DPDP Glossary
Digital Personal Data
Personal data in digital form, including personal data collected in non-digital form and digitised subsequently, within the Act’s application.
Section 3
What it means
Section 3 frames the Act’s application around digital personal data — including data collected offline and digitised later — within the territorial and subject-matter scope the section sets. “Digital” is about form and digitisation, not a loophole for paper-only forever if you later scan and process the same personal data digitally.
Worked example
A clinic that collects patient details on paper and later scans them into an EHR is dealing with digital personal data once digitised, within Section 3’s application. Keeping a never-digitised paper archive raises different operational questions — but digitisation brings the Act’s digital processing frame into view.
In practice
Inventory collection channels and digitisation points. Do not assume “we only have paper forms” if ops teams routinely photograph or type those forms into systems. Pair this term with Personal Data and Processing for the full object of regulation.
Source
Section 3 · Official text (PDF)
Educational summary based on the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and Rules, 2025. Not legal advice.