The implementation of the Digital Personal Deata Protection (DPDP) Act will be delivered through privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) such as federated learning, homomorphic encryption, and differential privacy, according to a senior IT Ministry official.
Likening the journey of India’s data protection legislation to purchasing a car, Vikash Chourasia, Scientist D of the Cyber Laws and Data Governance Group, said, “Now we have to drive the car. That’s where we feel that PETs are the core agents for us to deliver the implementation of the DPDP. And that is where we look forward to partnering with institutions and academic groups.”
He also mentioned an upcoming meeting with stakeholders such as IIT Madras’ Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI). Chourasia was speaking on a panel featuring senior government officials and industry representatives that was hosted by Google India in New Delhi on Thursday, November 20.
The AI pre-summit forum organised by the Google Safety Engineering team is one of 800 such events being held in the buildup to the India AI Impact Summit that is scheduled to be held in February 2026. It is set to be the first large-scale AI summit to be hosted in the global South, after previous editions were held in Bletchley Park, Seoul, and Paris.
At Thursday’s event, Google highlighted its multi-pronged approach to harness AI to protect Indian users from online harm. It also announced upgrades to its cybersecurity product portfolio and expansion of key partnerships with entities such as CeRAI and the CyberPeace Foundation.
As part of its efforts to combat online scams in India, Google India announced that it is rolling out a scam detection feature on Pixel phones that uses Gemini Nano’s capabilities to analyse calls in real time and flags potential scams entirely on-device, without recording audio or transcripts or sending data to Google.
“The feature is off by default, applies only to calls from unknown numbers (not saved contacts), plays a beep to notify participants, and can be turned off by the user at any time,” Google said. The tech giant further said that it is piloting a new feature aimed at combating digital arrest scams, which has seen a recent surge in India.
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Android 11+ users will see a prominent alert when they try to share their screens with an unknown contact as part of the feature, Google said. Users have a one-tap option to end the call and stop screen sharing. It has been developed in partnership with fintech players such as Google Play, Navi, and Paytm.
Google also unveiled a new Android-based security protocol called Enhanced Phone Number Verification (ePNV) that replaces SMS OTP flows with a secure, consented, SIM-based check.
Additionally, the company said that Google Pay displays over one million warnings every week for fraudulent transactions. Google Play Protect has also successfully blocked over 115 million attempts to install sideloaded apps that use sensitive permissions that are frequently abused for financial fraud in India.
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