What data falls outside the Act?

Four main things. Data that is not personal at all, such as aggregated or genuinely anonymised statistics. Personal data processed by an individual purely for personal or domestic purposes, so your own phone contacts are not covered. Personal data that the individual has themselves made publicly available, or that someone is legally obliged to publish. And data processed for research, archiving or statistical purposes, subject to prescribed standards. The Act also allows the Central Government to exempt certain State instrumentalities on specified grounds.