91. Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) – What HR Practitioners Must Understand

#HRhelpdesk #IndiaHRGuide #MandeepSingh, What does digital personal data really mean for HR? Is this only an IT or legal responsibility, or does it fundamentally sit with the HR practitioner? And in the day‑to‑day employer employee relationship, who actually owns personal data, who processes it, and who is accountable for getting it right? In this episode, Mandeep Singh explains digital human resources through the lens of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. Rather than focusing on HR tech tools, the discussion centres on the systems, processes, and technologies that directly influence everyday HR actions. The episode makes it clear why HR practitioners are deeply involved in personal data management, not just as transmitters of information, but also as creators and safe custodians of employee data. Mandeep walks through why employer, employee relationships are built on continuous exchanges of personal data, maintained and generated by the organisation through HR. He explains how even when HR or IT policies exist, implementation responsibility largely sits with HR practitioners. The discussion focuses specifically on digital personal data and what the DPDP Act expects HR to deliver, without going section by section into the law. The episode introduces key definitions, data principal, data fiduciary, and data processor, and explains how these apply in an HR context. It also clarifies what constitutes personal data, including how individuals can be identified even without direct reference to their name. This conversation is designed to help HR practitioners understand what they must practically deliver under the DPDP Act.