The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is preparing to introduce India’s first comprehensive legislation on Artificial Intelligence, following the finalisation of new rules governing deepfakes and synthetically generated content. According to official sources, once the public consultation on the draft rules concludes on November 6, the government will finalise them before drafting a full-fledged AI Bill, which will later be introduced in Parliament.
The new legislation will go beyond interim regulations issued under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. These current provisions draw authority from the Information Technology Act, 2000, which does not explicitly address AI. Experts caution that this legal gap could make the new rules vulnerable to judicial scrutiny. “A law to curb deepfakes or any aspect of AI will be needed, as the rules currently proposed by MeitY can be challenged because their scope goes beyond the primary legislation,” said cyber law expert Pavan Duggal. “Rules are secondary in nature and cannot exceed the ambit of the parent law,” he added.
Officials indicated that the upcoming AI Act will provide a broader framework, enabling the government to expand or amend provisions through additional rules as technology evolves — similar to how the IT Act framework operates. The initiative marks a major shift in India’s approach to regulating AI-generated and manipulated digital content, driven by growing concerns over deepfakes, which are increasingly being used for misinformation and impersonation.
Under the proposed Rule 3(1), intermediaries allowing users to create or share synthetic content must ensure such material carries a visible, non-removable label or embedded metadata identifying it as artificial. For visual media, the label must cover at least 10% of the screen, while for audio, it must be audibly stated within the first 10% of the clip.
Significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs) with over five million users will face additional compliance requirements, including user declarations on whether uploaded content is AI-generated and deploying verification mechanisms. Content confirmed as synthetic must be clearly labelled.
Platforms acting against harmful synthetic content—whether via user complaints or internal moderation—will continue to enjoy “safe harbour” protections under Section 79(2) of the IT Act, shielding them from liability for user-generated content. MeitY has clarified that the rules will apply only to publicly shared material, not to private or unpublished content.
Additionally, the definition of “information” under the IT Rules will now include synthetically generated data, ensuring that AI-created misinformation, defamation, or impersonation is treated equivalently to real-world offenses under Indian law.
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