DPDP-Ready AI Hiring: What India's Data Law Means for Interviews (2026)
India's DPDP Act (Rules notified Nov 2025) governs how you collect and process candidate data. DPDP-ready AI hiring means clear consent, data minimisation, candidate rights, audit trails, and careful handling of biometrics — here's what to check.
India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act was enacted in 2023, and its Rules were notified in November 2025 — with penalties that run into hundreds of crores. If you hire in India, your interviews, recordings, assessments and proctoring data are all in scope. "DPDP-ready" AI hiring isn't a checkbox; it's a handful of practices baked into how you collect and handle candidate data.
This is general information to help you ask the right questions — not legal advice. Confirm your obligations with qualified counsel.
What the DPDP Act covers for hiring
Candidate personal data — resumes, contact details, interview transcripts and recordings, assessment scores, and any face/biometric or proctoring data — is "personal data" you process as a data fiduciary. That brings duties around notice, consent, purpose limitation, retention, and candidate rights.
Consent and notice
Tell candidates clearly what you collect, why, and for how long, and obtain a lawful basis (often consent) before processing — especially for interview recordings and any proctoring. Keep the purpose specific; don't over-collect.
Candidate rights: access, correction, erasure
Candidates can ask to access, correct, or delete their data. Practically, your stack needs to support data export and erasure — not just for you, but cascading to every vendor that touched the data. Ask whether your AI hiring tool can delete a candidate end-to-end.
Biometrics and proctoring
Face verification and proctoring are the highest-sensitivity areas. The lowest-risk pattern is browser-side processing — analysing face data on the candidate's device so the raw biometrics never leave it — combined with audit logging of what was flagged and why. See how this works in practice in our guide to stopping proxy & deepfake candidates.
What to ask any AI hiring vendor
- Can you export and erase a candidate's data on request, end-to-end?
- Where is candidate data stored, and can it stay in-region?
- Is there an audit log of access and processing?
- Is biometric/proctoring data processed on-device or shipped to a server?
- Is consent and notice handled in the candidate flow, with a clear purpose?
Interloop is built with these in mind — data export and erasure, audit logging, and browser-side biometric processing. If you're evaluating tools, our guide to the best AI interview software in India weighs compliance alongside the rest.
Frequently asked
When does the DPDP Act apply to hiring?
Broadly, whenever you collect and process the personal data of candidates in India — resumes, interview recordings, assessment results and proctoring data all count. The Act was enacted in 2023 and its Rules were notified in November 2025, with significant penalties for non-compliance.
Do I need candidate consent for AI interviews?
You generally need a clear notice and a lawful basis (often consent) for collecting and processing candidate data, including interview recordings and any biometric/proctoring data. Make the purpose specific and give candidates a genuine choice. This is general information, not legal advice — confirm with counsel.
Can candidates ask to delete their interview data?
Candidate rights under DPDP include access, correction and erasure. Your hiring stack should be able to export and delete a candidate's data on request — so check that any AI hiring vendor supports data export and erasure end-to-end.
Is face verification allowed under DPDP?
Biometric processing is sensitive and needs care — clear notice, a lawful basis, and strong safeguards. Processing face data in the candidate's browser (so it never leaves their device) materially reduces risk versus shipping biometrics to a server.
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