InfraVeritas360InfraVeritas360हिन्दीमराठीதமிழ்DPDPiq

DPDP Insights › Manufacturing › Marketing head (CMO)

DPDP for the Marketing head (CMO) in Manufacturing

Reviewed by InfraVeritas360 ResearchFirst published Last reviewed

Sources: DPDP Act, 2023 and DPDP Rules, 2025 (MeitY) · Ministry of Labour and Employment (PIB) · India Code; PRS summary · PIB · Kerala Factories and Boilers Department (copy of the Rules)

Marketing in manufacturing runs dealer, mason and mechanic loyalty schemes, contests, and in fertilisers and dairy, farmer meetings and crop or animal advisory.

Written for: Marketing head (CMO), Manufacturing. Open this seat in the interactive tool

What is different here

Joining a loyalty scheme is a choice, so it rests on consent with a clear notice, and leaving must be as easy as joining. Fertiliser scheme purchase data and dealer KYC are not marketing lists. Farmer meeting registers and agency-held contest entries are personal data that you own, even when an agency runs the event.

The first four things to sort out

  1. Run campaigns only on members and farmers who gave consent.
  2. Never use scheme purchase data or dealer KYC for offers.
  3. Keep farmer meeting registers in one place, with a period to delete.
  4. Check that agencies and loyalty vendors use only your consented lists.

A worked example

Marketing head (CMO)

Farmer meeting registers at a fertiliser company

  1. Week 1Marketing finds registers from farmer meetings, with names, villages and phone numbers, kept by field staff and the event agency.
  2. Week 2The registers are collected into one system. The agency deletes its copies and confirms in writing.
  3. Week 3New meeting forms carry a short notice and a separate choice for advisory messages.
  4. AfterOnly farmers who said yes receive messages, and registers are deleted after a set period.

Evidence kept

  • Register inventory
  • Agency deletion confirmation
  • New meeting form
  • Consent records

The agency runs the meeting; you own the register.

What others in the sector usually do. Many marketing teams start by running a consent drive through the loyalty app and at dealer meets before the main season.

Where it usually goes wrong, by organisation type

Organisation typeHotspots
Chemicals and petrochemicalsWorker health surveillance records; Hazardous goods driver and transporter records; Emergency plan contact lists shared with authorities
FertilisersFarmer Aadhaar authentication at retailer PoS; Farmer lists from meetings and agronomy apps; Dealer and retailer KYC records
Automotive and auto componentsConnected-vehicle location data; Dealer-shared buyer lists; Mechanic loyalty apps
FMCG and consumer goodsContest and promotion entries; Retailer app data; Agency-held consumer lists
Steel, metals and miningTownship and hospital records; Contract labour biometrics; Resettlement records
Cement and building materialsMason loyalty bank details; Driver records; Dealer KYC
Textiles and apparelAuditor access to worker files; Hostel records; Agency-held worker data
Food processing and dairyFarmer payment data; Collection centre registers; Consumer complaint records

10 questions the Marketing head (CMO) asks, answered in full

Dealer, retailer, mason and mechanic loyalty programmes: what do we need?

Short answer: Consent with a clear notice; collect only what rewards need

Loyalty schemes collect names, phone numbers, photos, ID and bank details to pay rewards. Joining is a choice, so this rests on consent with a clear notice. Collect only what rewards and tax rules need, keep bank details in one secure place, and make leaving the scheme easy. The loyalty vendor acts for you. Dealer KYC for appointment is a separate purpose from loyalty.

What the law says

Section 5 needs a notice. Section 6 sets what valid consent is, including easy withdrawal. Section 8(1) covers the loyalty vendor. Section 5 · Rule 3 · Section 6 · Section 8(1)–(2) · Section 8(5) · Rule 6 · Section 8(7) · Rule 8

Steps
  1. List the fields the app and forms collect, and drop what rewards do not need.
  2. Show a short notice at sign-up in the local language.
  3. Keep bank details in the payout system only.
  4. Add a data schedule to the loyalty vendor contract.
  5. Close and delete inactive members' data on a set period.
Evidence to keep
  • Field list with reasons
  • Sign-up notice and consent records
  • Vendor schedule
  • Inactive member deletion log
Common mistakes
  • Bank details in spreadsheets sent by email
  • Field staff enrolling masons without telling them
  • Loyalty data reused for unrelated offers

Farmer Aadhaar authentication at the retailer's PoS: who is responsible for what?

Short answer: The scheme flow is the government's; your own farmer programmes are yours

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.

What the law says

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

Steps
  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.
Evidence to keep
  • Written role view
  • Dashboard access list
  • Dealer circular
  • Farmer app notice and consent records
Common mistakes
  • Using scheme purchase data to target offers
  • Retailers keeping Aadhaar photocopies
  • Farmer meeting registers kept for ever

Can we send offers to past customers and leads?

Short answer: Only with separate consent and an easy way to stop

Marketing needs consent that is separate and specific, unless the person clearly expects it from the relationship. Bought or scraped lead lists are risky because you cannot show consent. Every message should carry an easy way to stop.

From your seat: Marketing head (CMO). Every list needs a consent source you can show.
Example in Manufacturing

Never use fertiliser scheme purchase data or dealer KYC for offers.

What the law says

Section 6 sets the consent standard. Section 5 needs a notice. Section 9 bars targeted advertising at children. Section 6 · Section 5 · Rule 3 · Section 9 · Rules 10, 12

Steps
  1. Separate service messages from marketing messages.
  2. Ask marketing consent separately, with a clear action.
  3. Stop using bought lists unless the seller can show consent for you.
  4. Add an easy stop option to every message.
  5. Respect the telecom preference rules for calls and SMS.
Evidence to keep
  • Marketing consent records
  • Lead source records
  • Stop requests and their handling
Common mistakes
  • Treating account sign-up as marketing consent
  • Agency lists with no consent proof
  • A stop option that does not work

Someone withdraws consent. What has to stop, and how fast?

Short answer: Stop that use quickly, across every system and vendor

Withdrawal must be as easy as giving consent. Once someone withdraws, you and every vendor working for you must stop that use within a reasonable time. What was done before withdrawal stays lawful, and data that a law requires you to keep is kept.

From your seat: Marketing head (CMO). Make stop work across every channel and agency within a day.
Example in Manufacturing

A mason leaves the loyalty scheme in the app. Offers stop, and the vendor closes his account within the set period.

What the law says

Section 6(4) to 6(6) give the right to withdraw at any time, with the same ease, and require processors to stop as well. Section 8(7) then asks for erasure unless a law requires retention. Section 6 · Section 8(7) · Rule 8 · Section 8(1)–(2)

Steps
  1. Give one simple way to withdraw on every channel where consent is taken.
  2. Record the withdrawal against the person and the purpose.
  3. Push the change to every system and vendor that uses that purpose.
  4. Confirm to the person, in writing, what has stopped and what is kept by law.
  5. Check a sample every month to see that the change actually reached every list.
Evidence to keep
  • Withdrawal log with time stamps
  • Proof that downstream systems and vendors updated
  • Confirmation sent to the person
Common mistakes
  • Withdrawal by email only, while consent was one tap in an app
  • Stopping in the main system but not in vendor lists
  • Deleting records a law requires you to keep

Do we process children's data, and what changes if we do?

Short answer: Check every channel; children often appear where you least expect

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.

From your seat: Marketing head (CMO). No targeted ads to under-18s.
Example in Manufacturing

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

What the law says

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

Steps
  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.
Evidence to keep
  • Channel-by-channel note on children's data
  • Parent-consent records
  • Ad and tracking settings
Common mistakes
  • 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

Can we use customer data for analytics and models?

Short answer: Yes, within the purpose or with consent

Yes, where the use fits the purpose people were told, or you have consent for it. Improving the service people signed up for usually fits. Selling insights, profiling for third parties or targeting children does not. Mask or aggregate wherever the question allows, and give analysis copies their own deletion date.

From your seat: Marketing head (CMO). Tracking pixels and ad SDKs collect personal data; check the basis.
What the law says

Section 4 needs a lawful basis for each purpose. Section 6 needs specific consent. Section 9 bars behavioural monitoring of children. Section 8(3) asks for accuracy when data drives decisions. Section 4 · Section 6 · Section 9 · Rules 10, 12 · Section 8(3)

Steps
  1. Write the question and the data needed.
  2. Check the purpose people were told.
  3. Mask or aggregate by default.
  4. Get consent for uses outside the purpose.
  5. Set a deletion date for the copy.
Evidence to keep
  • Purpose checks
  • Data specifications
  • Retention entries
Common mistakes
  • Using all data because it is there
  • Analysis copies with no end date
  • Profiling children

What should our privacy notice say, and where must people see it?

Short answer: Yes, at every point where you collect data

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.

From your seat: Marketing head (CMO). Every landing page and contest form needs a short notice.
Example in Manufacturing

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.

What the law says

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

Steps
  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.
Evidence to keep
  • Screenshots or copies of the notice at each collection point, with dates
  • Notice version history
  • Translations, where used
Common mistakes
  • 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

What must a vendor contract say about personal data?

Short answer: Yes, every vendor that touches personal data

You stay responsible for what your vendors do with personal data. The contract should say what data they get, for what purpose, the security they must keep, how fast they must tell you about an incident, that sub-contractors need your approval, and how data is returned or deleted at the end.

From your seat: Marketing head (CMO). Agencies and ad platforms need data terms.
Example in Manufacturing

Manpower agencies, contractors, canteen and medical centre operators, transporters, loyalty and telematics vendors.

What the law says

Section 8(1) keeps responsibility with you. Section 8(2) allows a processor only under a valid contract. Rule 6 asks for security terms in that contract. Section 8(1)–(2) · Section 8(5) · Rule 6 · Section 8(6) · Rule 7 · Section 8(7) · Rule 8

Steps
  1. List vendors who receive or can see personal data.
  2. Rank them by how much and how sensitive.
  3. Add a data-protection schedule to each contract, starting with the top ten.
  4. Ask for evidence: certificates, test results, deletion confirmations.
  5. Review the top vendors every year.
Evidence to keep
  • Vendor register
  • Signed data-protection schedules
  • Annual review notes
Common mistakes
  • Relying on the vendor's standard terms
  • No incident-notice time
  • No exit and deletion clause

What about call recordings and customer service screens?

Short answer: Yes, with notice, a retention period and masking

Call recordings, chat transcripts and agent screens hold a lot of personal data. Tell callers that calls are recorded and why, keep recordings for a set period, limit who can listen, and mask card numbers and passwords on screen and in recordings.

From your seat: Marketing head (CMO). Telemarketing follows TRAI preference rules as well as DPDP consent.
Example in Manufacturing

Warranty and service lines record calls; tell callers at the start.

What the law says

Section 5 needs notice, Section 8(5) needs safeguards, and Section 8(7) needs erasure after the purpose. Section 5 · Rule 3 · Section 8(5) · Rule 6 · Section 8(7) · Rule 8

Steps
  1. Play a short recording notice at the start of calls.
  2. Set a retention period by call type.
  3. Pause recording when card or other sensitive details are given.
  4. Limit replay rights to quality and complaint teams.
  5. Lock agent screens and stop phones on the floor if data is sensitive.
Evidence to keep
  • Recording notice script
  • Retention settings
  • Replay access list
Common mistakes
  • Recordings kept indefinitely
  • Card numbers in recordings
  • Open replay access for all supervisors

The sections you will use most

Other rules that sit alongside DPDP

RuleWhat it saysWhat it means alongside DPDPSource
Labour Codes (in force from 21 November 2025)The Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 came into force on 21 November 2025. Together they rationalise 29 earlier labour laws.Worker and contract labour records now follow the codes and the rules under them. Set retention for these records against the codes and state rules, not against the old Acts.Ministry of Labour and Employment (PIB)
Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020Subsumes earlier Acts including the Factories Act, 1948 and the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970. Requires a free annual health examination for employees where prescribed, licences for those hiring contract labour, and registers kept in the prescribed form, electronically or otherwise.Gate passes, attendance, contractor registers and medical checks are legal records. DPDP adds access limits, security and deletion when the legal period is over.India Code; PRS summary
OSH Code: workers in hazardous processesPre-employment, periodic and post-exposure medical examinations are mandatory. Health records are mandatory and accessible to employees and inspectors. Hazardous establishments need an on-site emergency plan and six-monthly mock drills.Health records are among the most sensitive data a plant holds. The worker and the inspector may see them; supervisors and the wider HR team should not.PIB
Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989Rule 13: the occupier prepares and keeps up to date an on-site emergency plan, with a mock drill every six months and the report made available to the Authority. Rule 14: the Authority prepares the off-site emergency plan. Rule 15: the occupier informs persons outside the site about the hazard and safety measures.Emergency plans carry names and phone numbers of staff, contractors and authorities. Share them because the law asks, keep them current, and remove people who have left.Kerala Factories and Boilers Department (copy of the Rules)
Chemical Accidents (Emergency Planning, Preparedness and Response) Rules, 1996Set up Central, State, District and Local Crisis Groups. The District Crisis Group reviews occupiers' on-site plans while preparing the district off-site plan. The Local Crisis Group prepares the local emergency plan for the industrial pocket, educates the population likely to be affected and answers public inquiries.Contact lists you give the crisis groups are shared for a legal duty. Send only what the plan needs, through a channel you can show.FAOLEX (text of the Rules)
Direct Benefit Transfer in fertilisers (Department of Fertilizers)Sale of all subsidised fertilisers to farmers and buyers is made through Point of Sale (PoS) devices at retail shops. Beneficiaries are identified through documents such as Aadhaar, Kisan Credit Card or Voter ID. Subsidy is released to fertiliser companies on the basis of actual sales by retailers to beneficiaries.Farmer identity and purchase data move through retailers and a government system. Your company sees part of it. Use what you see only for the scheme and supply work.Department of Fertilizers
Integrated Fertilizer Management System (iFMS)A pan-India digital platform developed by NIC for fertiliser DBT. It includes Aadhaar-based farmer authentication at PoS, captures transactions at manufacturing, import and retail points, and subsidy is released after a sale is recorded at the retailer level.iFMS is the government's system. Company dashboards and exports drawn from it still need access control and logs on your side.National Informatics Centre
Fertiliser (Control) Order, 1985Dealers may sell only under an authorisation letter or certificate of registration (clauses 7 and 8). A retail dealer displays daily stock and prices (clause 4) and issues a cash or credit memo in Form M to the purchaser (clause 5). Records and returns in Form N are kept when the Controller directs (clause 35).Dealer authorisation papers and sale memos are dealer and farmer records. Your dealer KYC files and any farmer details on memos need the same care as other personal data.Government of Odisha (copy of the Order)
CERT-In Directions, 28 April 2022Report specified cyber incidents to CERT-In within six hours of noticing them. Keep logs of ICT systems for a rolling 180 days within India. Sync clocks to NIC or NPL time servers, or servers traceable to them.Applies to plants as well as head office. Keep this clock next to the DPDP breach steps in one plan.CERT-In
Explore our research-built assessment platformsDPDP Insights helps you understand the law. DPDPiq is where an organisation's evidence is assessed. Each platform comes out of the same Foundation Layer research. No AI, API or outside service is used when you use this site. Everything runs from InfraVeritas360's own server.