The Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) 2025 has brought a significant milestone in the digital privacy landscape of India, playing a key role in the establishment of a comprehensive legal framework for processing digital personal data. At the core of the act lies consent as the primary basis for processing personal data, which requires organisations referred to as data fiduciaries to obtain valid consent from individuals, also called data principals. This is to be practised before collecting any information except in clearly defined exceptional situations. This method helps the Act to uphold its commitment towards individual autonomy and its control over personal data.
As per Section 6 of the DPDP Act, a consent is considered valid consent under DPDP when it’s free, informed, specific, unambiguous, and unconditional, which should be demonstrated through clear affirmative action by the data principal. This also implies that consent cannot be coerced, implied through pre-ticked boxes, or bundled. It must be an explicit consent under DPDP and deliberate agreement of the data principal to the processing of personal data for the specified purposes. This definition of consent under the DPDP Act aligns closely with the international standards, which ensure that individuals are completely aware of what they are consenting to and should exercise meaningful control over their personal data.
Key Requirements for Valid Consent Under DPDP
As per the DPDP Act, consent acts as the cornerstone for the lawful processing of data. Data Fiduciaries must seek consent before processing any personal data, with valid consent under DPDP that must be “specific, free, unambiguous, unconditional and informed” as per section 6. The DPDP Act also places a lot of power into the data principals with control over their personal information even after the consent is given. Data Fiduciaries are advised to implement easy mechanisms for withdrawing consent. This process should be as easy and simple as it was while taking the consent.
Along with these provisions lie the comprehensive notice obligations that require the data fiduciaries to clearly inform the data principals about their data processing activities. These notices should detail the categories in which the personal data is being collected, the specific reason behind its collection, methods to exercise rights under the DPDP Act, and grievance redressal mechanisms. The draft rules also specify that these actions must be independently presented of other information in plain and clear language available in English or other 22 languages specified in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. One of the major focuses of consent under the DPDP Act is on consent management and consent managers.
Also Read: The DPDP Compliance Checklist (2025): Step-by-Step Guide for Indian Businesses
What is a Consent Manager
The DPDP Act has introduced the concept of a consent manager to enhance data privacy and individual control. This entity acts as the bridge between fiduciaries managing the data and individuals, thereby enabling transparent and secure consent management
According to the DEPA framework by NITI Aayog 2020, consent managers empower users to securely share data with third-party vendors via a traceable, granular, and revocable consent mechanism with the help of standardised APIs. This also replaces the outdated methods of screen scraping and notarisation. These managers have been officially registered with the Data Protection Board (DPB), allowing an interoperable platform for managing, withdrawing, and giving consent.
This concept originated from the 2017 SriKrishna Committee Report, which was instrumental in envisioning consent managers as trusted intermediaries offering users a clear interface to control the data sharing preferences.
Mr. Ashok Hariharan, CEO of IDfy, also played an important role while this report was being created, which led to the development of India’s first full-stack privacy governance and consent management platform, Privy by IDfy.
Also Read: Top 5 Consent Management Platforms in India 2025
Best Consent Management Practices
Here’s a list of the best consent management practices that every consent manager should follow :
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Granular Consent Options: Allowing individuals to choose consent for various data types being processed separately, offering greater control and transparency.
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Clear and Simple Consent Notices: Easy-to-understand language in consent forms and privacy notices, avoiding legal jargon, such that users can make informed decisions.
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Periodic Consent Reviews: Regular assessments of the existing consents, whetherthey are still valid, and update them basis the changes in data practices and other legal requirements.
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Easy Consent Revocation: Withdrawing consent should be as easy as providing one. Users should be able to easily manage their preferences.
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Comprehensive Record Keeping: Maintaining detailed logs of the purpose behind consent collection, the reason, and how the consent was collected or withdrawn to support compliance.
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Adoption of Consent Management Platforms (CMPs): Implementation of CMPs to standardise and automate consent collection across various touch points.
Also Read: Cookie Consent Management & DPDP Rules: A Complete Guide for Indian Businesses
Impact of Non-compliance
The consequences of not complying with the DPDP Act are severe, and they can cost a hefty amount to the Indian enterprises of up to 250cr. It imposes a substantial financial consequence upon the violation and breach, especially when it involves mishandling personal data by the consent managers. These fines have been designed such that compliance can be reinforced and the data rights of the individual can be safeguarded.
The high penalty threshold from the government has been put to enforce strong data protection standards across all sectors. Multiple factors are evaluated before the penalties are determined, some of them include whether it was deliberate or accidental, efforts nd response by the organisation, duration of the breach and its severity, history of prior offences, and the level of cooperation with authorities.
The non-compliant authorities may also suffer a reputational harm that undermines the trust and long-term viability of the customer. These risks highlight the necessity for sound data governance and proactive DPDP compliance.
Also Read: Penalties Under DPDP: Fines, Breach Scenarios, and How to Reduce
Role of Data Fiduciaries & Significant Data Fiduciaries in Consent Management
Data fiduciaries play a critical role in the responsible and lawful management of personal data. They are accountable for ensuring that the consent obtained is through clear and legally compliant notices wherein individuals are also appropriately informed about the purpose for which their data is being used. This requires the development of a robust consent mechanism, which often involves structured formats such as consent artefacts- standardising the way in which information is presented to the users, ensuring consistency across platforms. Large datasets can be facilitated via automation.
Also Read: Top DPDP Platforms & Privacy Automation Tools in India (2025 Comparison)
Another important aspect of this is to honour the efficient and swift consent withdrawal. Data Fiduciaries should also ensure that consent revocation is as easy as it was given. They should also notify associated processors to cease data processing and remove the relevant data. They are also required to maintain verifiable logs of consent for potential legal scrutiny and audit purposes. This also includes synchronising consent statuses across systems, tracking, and ensuring real-time compliance. Through these steps, data fiduciaries act as both enablers and guardians of data rights.
This is exactly what Privy by IDfy helps data fiduciaries to achieve. Privy is a purpose-built privacy, consent, and data governance suite designed to help enterprises navigate the complexities of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA). It was also selected as one of the top consent management by MeitY.
Unlike global CMPs, Privy offers deep alignment with India’s regulatory landscape, end-to-end consent lifecycle automation, sectoral rule configuration, and multilingual support across 22 Indian languages. Its Consent Governance Platform (CGP) lets organizations design granular, compliant consent notices, automate RoPA, manage data processors, and maintain tamper-proof consent artifacts through its consent shield, complete with SHA-256 hashing, versioning, and digital signatures.
Conclusion
The DPDP Act 2025 has brought in a significant, transformative shift in India’s approach to data governance and placing individual consent at the heart of processing personal data. The act’s emphasis on transparency, user-empowerment, and clarity shows its resolve to build a rights-based data protection framework, which also aligns with international norms, also reflecting India's specific socio-technical and regulatory context. An introduction to the consent managers, robot withdrawal, and notice generation mechanism, and the clearly defined roles of Data Fiduciaries highlight a systematic approach to safeguarding user autonomy in the digital era.
At Privy by IDfy, with privacy and data rights at its core, these are the exact challenges being resolved, making compliance easy for Indian enterprises. Get in touch with us at shivani@idfy.com to take control over your data with India’s most trusted DPDP compliance platform. We will keep you updated on the latest developments regarding the DPDP rules and how they will impact your business. Stay glued to this space for more information on data, privacy, compliance, and all things DPDP.