New Delhi, Feb. 5 -- India's two digital industry groupings - the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), which represents big tech companies such as Meta, Bharti Airtel and Amazon; and the startup body Empower India - have formally asked the IT ministry not to shorten the compliance timeline under India's new data protection law, warning that doing so would strain businesses and disrupt operations. February 4 was the last day for stakeholders to submit their recommendations to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on the proposed changes. Both bodies have urged the government to retain the originally notified 18-month transition period for implementing the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act and its rules, instead of advancing enforcement to immediate, three-month, or 12-month deadlines. In its submission, seen by HT, IAMAI said compressing timelines would hit even companies that have already begun preparations. It added, "The decision to significantly compress compliance timelines shortly after the notification of the DPDP Rules introduces a high degree of policy uncertainty for organisations." The final DPDP Rules were notified in November 2025, a year after MeitY released the draft for public consultation. The parent Act itself was enacted in August 2023, marking a long wait to operationalise India's long-promised data protection law aimed at safeguarding citizens' personal data. IAMAI said most companies depend on a web of global vendors like cloud providers, CRM platforms and SaaS firms, and would first need to renegotiate contracts to insert new privacy safeguards. ht c...