INDIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Pravin Anand and Rohil Bansal, Anand and Anand
1. Legal Framework 1.1 Sources of Legal Protection for Trade Secrets The Indian legal system follows a common law system based principally on customs, precedents and legisla - tion. India does not have a specific statute or Act for protecting trade secrets. Trade secrets are protected through a series of precedents and legislation com - prising various laws, such as: • the Patents Act, 1970; • the Trade Marks Act, 1999; • the Copyright Act, 1957; • the Designs Act, 2000; • the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registra - tion and Protection) Act, 1999; • the Plant Variety Protection and Farmer’s Rights Act, 2001; • the Biodiversity Act, 2002; • the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Designs Act, 2000; • the Information Technology Act, 2000; Being a signatory to the TRIPS Agreement, India is obligated under Article 39 to protect “undisclosed information”. Further, as Article 10bis of the Paris Convention and Article 39 (2) to 39 (3) of the TRIPS Agreement allows member states to have sui generis mechanisms, Indian courts have availed of common law principles to protect such “undisclosed informa - tion”. The National IPR Policy, 2006 states in Objective 3.8.4 that protection of trade secrets is pivotal for strong and effective intellectual property (IP) laws to balance the interests of rights-owners with larger public inter - est. Trade secrets have been protected through various means, such as: • the Indian Contract Act, 1872; • the Competition Act, 2002; and • the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
In the case of breach of such contractual agreement, the owner of trade secrets can bring an action for (among others): • specific performance; • the tort of misappropriation under common law; • criminal breach of trust; Therefore, trade secrets have been given the status of an equitable right. In Pawan Kumar Goel v Dr Dhan Singh and Another , CS (COMM) 672/2022, the Delhi High Court held that formation of a confidentiality club is necessary to facilitate access to commercially sen - sitive documents/information, as this is an effective approach for sharing sensitive information (such as a defendant’s trade secrets) while addressing confiden - tiality concerns. • theft; and • damages. The Indian government has been taking various meas - ures to protect trade secrets, personal data, etc, while clearly noting the economic loss that can result from their leakage and misuse. In early August 2023, the Indian Parliament passed the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023. Subsequently, draft sub - ordinate legislation in the form of the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 was drafted to facilitate the implementation of the DPDP Act, which were noti - fied on 14 November 2025. They aim to strengthen the legal framework for the protection of digital personal data by providing necessary details and an actionable framework. The new law is the first cross-sectoral law on personal data protection in India. Further, the 22nd Law Commission of India issued a report titled “Trade Secrets and Economic Espio - nage” (LCR), on 5 March 2024, to recommend a new legal framework to adjudicate claims related to trade secrets, and have also recommended a new law – ie, the Protection of Trade Secrets Bill, 2024. The Pre - amble of the Bill states that it is “a bill to provide for effective protection of trade secrets against misap - propriation so as to encourage innovation and fair competition”.
• constitution of confidentiality clubs; • non-disclosure agreements; and • other contractual obligations.
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