Valuation of Data upheld by a Court

Posted on June 15, 2025 by Vijayashankar Na

In an interesting decision of the UP State Consumer disputes redressal Commission, WhatsApp has been considered as a “Paid Service” with the payment having been received in the form of personal data shared by the account holder.

(Refer: article the420.in)

Naavi has been advocating the “Data Valuation” as one of the essential features of Data Management in a company and valuing of data and its disclosure is a recommended procedure under the DGPSI (Data Governance and Protection Standard of India) framework of compliance.

The exact value of the data may be under dispute but the fact that data has a a value is indisputable. In this case, the value of the data has not been specified in rupee terms but whatever is the benefit used by WhatsApp is to be treated as the consideration passed.

Hope Income Tax and GST is not applicable !

Naavi

About Vijayashankar Na

Naavi is a veteran Cyber Law specialist in India and is presently working from Bangalore as an Information Assurance Consultant. Pioneered concepts such as ITA 2008 compliance, Naavi is also the founder of Cyber Law College, a virtual Cyber Law Education institution. He now has been focusing on the projects such as Secure Digital India and Cyber Insurance
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