests are made and to answer within the period you publish. Sections 11–14 · Rule 14 · Section 8(9)–(10) · Rules 9, 14

1. Log the request in one register the day it arrives.
2. Verify identity using details you already hold.
3. Search every system, including vendors' copies.
4. Write a plain summary: what data, why it is used, who received it.
5. Send it, and file the request, search notes and reply.

• Request register
• Search notes for each request
• Copy of each reply with date

• Sending raw database dumps
• Forgetting data held by vendors
• No identity check before sending

Publish one clear way to complain, log every complaint, give it an owner and reply within the period you publish, never more than 90 days. People can go to the Data Protection Board only after using your process, so a good process keeps most matters with you.

Workers raise data concerns through supervisors and unions. Log them in the same register, within the 90-day limit.

Section 8(10) requires a working grievance process. Rule 14(3) caps the reply time at 90 days. Section 13 says people must use your process before approaching the Board. Section 8(9)–(10) · Rules 9, 14 · Sections 11–14 · Rule 14 · Sections 18–26

1. Publish one contact for privacy complaints on your website, app and notices.
2. Log each complaint with the date, channel and a named owner.
3. Acknowledge within a few days, and set an internal target well under 90 days.
4. Find and fix the cause, not just the single case.
5. Reply in writing and close the entry with the date.

• Complaint register with dates
• Replies sent
• Monthly summary to management

• Mixing privacy complaints into general complaints with no tag
• No owner, so nobody counts the days
• Closing a complaint without fixing the cause

Keep data for as long as its purpose needs, or as long as a law requires, and then erase it. Every organisation must keep personal data and logs for at least one year under Rule 8(3). Write a retention schedule by record type, with the law or reason against each period.

Set periods from the Labour Codes, the chemical rules and the fertiliser order, record type by record type.

Section 8(7) asks for erasure when the purpose is over, unless a law requires retention. Rule 8(3) sets a one-year minimum for personal data, traffic data and logs. Section 8(7) · Rule 8 · Section 8(5) · Rule 6

1. List the record types you hold.
2. Write the period for each, with the law, regulator rule or business reason.
3. Set a trigger for the period to start: end of relationship, date of transaction, exit date.
4. Automate deletion where you can; for paper, schedule shredding.
5. Keep a deletion log.

• Retention schedule approved by Legal
• Deletion log
• Shredding or disposal certificates

• 'Keep everything forever' because storage is cheap
• Deleting before the legal minimum
• Forgetting email, shared drives and backups

Anyone under 18 is a child under the Act. For a child's data you need verifiable consent from a parent or lawful guardian, and you must not track, behaviourally monitor or show targeted ads to children. Some classes and purposes are exempt under Rule 12 and the Fourth Schedule, for example healthcare to the extent needed to protect the child's health, and educational institutions for their educational work.

Product contests and school promotions may reach children. Parent consent and no targeted ads apply.

Section 9 sets the duties. Rule 10 explains how to verify the parent. Rule 12 and the Fourth Schedule list the exemptions. Section 9 · Rules 10, 12 · Section 6

1. Find where children's data enters: customers, dependants, interns, visitors, scholarships, app sign-ups.
2. Decide whether an exemption in the Fourth Schedule applies to that purpose.
3. Where none applies, add an age question and a parent-consent step.
4. Switch off tracking and targeted ads for under-18 users.
5. Record the decision for each channel.

• Channel-by-channel note on children's data
• Parent-consent records
• Ad and tracking settings

• Assuming 'we are B2B, so no children'
• Using the age 13 or 16 from foreign laws
• Treating a tick-box from the child as parental consent

Contain it, then tell people. A reportable cyber incident goes to CERT-In within six hours of being noticed. Under DPDP, each affected person and the Data Protection Board must be told without delay, and the Board needs a detailed report within 72 hours. Sector regulators may have their own clock too.

A stolen gate server or a lost medical register is a breach. CERT-In's six hours and the DPDP steps may both apply.

Section 8(6) and Rule 7 set the DPDP steps. The CERT-In Directions of 28 April 2022 set the six-hour report. A breach includes accidental disclosure and loss of access, not only hacking. Section 8(6) · Rule 7 · Section 8(5) · Rule 6

1. Name one incident lead and a back-up, with phone numbers that work at night.
2. Write the first-hour steps: isolate, preserve logs, tell the DPO and the incident lead.
3. Keep ready-made drafts for CERT-In, the regulator, the Board and affected people.
4. Decide in advance who signs off each message.
5. Rehearse once a year with the people who would actually be called.

• Incident plan with clocks
• Rehearsal record
• Incident log with times of each step

• Waiting to finish the investigation before telling anyone
• Treating a wrong email or a lost laptop as 'not a breach'
• Only IT knowing the plan