AI law and policy in India
4 instruments relevant to AI in India are indexed here, 3 of them binding law, none of which names AI or deepfakes in its title.
Governance readiness 6 of 10 points on the governance readiness index, which records how much machinery exists, not how strict it is. AI Governance Readiness Index This site Our own editorial coding from primary legal sources, not an objective measurement. Every score cites a specific instrument and article. "Readiness" means the machinery exists to govern AI. It is emphatically not a judgement that the resulting rules are good, proportionate, or well enforced. Cite AI Safety Tracker, "AI Governance Readiness Index". https://aisafetytracker.org/methodology/governance-readiness/. Retrieved 23 October 2026.
Statutes
Act of Parliament. Binding on everyone it applies to.
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Parliament of India
India's first comprehensive data protection statute. Consent-centred, with narrow exemptions and no explicit automated-decision right. Its rules were notified in stages, so the date it binds a given duty is not the date it passed.
- privacy
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Parliament of India
The statute everything else is made under, including the intermediary rules. Section 79 safe harbour is the lever the government uses on platforms, and by extension on the generative features inside them.
- safety
- security
Rules made under an Act
Rules, regulations or codes made under an Act. Binding.
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Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Due diligence duties on intermediaries. An amendment in force from 20 February 2026 reaches synthetically generated audio and video: platforms must label it, embed provenance metadata, and remove flagged unlawful content within three hours. This, not an AI statute, is how India regulates deepfakes.
- safety
- labelling
- elections
Voluntary standards
Guidance with no legal force. Compliance is a choice.
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Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
The national framing: govern AI through existing law and institutions rather than a new statute, with voluntary commitments and a techno-legal approach. India's position is closer to the UK's than to the EU's.
- safety
- transparency
About this index
Compiled here from primary instruments and licensed MIT.
3 of the 4 instruments here are binding law, and 0 of those name AI. The remainder apply to AI without naming it, so a keyword search of the statute book does not find them.
Topics covered: elections, labelling, privacy, safety, security, transparency. A build check probes every citation on this page, because a link that returns a 404 looks like evidence and is not.
This is not legal advice. It is not a compliance checklist and it is not exhaustive. Commencement dates, proposals and enforcement positions move; the review date is on every record. If something here is wrong, say so and it gets fixed and listed rather than quietly patched.