Union Budget: IT ministry allocates ₹5 crore for Data Protection Board in FY26

The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has increased budgetary allocation for Data Protection Board of India (DPBI) by 2.5 times to ₹5 crore for FY26. Of this, ₹50 lakh have been allocated towards capital expenditure (which includes fixed assets such as the digital portal in this case) and ₹4.5 crore towards revenue expenditure.

The government had allocated ₹2 crore to meet the establishment and salary expenses of the Data Protection Board in FY25. In order to operationalise the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which was notified in the gazette in August 2023, establishing a DPB is crucial. MeitY released draft data protection rules for consultation on January 3, which proposed staggered implementation of the rules with provisions related to the DPB going into effect first.