BENGALURU, Nov 14 (Reuters) - India put new privacy

rules into force on Friday that will make Meta, Google, OpenAI

and other companies minimize 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

formalization of the rules governing it on Friday effectively

puts it into practice.