How to Check Whether Journalism Falls Within Any Exemption in the DPDP Act
The question whether the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 spares journalism is answered by reading one section and finding out what is not in it. An exemption in the DPDP Act has to be located in a limb of section 17, the limbs are a closed list, and the method for answering any exemption question is the same: find the limb, or conclude there is none.
Step 1: Fix the Commencement Position
Section 17 comes into force eighteen months after publication of commencement notification G.S.R. 843(E) dated November 13, 2025, which falls in May 2027, as do the obligations and rights it operates on.
That makes the exercise a planning one rather than a live one, which is the best time to do it. An organisation that has already worked out which limb it relies on, if any, is not discovering the answer under pressure.
Step 2: Understand That Section 17 Has Two Different Kinds of Exemption
Sub-section (1) is a partial disapplication. Where one of its purposes is engaged, Chapter II does not apply except for sub-sections (1) and (5) of section 8, Chapter III does not apply, and section 16 does not apply.
Sub-section (2) is a complete disapplication: in the two cases it covers, the Act does not apply at all. The difference is not cosmetic. A sub-section (1) exemption leaves two sub-sections of section 8 standing, so the responsibility they impose survives the exemption.
Step 3: Read the Six Purposes in Sub-section (1)
The purposes are lettered (a) to (f). Clause (a) is processing necessary for enforcing a legal right or claim. Clause (b) is processing by a court, tribunal or other body entrusted by law with judicial, quasi-judicial, regulatory or supervisory functions, where necessary for that function. Clause (c) is processing in the interest of preventing, detecting, investigating or prosecuting an offence or contravention of law.
Clause (d) is processing of the personal data of Data Principals not within India under a contract with a person outside India. Clause (e) is processing for an approved scheme of compromise, arrangement, merger, amalgamation, reconstruction, demerger or transfer of undertaking. Clause (f) is processing to ascertain the financial information and the assets and liabilities of a person who has defaulted on a loan or advance from a financial institution.
Step 4: Read the Two Cases in Sub-section (2)
Clause (a) of sub-section (2) covers processing by an instrumentality of the State notified by the Central Government on grounds including the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States and the maintenance of public order, together with the Central Government's processing of data so provided.
Clause (b) covers processing necessary for research, archiving or statistical purposes where the personal data is not to be used to take any decision specific to a Data Principal and the processing is in accordance with prescribed standards. That is the comparison a publisher will notice, and it is a comparison and not an exemption.
Step 5: Note What the Section Does Not Contain
No clause and no sub-section of section 17 mentions journalism, the press, news or the media. There is no limb addressed to reporting, to editorial activity, to the dissemination of information or to the public interest in publication.
That is a statement about the text and it is the beginning of the analysis rather than the end of it. What follows from it is methodological: an exemption has to be located in a limb, and an argument that processing serves the public interest is not an argument that any limb applies.
Step 6: Test the Nearest Limbs Honestly
Clause (a) is the limb most often reached for, and the question it poses is whether the processing is necessary for enforcing a legal right or claim. Publication is not ordinarily the enforcement of a right or claim, so the limb will usually be a poor fit for the act of reporting, whatever its value.
Clause (c) is the other candidate, and the question there is whether a publisher's processing is in the interest of preventing, detecting, investigating or prosecuting an offence or contravention. The clause is not expressed to be confined to any class of person, so the question is open on the text, and an adviser should say that it is open rather than that it is answered either way.
Step 7: Remember the Notification Powers in Sub-sections (3) and (5)
Sub-section (3) permits the Central Government to notify Data Fiduciaries or classes of them, including startups, having regard to the volume and nature of personal data processed, so that specified provisions do not apply. Sub-section (5) permits the Central Government, within five years of the commencement of the Act, to disapply any provision to specified Data Fiduciaries or classes for a specified period.
Those are the routes by which a class exemption could be created without amending the Act, and sub-section (5) is wide enough in terms to reach any provision. Anyone advising on this subject should know that the absence of a limb in sub-section (1) is not the end of the question of whether a class may come to be exempt.
Step 8: Write the Analysis Down the Same Way Each Time
Record which limb was considered, why it was accepted or rejected, and on what facts, and record separately that the surviving parts of section 8 continue to apply where a sub-section (1) limb is relied on.
A file that shows the limbs were worked through in order is defensible even if the conclusion is later disputed. A file that asserts an exemption without naming a limb is not defensible at all, because the section does not work that way.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Treating the exemptions as a standard rather than a list: Sub-section (1) operates on six stated purposes and sub-section (2) on two stated cases.
Confusing the two kinds of exemption: Sub-section (1) is a partial disapplication and sub-section (2) is a complete one.
Forgetting what survives a sub-section (1) exemption: Sub-sections (1) and (5) of section 8 continue to apply.
Asserting a public interest exemption: No limb of the section is addressed to journalism, the press, news or the media.
Stretching the legal right or claim limb: It asks whether the processing is necessary for enforcing a legal right or claim.
Answering the offence limb too confidently: Clause (c) is not expressed to be confined to any class of person, so the question is open on the text.
Overlooking the notification powers: Sub-sections (3) and (5) permit classes to be exempted without amending the Act.
Recording a conclusion without a limb: The section operates limb by limb, so an analysis that names none is not an analysis.
Key Statutory Provisions
Section 17 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023: Exemptions. Sub-section (1) disapplies Chapter II other than sub-sections (1) and (5) of section 8, Chapter III and section 16, for six purposes lettered (a) to (f). Sub-section (2) disapplies the Act for notified State instrumentalities on stated grounds and for research, archiving or statistical purposes on stated conditions. Sub-section (3) permits notified Data Fiduciaries including startups to be exempted from specified provisions, sub-section (4) disapplies specified provisions to the State, and sub-section (5) permits any provision to be disapplied to specified Data Fiduciaries for a specified period within five years of commencement.
Section 8 of the Act: General obligations of a Data Fiduciary. Sub-sections (1) and (5) are the two that survive a sub-section (1) exemption under section 17.
Section 16 of the Act: Processing of personal data outside India, which is among the provisions disapplied by sub-section (1) of section 17.
Commencement notification G.S.R. 843(E) dated November 13, 2025: Places section 17, with Chapter II, Chapter III and section 16, in the group commencing eighteen months after publication.
Sources and References
Section 17 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, bare text
Section 17, independent printing with the complete clause list
Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Act No. 22 of 2023, Chapter IV
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified legal professional for advice specific to their circumstances.
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