GDPR’s Hidden Lessons for India: Why Data Visibility Is the Foundation of DPDP Compliance

Introduction

As India adopts the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, organisations are realising that compliance is no longer a simple checklist. It is a long-term operational discipline. While DPDP is designed specifically for India’s digital landscape, one global framework continues to offer valuable guidance: the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

GDPR reshaped how companies think about privacy, accountability, and governance. But perhaps its most powerful lesson is this:Compliance begins with knowing your data.

For Indian businesses preparing for DPDP, the pathway is similar. And this is where GDPR’s experiences offer unmatched practical insights.

GDPR’s First Lesson: Data Protection Begins With Discovery

When GDPR arrived, many European organisations were surprised by how little they truly understood about their data. Assessments revealed forgotten exports, personal files stored in unintended locations, and sensitive information scattered across unmonitored systems.

DPDP places Indian organisations in a similar position. To comply effectively, companies must know:• What personal data they have• Where it is located• Who has access to it• How it moves• How long it should exist• Whether it needs deletion or retention

None of these requirements can be fulfilled without full data visibility.

India’s Data Reality: Personal Information Lives Everywhere

The modern Indian organisation works across an increasingly scattered digital landscape: cloud drives, email attachments, collaboration platforms, local devices, messaging tools, vendor portals, and shared folders.

Data travels. Data duplicates. Data hides.

And DPDP does not differentiate between a secure database and a forgotten folder. If personal data exists anywhere, it becomes the organisation’s responsibility.

Europe learned this early in its GDPR journey. India is entering the same phase now.

GDPR’s Data Minimisation Principle: Keep Only What You Need

GDPR emphasised a simple yet powerful rule: collect only what is required, keep only what serves a valid purpose, and delete everything else.

DPDP mirrors this principle. But minimisation cannot exist without identification.

Indian organisations cannot delete or reduce what they cannot locate. Large volumes of unnecessary data remain in unstructured sources like local drives, outdated backups, vendor folders, and exported files.

GDPR clearly showed that minimisation only works when discovery happens first.

GDPR’s Most Important Insight: Hidden Sensitive Data Creates the Biggest Damage

European regulators consistently found that the biggest penalties and breaches came not from core systems, but from overlooked locations: • Employee laptops • Old CSV exports • Shared drives • Vendor-accessible folders • Legacy backups

Under DPDP, these risks apply equally in India. A single file containing personal data, stored in an unmanaged location, can lead to legal, financial, and reputational consequences.

This is perhaps GDPR’s most important lesson for India: Hidden data equals hidden risk.

The EzSecure Perspective: Practical Help for Sensitive Data Discovery

DPDP expects organisations to protect personal and sensitive data across their entire digital environment.But this becomes extremely difficult when data is scattered across multiple systems and no single team has full visibility.

EzSecure’s approach is built around solving this exact problem.

Instead of relying on manual tracking or assumptions, EzSecure helps organisations automatically discover where sensitive data actually exists across platforms such as: • Google Drive • OneDrive • Local devices • Databases • Shared folders • Collaborative work environments

Organisations often assume their sensitive data is stored in only a few places. In practice, data footprints are much larger. EzSecure helps uncover these hidden pockets of information.

This visibility becomes the foundation for: • Safer data handling • More accurate retention practices • Faster response during incidents • Cleaner and more organised storage • Stronger DPDP compliance readiness

EzSecure does not replace compliance processes. It strengthens them by providing the clarity needed to make informed decisions.

GDPR Shows India the Future: Compliance That Is Continuous, Not Occasional

GDPR taught Europe that compliance is not an annual audit. It is an ongoing operational practice. It requires continuous discovery, routine data cleanup, controlled access, frequent reviews, and strong governance.

DPDP pushes India toward this same maturity.

And in this journey, visibility remains the central pillar. Every other compliance requirement security, minimisation, retention, consent, purpose depends on how clearly an organisation understands its data landscape.

Conclusion

GDPR reshaped Europe by promoting clarity, accountability, and disciplined data governance. DPDP is now guiding India toward similar responsibilities.

The most important lesson GDPR offers is clear: Compliance does not begin with documentation. It begins with understanding your data.

Indian organisations will face their biggest challenges not in protecting data, but in identifying where sensitive information truly exists. Because the greatest risk is not always a targeted attack. It is the sensitive data that has gone unnoticed over time.

Companies that embrace data visibility as their starting point will be the ones best prepared for DPDP, stronger in governance, and more resilient in the long run.