Consent notices in 22 Indian languages: what the DPDP Act asks for

Sehmat team · 1 September 2026

The DPDP Act says a person must have the option to read your notice in English or any language in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution (s.5(3)). The same applies to the consent request itself (s.6(3)). The Eighth Schedule lists 22 languages. So, with English, there are 23 possible languages for a notice.

You do not have to print every notice in all 23 languages at once. You do need to offer the person a real option, and the translation has to be clear and plain.

Key points

The person must have the option to access the notice in English or any Eighth Schedule language (s.5(3)).
The consent request must be in clear and plain language, with the same language option (s.6(3)).
From 13 May 2027, Rule 3(b) requires the notice to give “in clear and plain language” a fair account of the details needed for specific and informed consent.
Consent must be “informed” (s.6(1)). A notice in a language the person cannot read does not inform her.
Translations need review by a fluent reader. Machine drafts are a starting point, not the final text.

Which 22 languages are in the Eighth Schedule?

The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution lists these languages:

Assamese
Bengali
Bodo
Dogri
Gujarati
Hindi
Kannada
Kashmiri
Konkani
Maithili
Malayalam
Manipuri
Marathi
Nepali
Odia
Punjabi
Sanskrit
Santali
Sindhi
Tamil
Telugu
Urdu

Several of these languages are written in more than one script. For example, Santali is commonly written in Ol Chiki or Devanagari, Sindhi in Perso-Arabic or Devanagari, and Manipuri in Meitei Mayek or Bengali script. Ask your community which script they actually read.

What exactly does the Act require?

Section 5(3) is about the notice: “The Data Fiduciary shall give the Data Principal the option to access the contents of the notice … in English or any language specified in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.”

Section 6(3) is about the consent request. It must be “presented to the Data Principal in a clear and plain language, giving her the option to access such request in English or any language specified in the Eighth Schedule”. It must also give the contact details of a Data Protection Officer, where one is needed, or another person who can answer the person’s questions.

The word that matters is option. The Act does not set a list of languages for each region. In practice, offer the languages your people actually read, and make it easy to switch.

How do you choose which languages to offer?

Start from your people, not from a map. Use enrolment data, field staff knowledge and support calls to see which languages people use.
In most programs, cover the regional language plus Hindi or English. Many people move between two languages.
Plan for the long tail. If someone asks for a language you have not prepared, have a way to provide it.
Keep one version per language for each notice. When the English text changes, each translation must change too.

Write a better English source first

Short sentences translate better. Use one idea per sentence. Avoid legal phrases such as “hereinafter” and “notwithstanding”. List data items plainly, as in “name, mobile number, Aadhaar-linked bank account”, because Rule 3(b)(i) needs an itemised description.

Use machine translation only as a draft

Machine translation is fast and is improving. It still gets terms wrong, picks the wrong register and sometimes drops a negation. A dropped “not” in a consent notice changes its meaning.

Have a fluent person review and accept it

The reviewer should read the translation against the English and check:

that every data item and purpose is present;
that choices such as “I agree” and “I do not agree” are clearly different;
that the withdrawal and complaint routes are stated;
that the tone is respectful and the words are ones local people use.

Record who reviewed each version and when. If a question comes up later, you can show the translation was checked.

Test with real people

Read the notice aloud to a few people from the community. Ask them to explain it back in their own words. If they cannot, rewrite it.

Keep translations in step

When the source changes, mark the translations as out of date until they are reviewed again. Store the language and version each person saw with their consent. The Act puts the burden of proving notice and consent on you (s.6(10)).

How Sehmat helps

Consent forms work in English and the 22 Eighth Schedule languages.
Machine-drafted translations of your own forms are reviewed and accepted by a person, and are labelled as machine-drafted.
Each consent is stored with the exact notice version and language shown.
Printed paper sheets are bilingual, for places where people prefer paper.

Sources

This article is general information, not legal advice.