Why was this law introduced?

Three forces pushed it forward. First, the Supreme Court's 2017 judgment in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India held that privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, and expressly called for a data protection framework. Second, India's digital economy grew faster than the rules governing it, leaving personal data flowing through apps, platforms and services with little accountability. Third, global regimes such as the EU's GDPR set an international benchmark that Indian businesses handling foreign data were already having to meet. The Act is India's answer to all three.