India May Look At Dedicated AI Regulatory Framework, Says MeitY Secretary

India May Look At Dedicated AI Regulatory Framework, Says MeitY Secretary

MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan said existing IT rules handle AI issues for now, but separate AI legislation may be needed as technology evolves

FILE – MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan (Image Credit: ANI)

ByETV Bharat Tech Team

Published :July 4, 2026 at 10:35 AM IST

Hyderabad: S. Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), on Friday, said the time has come for India to move towards a dedicated regulatory framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI)

He mentioned that existing legal provisions are adequate to resolve initial concerns on issues like deepfakes and AI-generated content; however, an “additional regulation or law may be needed” to address harms caused by the ever-growing AI technology

“It is a conversation which has commenced, and my Minister (IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw) and I have both been on record earlier that we will look at AI regulation when the time is right, and it appears that the time is getting right, and we will start looking at it,” Krishnan said

He added: “We have used the IT rules, and other provisions of existing law to address various concerns that AI raises, but now, probably the time has come to look at a separate legislation.”

Regarding timelines for new AI regulations, Krishnan said, “As Ministry, at an official level, what we can do is prepare draft legislation…when it finally comes out, is not something which I can comment, especially when it is a legislation.”

Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in an interview with PTI last month, said that the current information technology law was framed much before the rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and that a new legal framework may be required to deal with the changing landscape

Vaishnaw had said discussions are on with the industry and that the government will seek to strike a balance between innovation and regulation

Policymakers, across the globe, are grappling with challenges posed by generative AI, including deepfakes, misinformation, and online harms

India has been tightening IT rules to firmly crack down on AI deepfakes

In February this year, the government brought in stricter obligations for online platforms on handling AI-generated and synthetic content, including deepfakes, saying platforms, such as X and Instagram, must take down within three hours any such content flagged by a competent authority or court

The government notified amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, that formally define AI-generated and synthetic content

The amendments defined “audio, visual or audio-visual information” and “synthetically-generated information”, covering AI-created or altered content that appears real or authentic. Routine editing, accessibility improvements, and good-faith educational or design work have been excluded from this definition

The Centre has also mooted stricter disclosure norms for AI-generated content, proposing tweaks to IT rules that would require clear and continuous labels identifying synthetically generated information to be visible throughout the entire duration of the visual display

(With inputs for agency.)