Parliament Question: Government Datasets Shared to Private Technology Platforms

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4206

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 18.03.2026 GOVERNMENT DATASETS SHARED TO PRIVATE TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS

4206. SHRI PUSHPENDRA SAROJ:

SHRI NEERAJ MAURYA:

ADV PRIYA SAROJ:

SHRI DEVESH SHAKYA:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

(a) the number and categories of Government datasets shared or made accessible to private technology platforms during the last five years, year and sector-wise;

(b) whether such datasets were anonymised, aggregated or contained personally identifiable information and if so, the details thereof;

(c) the number of public–private partnerships granted access to Digital Public Infrastructure such as Aadhaar authentication, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), DigiLocker or similar platforms and the conditions and safeguards governing for such access;

(d) the number of complaints, data breach reports or representations received regarding misuse of public data or unauthorised commercial exploitation of digital public infrastructure;

(e) whether any independent audit or internal review has identified gaps in data minimisation, consent architecture or data-retention practices and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the regulatory safeguards, accountability mechanisms and penalties introduced to prevent misuse of Government-held data by private entities? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) to (f): India has established an interconnected ecosystem of data and digital infrastructure platforms. These are designed to promote innovation, transparency and public service delivery through open, regulated and sector-specific access frameworks.

The datasets are made available through Government data platforms such as:

1. AIKosh under IndiaAI Mission is a sovereign AI-artefact hub offering pre-trained AI models and datasets across sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education, governance, environment and finance.

These models and other features of AIKosh can be accessed from www.aikosh.com.

2. Open Government Data Platform / Bharat Data Platform (data.gov.in) provides open access to government datasets under the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP). It isthe largest repository of open government data in India, promoting transparency and public participation.

The platform provides about 4.54 lakh datasets and 2.36 lakh APIs, covering a wide range of sectors like agriculture, health, education, transport, energy, environment and governance.

As of April 2025, it has been subsumed into the broader Bharat Data Platform (BDP), creating a unified data ecosystem for government, academia and startups.

3. National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) is a platform developed by NITI Aayog which aggregates and standardises datasets from multiple ministries into a single platform. It makes government data more comparable and accessible for researchers, startups, and policymakers to support evidence-based decision.

It hosts around 6362 datasets across 31 sectors and 53 ministries. It provides standardized and interoperable datasets in areas such as economy, health, education, labour and infrastructure.

These datasets are available for access at https://ndap.niti.gov.in.

4. UPI exemplifies sector-specific data access. Finance and Payments data are made available through APIs linked to the Unified Payments Interface ecosystem, thereby enabling fintech innovation at scale.

5. Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission maintains health record data and enables sharing through digital health exchanges, alongside Aadhaar-based identity and authentication APIs.

This forms the backbone of India's health data infrastructure by creating an integrated digital health ecosystem, rather than publishing open datasets.

While OGD provides the largest volume of open data, NDAP enhances usability through standardization, AIKosh supports AI innovation, UPI supports fintech growth and ABDM builds a secure health data infrastructure.

Together, these platforms reflect India's strategy of building open, federated, and sector-specific data infrastructure to power AI development, public service delivery, and research.

Several start-ups and entities access the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) like Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), DigiLocker and other data platforms through regulated frameworks.

Complaints related to unauthorized access to personal data, fraudulent financial transactions and data scraping are handled by sector regulators (e.g., banking, telecom), National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in), CERT-In and platform-specific grievance systems.

Comprehensive security audit has been done for the data.gov.in portal. UIDAI also conducts periodic audits of its systems. Similarly, internal reviews and security audits are conducted by other concerned organizations like banks and Ministries/Departments.These audits periodically examine issues relating to consent architecture, data retention and security safeguards, and necessary improvements are subsequently undertaken to fill the gaps.

Indian legal and regulatory frameworks also exist to prevent its misuse in this regard include Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, Information Technology Act 2000 and sector-specific guidelines from regulators like UIDAI, RBI, etc.

The different types of penalties include financial penalties for data misuse, suspension of API access, revocation of platform licenses and criminal penalties in severe cases. For example, the DPDP Act introduces significant financial penalties for data breaches or non-compliance.

The safeguards consist of mandatory user consent, purpose limitation (data used only for stated purpose), data minimisation, security safeguards and encryption and independent audits. *******