MeitY launches DEPA handbook for secure data collaboration

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has launched a handbook on Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) for AI training. IT Secretary S Krishnan unveiled the handbook, developed with support from the iSPIRT Foundation, at a roundtable in Bengaluru. It outlines a techno-legal approach to institutional collaboration while preserving control over data.

The framework combines contractual permissions, controlled computing environments and privacy-enhancing safeguards. A data provenance layer tracks the origin of datasets, applicable permissions and their use throughout training, supporting transparency and accountability. Principal Scientific Adviser Ajay Kumar Sood said the approach brings models to the data rather than moving data to models, enabling collaboration across institutions and borders.

DEPA addresses concerns over privacy, confidentiality, intellectual property and institutional control that can prevent organisations from sharing valuable datasets. Its approach is particularly relevant to healthcare, finance, education and public services, where information can be sensitive or commercially valuable. Approved computing processes could allow institutions to support common training efforts without creating a central pool of underlying datasets. Krishnan said MeitY is committed to advancing the framework.