India on the threshold of a new, dedicated AI legislation

India appears to be shifting away from its long-standing hands-off approach to AI regulation and the prospect of a stand-alone law seems to be the need of the hour.

Speaking at a CII-organized cybersecurity event, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary S Krishnan indicated that the government is now ready to seriously consider a dedicated AI regulatory framework — a notable change from previous years, when officials preferred to address AI-related issues using existing laws rather than drafting new ones.

Krishnan acknowledged that current legal tools have so far generally worked to manage early AI concerns like deepfakes and synthetic media, but suggested that a standalone law is now absolutely necessary.

“It is a conversation which has commenced, and my Minister (Ashwini Vaishnav) and I have both been on record earlier that we will look at AI regulation when the time is right, and it appears that the time is getting right, and we will start looking at it,” Mr Krishnan said.

This marks a shift for IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav as well, who has historically argued regulation should only step in when truly needed, but has more recently conceded that generative AI's challenges — deepfakes, misinformation, synthetic content — may outpace what the 2000-era IT Act can handle.

On timing, Krishnan was cautious, noting that his ministry's role is limited to preparing draft legislation at the official level, while the actual passage and rollout of any law remain outside his purview to predict.

Groundwork already underway

Regulatory tightening has already begun in stages:

# In February, platforms like X and Instagram were given a strict three-hour window to take down flagged AI-generated or synthetic content.

# MeitY updated the Intermediary Guidelines to formally define what counts as AI-generated and synthetic content.

# At the AI Impact Summit 2026, India released Governance Guidelines built around seven guiding principles ("Sutras"), along with proposals for new oversight bodies — an AI Governance Group, a Technology & Policy Expert Committee, and an AI Safety Institute.

The immediate trigger: WhatsApp's usernames feature

The renewed regulatory urgency seems tied to a specific flashpoint: WhatsApp's rollout of a new "usernames" feature, which lets users message each other using a handle instead of sharing phone numbers. The government has formally asked Meta to explain the feature and has told the company to pause its rollout in India pending consultation.

“This is not acceptable... We will look at rules, law and if required, law will be made to stop WhatsApp from username login. It is dangerous, not good for society, not for anyone. It is prone to impersonation... anyone can open an account in another name, and people may do financial frauds using fake name,” a senior government official said.

Officials are worried this could mirror problems seen with Telegram, which was briefly blocked during the 2026 NEET UG exam over concerns that anonymous accounts were used to leak exam content.

Government sources have flagged risks around impersonation, financial fraud, and the potential for the feature to fuel phishing and scam operations and related cyber crimes if phone numbers are hidden from new contacts.