Most organisations today believe they’ve “handled consent.”

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• They’ve added a cookie banner.
• Updated their privacy policy.
• Maybe even added a checkbox in their forms.

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But under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023, consent is not a UI element.

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It’s a core compliance requirement.

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And most importantly, it’s something organisations must be able to demonstrate, not just display.

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What DPDPA Actually Requires

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DPDPA sets a clear expectation for how consent should be collected and managed.

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Consent must be:

• Free - without coercion
• Specific - tied to a clear purpose
• Informed - users must understand what they’re agreeing to
• Unambiguous - no pre-checked boxes or assumptions

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Beyond this, organisations must ensure:

✔ Consent is clearly communicated at the point of data collection
✔ It is linked to defined purposes
✔ It can be withdrawn as easily as it was given
✔ It is recorded and retrievable when required

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This is where the gap between policy and implementation becomes visible.

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What Most Organisations Get Wrong

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In practice, consent is often treated as a one-time setup rather than an ongoing compliance process.

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Some of the most common gaps include:

• Consent bundled into terms and conditions
• Lack of clarity on purpose-level consent
• No record of when or how consent was given
• No easy way for users to withdraw consent
• Consent not consistently applied across systems

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These gaps make it difficult for organisations to prove compliance when required.

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And under DPDPA, that proof matters.

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What Organisations Should Implement

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To align with DPDPA, consent needs to be structured and operationalised.

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At a minimum, organisations should ensure:

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• Purpose-based consent collection
  Users should know exactly what they are consenting to.
• Clear and accessible choices
  No ambiguity or hidden consent.
• Consent recording with context
  Capture when, how, and for what purpose consent was given.
• Easy withdrawal mechanisms
  Users should be able to revoke consent without friction.
• Consistency across touchpoints
  Consent should be respected across all systems and interactions.

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Consent, when implemented correctly, becomes a traceable and auditable process.

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How to Operationalise Consent

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This is where most organisations struggle.

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Consent is not just collected, it needs to be managed across its lifecycle.

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This includes:

• Capturing consent across forms, banners, and user journeys
• Storing consent with timestamps and purpose context
• Updating consent when users make changes
• Reflecting those changes across systems
• Retrieving consent records when required

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Without structure, this quickly becomes difficult to manage — especially as systems grow.

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How Neostra Helps

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Neostra’s Consent Manager is designed to help organisations operationalise consent in line with DPDPA requirements. It enables teams to configure purpose-based consent experiences, capture and store consent records with context, and maintain audit-ready logs. By structuring how consent is collected, updated, and retrieved, it helps organisations ensure that consent is not just implemented, but also demonstrable.

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Why Consent is the Foundation of DPDPA

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Consent is not just one part of compliance. It is the starting point of everything that follows.

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If consent is unclear or poorly managed:

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• Data processing becomes questionable
• Privacy rights handling becomes inconsistent
• Compliance becomes difficult to prove

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Strong consent practices create the foundation for trust, transparency, and accountability.

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Putting Consent into Practice

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Understanding consent requirements is one thing. Implementing them across systems and workflows is another.

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Neostra’s DPDPA Readiness Program allows organisations to explore how consent can be structured and managed in practice along with other key compliance workflows.

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It provides hands-on access to:

• Consent configuration and management
• Privacy rights workflows
• User-facing privacy interfaces
• Governance and readiness setup

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This helps teams move from: Understanding consent to Implementing it effectively

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Explore the DPDPA Readiness Program (Free Access)

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Conclusion

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Most organisations have taken the first step by acknowledging DPDPA.

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The next step is building systems that support it and when it comes to DPDPA, that journey begins with getting consent right.

Start your DPDPA journey at No Cost - DPDPA Readiness Program

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