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DPDP for a fMCG and consumer goods

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)

Contests, sampling and retailer loyalty apps bring in consumer and shopkeeper data, often through agencies. Some contests reach children, where parent consent and no targeting apply.

Read it from your own seat in the interactive tool

Whose data you hold

Consumers in contests and promotions, retailers and employees. You work with agencies, distributors and retailer apps.

Where it usually goes wrong

  1. Contest and promotion entries
  2. Retailer app data
  3. Agency-held consumer lists

A worked example in a fmcg and consumer goods

FMCG and consumer goods

A promotion agency keeps contest entries

  1. Week 1A consumer goods company finds its agency still holds two years of contest entries.
  2. Week 2Entries are moved to the company and the agency deletes its copies with a certificate.
  3. Week 3New contests ask parent consent for entrants under 18.
  4. AfterEntries are deleted once prizes are given and claims are settled.

Evidence kept

  • Deletion certificate
  • Form version
  • Retention setting

Agencies run the contest; you own the data.

Read it from your seat

Questions that come up first

Contract workers, gate passes and biometrics: who is responsible for their data?

Short answer: You are, for data used at your plant; agencies act for you under contract

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.

What the law says

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

Steps
  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.
Evidence to keep
  • Enrolment field list with reasons
  • Notice in local languages
  • Signed agency data schedules
  • Exit deletion log
Common mistakes
  • Agencies keeping their own copies of Aadhaar cards
  • Templates of workers who left years ago
  • Worker lists shared with contractors on chat groups

Worker medical records in hazardous processes: who may see them and how long do we keep them?

Short answer: The worker, the medical team and inspectors; others get only the fitness decision

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.

What the law says

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)

Steps
  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.
Evidence to keep
  • Record location list
  • Access list and logs
  • Fitness note format
  • Retention schedule and destruction log
Common mistakes
  • Blood and lung test results in HR personal files
  • Outsourced clinic keeping records with no contract
  • Contract workers' results held only by the agency

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

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.

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 consumers and retailers 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

Someone asks what data we hold about them. What do we send?

Short answer: Yes, a clear summary, inside the published timeline

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.

Example in Manufacturing

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

What the law says

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

Steps
  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.
Evidence to keep
  • Request register
  • Search notes for each request
  • Copy of each reply with date
Common mistakes
  • Sending raw database dumps
  • Forgetting data held by vendors
  • No identity check before sending
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