Data privacy bill sooner than later: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi, Sep 07: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that India will introduce a new data privacy bill "sooner than later".

"The (IT) minister has been working very diligently and has assured the new Data Privacy Bill will be ready soon. The bill will address every concern expressed earlier," Sitharaman said at India Ideas Summit.

The central government last month withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 from the Lok Sabha several months after it was introduced.

The Bill was withdrawn because the Joint Parliamentary Committee recommended 81 amendments in a bill of 99 sections.

"Above that, it made 12 major recommendations. Therefore, the bill has been withdrawn and a new bill will be presented for public consultation," Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw had then tweeted.

Further, Sitharaman said jobs, equitable wealth distribution and ensuring that India is still on the path of growth are some of her top red-letter priorities.

"Some of course are red-lettered (priorities), some may not be. Red-lettered ones would of course be jobs, equitable wealth distribution and making sure India is moving on the path of growth.

"In that sense inflation is not red-lettered. I hope it doesn't surprise many of you. We have shown that in the past couple of months that we were able to bring it to a manageable level," she said at the event.

According to official data, retail inflation softened to 6.71 per cent in July due to moderation in food prices but remained above the Reserve Bank's comfort level of 6 per cent for the seventh consecutive month.