RIL to gain from personal data laws: Merrill Lynch

New Delhi, March 27 (IANS) India's new policies around personal data protection (PDP) bill may fetch revenues to the tune of $1-2.5 billion for the Reliance Industries, while it will have negative implications for companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google and Walmart, said a Merrill Lynch report.The report noted that the new regulation or policies around the PDP bill and the guidelines on foreign internet companies and draft e-commerce policy will not go well with India businesses of the US companies, including Facebook, Amazon, Google and Walmart."As and how the new privacy law guidelines become clear, we believe Reliance Industries may be a beneficiary by generating revenues from digital ad (currently not earning any revenues as regulation is not clear). This revenue opportunity could be $1-2.5 billion for RIL overtime," said the Merrill Lynch research report.Explaining it further, the report said that most social media platforms have between 200-300 million active users in India, accounting for 13-14 per cent of the global base, and with growing influence of these companies on social media platforms, the government is looking to place some checks and balances -- especially as it heads into elections. However, the report added: "Overall, we do not expect any material negative impact on US internet companies and expect them to tweak their business models to comply with the law of the land."
--IANS ravi/mgu/nir