A DPDP Act 2023 banner for Indian websites.

The DPDP Act 2023 uses the terms Data Principal (the individual whose personal data is processed) and Data Fiduciary (the entity that decides why and how it is processed). Section 5 obliges a Data Fiduciary to give the Data Principal a notice in clear and plain language covering the personal data collected, the purpose, how to exercise their rights, and how to complain to the Data Protection Board of India. Section 6 defines valid consent as free, specific, informed, unconditional, and unambiguous, indicated by a clear affirmative action. For most websites the practical response is two things: a thorough, plainly written privacy policy that carries the Section 5 detail, and a visible on-site notice that points visitors to it. Poper's DPDP widget is that visible on-site notice. It is an awareness banner, not a substitute for the policy itself or for a consent management platform.

It is worth being precise about scope, because over-claiming here is a real risk. Poper's DPDP widget displays a short message stating that your site processes personal data in line with the DPDP Act, shows a button linking to your privacy policy, and shows an acknowledge button the visitor clicks to dismiss the banner. It remembers that acknowledgment in the visitor's browser. That is the whole widget. It does not generate a Section 5 itemized notice document, it does not present granular per-purpose consent toggles, it does not block scripts until consent, it does not keep a server-side consent record, and it does not run a Section 9 children's-consent flow. If your compliance plan needs any of those, an awareness banner is the wrong tool and you should use a dedicated DPDP consent management platform. If your plan is a strong privacy policy plus a clear, visible pointer to it, an awareness banner is exactly right.

Because the banner is short, the message has to work hard. Keep it to one or two plain sentences. State plainly that your website collects and processes personal data and that you do so in line with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act. Avoid legalese, internal jargon, and vague phrasing. Do not imply more than the banner does: it informs and links, it does not capture granular consent, so do not write copy that suggests the click is a formal consent grant unless your wider setup actually treats it that way. End by directing visitors to your full privacy policy through the link button, where the genuine Section 5 detail lives. A good banner message reads as a courteous heads-up, not as a legal contract.

Indian teams that already run a GDPR cookie banner for European visitors will find a familiar shape in DPDP: both laws use a notice-plus-consent model, both define personal data broadly, both grant rights of access and correction, and both impose financial penalties. The differences worth knowing: DPDP has no GDPR-style legitimate interest basis, only consent and the narrow legitimate uses in Section 7; DPDP penalties are set per violation in absolute rupees under the Act's Schedule rather than as a percentage of global turnover; and DPDP enforcement runs through the India-specific Data Protection Board of India. The takeaway for a website owner is simple: treat the India audience as its own case. A GDPR cookie banner and a DPDP awareness banner answer related but separate needs, and Poper offers a dedicated widget for each.

An awareness banner should be visible without being annoying. The simple template renders as a slim bar at the top or bottom of the page; the floating template renders as a compact card you can anchor in any corner. Pick the bar when you want the message clearly in view on first load, and the floating card when you want it present but out of the main content area. Keep the styling calm: match your brand colors so the banner looks native, use a modest shadow and corner radius, and set a smaller font size on mobile so it does not dominate a small screen. Because the acknowledgment is remembered in the visitor's browser, a returning visitor is not nagged on every page. The goal is a clear, one-time, well-mannered notice that points people to your policy and then gets out of the way.