India took two major steps this November toward building a fair, transparent, and innovation-friendly digital ecosystem—through MeitY’s AI Governance Guidelines and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ (MCA) market study on the proposed Digital Competition Bill.

AI Governance: The Seven Sutras

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has unveiled IndiaAI Governance Guidelines, a principle-based framework to guide responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence under the IndiaAI Mission. The guidelines are structured around seven “sutras” (principles):

  1. Trust – Ensure reliability and prevent misuse.
  2. People-First – Protect human rights and well-being.
  3. Fairness and Equity – Avoid bias and ensure inclusive access.
  4. Accountability – Establish clear responsibility across AI systems.
  5. Understandable by Design – Promote transparency and explainability.
  6. Safety, Resilience, and Sustainability – Minimize harm and encourage long-term value.
  7. Innovation over Restraint – Encourage experimentation within ethical limits.

MeitY emphasizes a “soft law” approach—encouraging self-regulation, capacity-building, and sectoral coordination, rather than strict, compliance-heavy mandates. This aligns India’s position with international efforts toward trustworthy AI while retaining flexibility for growth and innovation.

The Digital Competition Bill: Guarding Market Fairness

The MCA has launched a market study to finalize the upcoming Digital Competition Bill, which seeks to introduce ex-ante regulation for large digital platforms designated as Systemically Significant Digital Enterprises (SSDEs). The study will assess the bill’s thresholds, scope, and sectoral effects before introducing proactive rules to curb anti-competitive conduct by dominant platforms in areas like e-commerce, search, social media, and app distribution.

The proposed regulation follows international precedents, similar to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, aiming to prevent the abuse of market dominance, promote interoperability, and protect startups and smaller innovators from gatekeeping practices.

Why It Matters

Together, these two initiatives reflect India’s emerging dual approach to digital governance—balancing ethical innovation in AI with fair competition in digital markets.

For enterprises, this means greater responsibility in algorithmic design, data usage, and compliance readiness. For innovators, it provides clarity and a level playing field to build trustworthy and sustainable technologies.

How Batoi Secure Relates

These developments resonate strongly with Batoi Secure’s mission to support governance, compliance, and responsible digital transformation. Enterprises using Batoi Secure’s assessment, policy, and workflow modules can already start aligning their operations with these new frameworks—mapping AI ethics principles, documenting risk controls, and maintaining transparent governance logs.