Abstract
What is the value of data privacy for Indian consumers? This study examines how much people in India are willing to pay (WTP) to protect their data and how much compensation they would accept (WTA) to give access to it. Replicating a study by Winegar and Sunstein (2019), we find that consumers are willing to pay ₹300 per month to keep their data private but demand ₹3800 to share it. This large gap shows that people value losing privacy much more than gaining it, a pattern called the “superendowment effect.” It also highlights challenges like low awareness and lack of information about data use, which make these valuations unreliable for creating laws or policies. In India, where digital knowledge varies widely, relying only on such measures may lead to policies that do not protect consumers effectively.
In India, privacy means different things to different people. Studies show that only 11% of users truly understand privacy risks (Punagin & Arya, 2015). Many trust companies to safeguard their data, even when they don’t fully know what happens with it (Dhotre & Olesen, 2015). Married individuals and women are often more careful about privacy, likely because they consider how data use might impact their families or social standing (Kumaraguru & Sachdeva, 2014). India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP), 2023, makes consent a key part of data protection. But consent doesn’t work well if people don’t fully understand what they are agreeing to. Our study suggests that privacy laws in India need to go beyond just asking for consent. Companies should be made to explain, transparently, how the data is being used and shared. Simultaneously, more awareness campaigns should be carried out to help people make better decisions about their data. Privacy law in India needs to take cognisance of the peculiar interplay
of trust, cultural values, and lesser awareness in the country.
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