India put new privacy rules into force on Friday that will make Meta, Google, OpenAI and other companies minimise collection of personal data and give people more control over their information.

The rules, akin to the broader goals of the European Union’s landmark GDPR privacy law, come as countries are scrambling to safeguard personal data with the rising adoption of AI.

Companies will only be able to collect data that is necessary for a specified purpose under the rules, which will enforce India’s stringent 2023 Digital Personal Data Protection law.

Firms will also have to give Indian users a clear explanation for the collection, allow them to opt out and tell them if their information is involved in a data breach.

With nearly a billion users online, AI services including ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google Gemini count India among their biggest markets.

“This marks the most significant operational step in India’s new privacy regime since the DPDP Act 2023 came into force,” Dhruv Garg of the Indian Governance and Policy Project research group said.

India is also drafting a host of other regulations in the digital space, including higher compliance requirements for AI companies and social media firms. The government passed the data privacy law in 2023. Its formalisation of the rules governing it on Friday effectively puts it into practice.