Digital Constitutionalism
of India
Navigating the 2025 AI Regulatory Landscape
From Silicon Valley Novelty to Sovereign Priority: India's approach rejects the "regulate-first" rigidity of the EU and the "market-led" laissez-faire of the US. Instead, it has built a fortress of Responsible AI based on three distinct pillars: Statutory Deterrence, Sectoral Supervision, and Philosophical Sutras.
AI Ethics Bill 2025
MeitY Governance Guidelines
Regulatory Framework at a Glance
India's Tripartite Model for AI Governance
Statutory Deterrence: From Soft Law to Hard Law
2025 marks the year "Soft Law" died in India. The AI (Ethics & Accountability) Bill introduces criminal liability for AI misuse, while DPDP Rules operationalize strict consent requirements. IT Rules 2025 mandate synthetic content labeling with 10% display area coverage—this is not voluntary guidance, this is enforceable statutory law.
AI (Ethics & Accountability) Bill, 2025
First time India moves beyond "advisories" into "hard law" with criminal liability for AI misuse
Covers bias, discrimination, deepfakes, algorithmic transparency
Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
Operationalizes strict consent requirements for AI training data with explicit granular consent
Data minimization, purpose limitation, storage limitation
IT Rules 2025: Synthetic Content Labeling
Mandatory deepfake identification under IT Rules 2025 with clear visual markers
All AI-generated content, political deepfakes, commercial use
Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) 2023
Platforms must identify and remove AI-generated misinformation within 72 hours
Social media intermediaries, content platforms, generative AI services
Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2024
Mandatory disclosure of AI-driven personalization, dynamic pricing, and recommendation algorithms
E-commerce platforms, food delivery, fintech lending
Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy
Establishes data fiduciary model for non-personal data with sectoral sandboxes
Public datasets, government data, research data
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Deep-dive into Article-by-Article breakdown of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 and India's AI Ethics Bill 2025
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