SailPoint Report Reveals Tech-Driven Path to Navigate India’s Strict New Data Protection Law
India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, has introduced a stringent regulatory framework that could cost non-compliant organizations up to ₹250 crore (approximately $30 million USD) per violation. A new eBook from SailPoint Technologies outlines how companies can leverage AI-driven identity security platforms to meet these demanding requirements while avoiding massive financial penalties.
The High Stakes of India’s Data Privacy Revolution
The DPDP Act marks India’s entry into the global movement toward robust data protection, joining regulations such as the EU’s GDPR. According to SailPoint’s report, “Navigating India’s DPDP Act,” the legislation creates comprehensive obligations for any organization—termed “data fiduciaries”—that conducts business in India or processes data belonging to Indian residents.
The report emphasizes that traditional manual compliance approaches are increasingly inadequate. “Manual processes and policy documentation” alone cannot enforce data protection principles at scale, particularly as organizations face growing complexity from machine identities and agentic AI systems accessing sensitive information.
Seven Core Requirements Reshaping Data Governance
SailPoint’s analysis identifies seven fundamental obligations under the DPDP Act. Organizations must ensure lawful, fair, and transparent data processing while providing clear notices to individuals about the purposes of data collection. The “purpose limitation” principle restricts data use strictly to the purposes for which consent was obtained.
Data minimization requires companies to collect only necessary information, challenging legacy practices of broad data gathering. Organizations must also maintain data accuracy, implement robust consent management systems with easy withdrawal mechanisms, and assume full accountability for compliance through appropriate technical safeguards.
Perhaps most critically, the Act mandates breach notification to both the Data Protection Board of India and affected individuals when personal data is compromised.
The AI-Powered Compliance Solution
The report presents identity security platforms as practical solutions to these challenges. For transparent processing requirements, automated data discovery and classification tools help organizations gain visibility into potentially risky data assets scattered across their systems.
Purpose limitation can be addressed through permission analysis and role-based access control, ensuring users access only data aligned with their job functions. To minimize data, AI-driven access certifications enable automated periodic reviews and intelligent recommendations that identify unnecessary or high-risk entitlements.
Consent management becomes manageable through automated provisioning and de-provisioning workflows that respond to consent status changes. When individuals withdraw consent, automated systems create auditable tasks to cease using their personal data for the purpose for which consent was given.
Proactive Risk Detection and Accountability
SailPoint highlights how machine learning enables anomaly detection, identifying unusual behaviors or access patterns that could signal compromised identities—a common source of data breaches. The platform’s forensic analysis capabilities capture fine-grained details on data access for investigators and auditors.
Comprehensive audit trails provide the documentation necessary to demonstrate accountability to regulators, creating unalterable records of access-related events.
The Growing Complexity Challenge
The report warns that the identity landscape is becoming increasingly complex with the proliferation of machine identities and agentic AI. These identities often operate without clear ownership while retaining access to sensitive data, thereby substantially expanding the risk surface.
While SailPoint acknowledges that “no technology alone can guarantee compliance,” the report positions AI-driven identity security as offering critical capabilities to help organizations meet DPDP requirements more effectively and efficiently than traditional approaches.
Source: SailPoint Technologies eBook “Navigating India’s DPDP Act: Practical steps to help meet compliance with SailPoint” (2025)
