There are those who say that India’s digital economy has been operating in a regulatory vacuum. Perhaps a more appropriate formulation would be of a regulatory roller coaster. In 2022 itself, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has announced the draft amendment to the IT Rules 2021 (June 2022), the draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy (February 2022), National Data Governance Framework Policy (May 2022) and the new cyber security directions (April 2022). Besides these, the most awaited and critical e-commerce policy and the Data Protection Bill, both of which have been in the making for at least a few years now, are likely to be announced soon. This hyperactivity signals the accelerated growth of the digital ecosystem which needs regulatory nurturing. With due credit to the policymakers, all these proposals have been put out for consultation. In fact, the government has recently invited stakeholders to an open house discussion on the proposed changes to the IT Rules. This piece, however, is about those missing from these discussions.

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