As Rs 250cr penalties loom, brands race to rebuild consent and compliance

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules are forcing the country’s advertising and martech ecosystem to undertake its most far-reaching reconstruction yet. The new consent regime, requiring permissions to be “free, specific, informed, and unambiguous”, has effectively outlawed the behavioural tracking mechanism that fuelled everything from big sale banners to festival-time ads. Penalties can climb to `250 crore for every instance of non-compliance. Companies now have 18 months to rebuild data flows, redesign consent journeys and change their stacks before enforcement begins in full.