Level 1 · open access

Understand what the DPDP Act asks of you, in an afternoon.

A short, plain-English course on the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. No legal background needed. Every point anchored to the Act and the 2025 Rules, with Indian examples from banking, healthcare and e-commerce.

No card. Sign-up takes about 20 seconds.

Core obligations under the DPDP Rules apply from 13 May 2027.

2 to 3 hrsTo finish
8Modules
20Question exam
2026Syllabus edition

Where the rollout has reached

11 Aug 2023
The Act is published
The DPDP Act, 2023 appears in the Gazette of India. Passed, but almost none of it operative yet.
13 Nov 2025 · Phase 1
Rules notified, Board established
The DPDP Rules are notified. Definitions come into force and the Data Protection Board of India is established.
13 Nov 2026 · Phase 2
Consent Managers
The Consent Manager framework commences, opening registration and oversight for consent intermediaries.
13 May 2027 · Phase 3
Full compliance
Notice and consent, data principal rights, children's data, cross-border transfer and breach reporting all come into force.

Dates set by the commencement notification, G.S.R. 843(E), 13 November 2025.

Who it's for

No legal background assumed. None needed.

This is an awareness course: what the law is, and what it asks of you. For most people that is the whole answer. If your role also means building the policies and processes the law requires, that comes at the Practitioner level.

01
Inside an organisation

HR, IT, marketing, ops, compliance

If your work touches customer or employee data, the Act has something to say about how you handle it. Most of it is straightforward once someone explains it clearly.

You need this to recognise risk
02
Running the business

Owners and team managers

Your organisation collects personal data whether or not anyone has thought about it as a compliance question. This is the ninety minutes that tells you what you're actually on the hook for.

You need this to know your exposure
03
Building a career

Students and early-career professionals

Data protection is a field that barely existed in India three years ago and is now hiring. This is the entry point, and the certificate is something you can put on a CV.

You need this to get in the door

What you'll be able to do

Six assessed learning outcomes, and the module that gets you to each one.

  1. Module 01 Explain why the Act was enacted, and identify its key commencement milestones
  2. Module 02 Correctly apply its core definitions: Data Principal, Data Fiduciary, Data Processor, Consent Manager, Significant Data Fiduciary and child
  3. Module 03 Determine whether a given activity falls within the Act's scope, including where the processing happens outside India
  4. Module 04 State the four rights and five duties of a Data Principal, and how each one is exercised
  5. Module 05 Summarise the six core obligations of a Data Fiduciary, and the extra ones that apply to a Significant Data Fiduciary
  6. Module 06 Describe the role of the Data Protection Board of India, the penalty structure, and the route to appeal

Every taught module ends with one outcome you can point at. Nothing in the course is there to fill time.

Who teaches it

Taught by someone who has done this inside real companies.

Instructor

Adv. Arunima Jha

Advocate, Bombay High Court · Privacy Practitioner

Arunima has practised before the Bombay High Court since 2013 and has spent over a decade working across legal, regulatory and compliance functions, including serving in senior legal leadership roles with major media and technology companies. Her experience includes GDPR, data privacy and cross-border data-handling practices, giving her practical insight into many of the challenges the DPDP Act now presents to Indian organisations. She has also mentored law students across various law schools and serves on the Board of Advisors for Technology Law at NLU Mumbai, bringing a practitioner's perspective to complex legal and regulatory issues.

Credentials
CIPP(E) LLM, Business & Corporate Law MBA, Finance Board of Advisors, Technology Law, NLU Mumbai TEDx speaker Author
Curriculum

Eight modules, forty chapters

Six taught modules, plus an introduction and a wrap-up. Each taught module ends with a short quiz that isn't graded toward certification. It is there so you find out whether it landed before moving on.

00Course Introduction · 4 chaptersHow the course works and what the next eight modules cover, so you know what you are signing up for before you start.
  • 0.1Welcome to DPDPA EssentialsWhat this course sets out to do, and what it deliberately leaves to Level 2.
  • 0.2What's Ahead - The Six ModulesA map of the taught modules and how they build on each other.
  • 0.3How This Course Works - Self-Paced, Quizzes, CertificatePacing, the quiz after each module, the final exam and how the certificate is issued.
  • 0.4Who This Course Is ForWhether this is the right level for your role, and where to go if it isn't.
01Why DPDPA Matters for India · 6 chaptersWhy India passed a data protection law, when its pieces come into force, and what that means for organisations and careers.
  • 1.1Module Introduction: Why DPDPA MattersWhat this module covers and why it comes first.
  • 1.2Every Day, You Hand Over Personal DataHow ordinary transactions generate personal data, and why that became a problem worth legislating.
  • 1.3The Law and Its Key DatesThe Act, the Rules, and the three commencement phases notified in November 2025, ending with full compliance on 13 May 2027.
  • 1.4Why This Matters - For Organisations and For Your CareerThe commercial consequences for organisations, and why data protection has become a hiring field in India.
  • 1.5In Practice: Meet PriyaA worked example following one person's data through an everyday interaction.
  • 1.6Key Takeaway: The Law Is Here and Rolling OutWhat to remember from the module in a sentence.
DPDPA s.1 · commencement milestones · the Schedule
02Key Definitions · 5 chaptersThe vocabulary the whole Act rests on. Get these wrong and every later obligation gets applied to the wrong party.
  • 2.1Module Introduction: Key DefinitionsWhy definitions do so much work in this particular statute.
  • 2.2Meet the Players - Principal, Fiduciary, ProcessorWho each term refers to, and how to tell which one you are in a given situation.
  • 2.3A Few More Terms - Consent Manager, SDF, ChildThree further defined terms and the specific roles they describe.
  • 2.4Sector Example: Who's Who at a BankThe same definitions applied across a single banking relationship.
  • 2.5Key Takeaway: Knowing Who Is WhoWhy identifying the right party comes before anything else.
DPDPA s.2(f), 2(g), 2(i), 2(j), 2(k), 2(z)
03Who and What the Act Applies To · 5 chaptersThe boundaries of the law: which processing is covered, which is outside it, and how far its reach extends beyond India.
  • 3.1Module Introduction: The Scope of the ActThe two questions scope always comes down to.
  • 3.2What's Covered - Inside India and BeyondTerritorial and material scope, including processing outside India connected to offering goods or services here.
  • 3.3In Practice: A Shopping App With No India OfficeExtraterritorial reach applied to a company with no Indian presence.
  • 3.4What's Not Covered - Two ExclusionsThe exclusions in the Act and how narrowly they are drawn.
  • 3.5Key Takeaway: Broad Reach, Narrow ExclusionsWhy assuming you are out of scope is usually the wrong assumption.
DPDPA s.3(a), 3(b), 3(c)
04Your Rights and Duties · 5 chaptersWhat an individual can ask an organisation to do, how they go about it, and the duties that sit alongside those rights.
  • 4.1Module Introduction: Your Rights and DutiesRights from the individual's side, and why that view is useful even inside an organisation.
  • 4.2Your Four Rights - Access, Correct & Erase, Grievance, NominateEach right, what it entitles you to, and how it is exercised in practice.
  • 4.3Your Duties as a Data PrincipalThe obligations the Act places on individuals, which most people do not know exist.
  • 4.4In Practice: Meet RahulOne person exercising a right, followed through from request to response.
  • 4.5Key Takeaway: Rights With ResponsibilitiesWhy the Act pairs the two.
DPDPA s.11, s.12, s.13, s.14, s.15
05What Organisations Must Do · 5 chaptersThe core obligations every Data Fiduciary carries, and the extra ones that attach to larger or higher-risk organisations.
  • 5.1Module Introduction: Obligations on OrganisationsMoving from rights to the duties on the other side of the relationship.
  • 5.2The Six Essentials Every Organisation Must Get RightThe core obligations, stated plainly and in the order they usually come up.
  • 5.3If You're Large or High-Risk - Significant Data FiduciariesWhat triggers the designation and what it adds on top of the six essentials.
  • 5.4Sector Examples: BFSI and HealthcareThe same obligations applied in two sectors with very different data.
  • 5.5Key Takeaway: Six Essentials, Plus More for Big PlayersWhat every organisation owes, and what only some do.
DPDPA s.5, s.6, s.8(5)-(7), s.9, s.10
06Penalties, the Board, and What's Next · 5 chaptersWho enforces the Act, what non-compliance costs, and where this field goes from here.
  • 6.1Module Introduction: Enforcement and What's NextWhy enforcement is worth understanding even if you never deal with it.
  • 6.2Who Enforces This - The Data Protection Board of IndiaWhat the Board is, what it does, and the appellate route from its decisions.
  • 6.3Penalties at a GlanceThe penalty structure under the Schedule and what drives the amount.
  • 6.4Where to Go From Here - The Practitioner CertificationWhat Level 2 covers, and who actually needs it.
  • 6.5Key Takeaway: Enforcement, Penalties, and a Growing Career FieldWhy this is becoming a profession rather than a project.
DPDPA s.18, s.27-s.28, s.29, s.33 · the Schedule
07Course Wrap-Up · 5 chaptersA recap of the six taught modules, how to earn your certificate, and what the next two levels involve.
  • 7.1You've Completed DPDPA EssentialsWhere you started and what you can now do.
  • 7.2What You've Covered - The Six ModulesA fast recap across everything taught.
  • 7.3Your Certificate - Take the Quiz, Earn ItThe final exam, the pass mark, and how the certificate is issued and verified.
  • 7.4Ready for More? The Three-Level PathwayHow Essentials, Practitioner and DPO Readiness fit together.
  • 7.5Thank YouClosing note and where to get in touch.
Final assessment

20 multiple-choice questions across the six taught modules. Retakes permitted.

70% to pass
What you walk away with

A certificate that doesn't expire, and says which law it covers

Most course certificates go quietly out of date and nobody can check them anyway. This one records the syllabus edition you were assessed against, and carries an ID that resolves to a public verification page.

  • ✓
    Issued on completionA Certificate of Completion, awarded once you have worked through all eight modules and the final assessment.
  • ✓
    Checkable by anyoneA unique ID resolving to a public verification page, so an employer or auditor can confirm it rather than take your word for it.
  • ✓
    No expiry, no renewal feeNo continuing-education obligation either. Once you have it, it is yours.
  • ✓
    Honest about the law it coversThe syllabus edition is printed on the certificate. If the law changes materially we publish a new edition and offer an optional refresher, which does not affect the credential you already hold.
  • ✓
    ShareableAdd it to your LinkedIn profile, or export it as a PDF.
Pricing

Open access for now. Priced from launch.

One payment when the time comes. Nothing recurring, nothing to cancel. We will give seven days' notice by email before open access closes.

Individual

Open access

For anyone who wants to understand the law and prove they do. Free during open access, ₹1,999 after.

Free ₹1,999
  • ✓ The complete course: 8 modules, 40 chapters
  • ✓ Module quizzes and the 20-question exam
  • ✓ DPDPA Foundation Certificate
  • ✓ Certificate does not expire
Start free

Teams

For compliance and L&D leads rolling this out across an organisation.

Contact usBulk discounts by headcount
  • ✓ Seats across the organisation
  • ✓ Completion and exam-score dashboard
  • ✓ Exportable certificate register for audit
  • ✓ Onboarding support and a named contact
Talk to us about bulk access
What comes next

Practitioner and DPO Readiness are coming.

Foundation covers what the law is. The next two levels cover building the policies and processes it asks for, and running the function that answers for them. Tell us which one your role needs and we will open it to you first.

No spam. One email when the level you picked opens.

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Questions people actually ask

Why is it free right now?
We are launching, and getting this law widely understood matters more to us right now than charging for it. Open access is genuinely free: the full course, the exam and the certificate, with no card at sign-up. It is not permanent. Once enrolment opens properly the course is ₹1,999, and we will email everyone seven days before that happens.
How long does the course take?
Eight modules across forty chapters, delivered as narrated video and taken at your own pace. Stop and come back whenever. Your progress is saved.
What if I fail the exam?
Retake it. Retakes are permitted and the module quizzes along the way are not graded toward certification, so nothing you did earlier counts against you. The point is that you know the material, not that you pass first time.
Does the certificate expire?
No. There is no renewal requirement and no continuing-education obligation. Each certificate is issued against a calendar-year syllabus edition, currently 2026, which is printed on it and shown on the verification page. If the law changes materially we publish a revised edition and offer an optional refresher. Taking it is voluntary and does not affect the credential you already hold.
Are there templates I can download?
Not in this course. Essentials is an awareness course: video lessons, quizzes and the exam. Buildable templates start at the Practitioner level, which is where you move from understanding the law to producing what it asks for.
Will this make my company compliant?
No, and no course will. Essentials gets everyone speaking the same language and recognising risk, which is where the work starts rather than ends.
Can I put my whole team through it?
Yes. Get in touch and we'll sort out seats, a completion dashboard and an exportable certificate register.

An afternoon now, or a scramble before 13 May 2027.

Open access closes when enrolment opens properly, with seven days' notice by email. Start the first chapter. If it isn't useful, you've lost ten minutes and nothing else.

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