To help local organizations and firms grow in the market, India has lifted restrictions that previously prevented firms to collect, store or share geospatial data of the country. The authorities said that local firms would no longer require any kind of permission or license to create and publish significant topographical data of India, although foreign companies are excluded from this exemption.
“Foreign companies and foreign-owned or controlled Indian companies can license from Indian Entities digital Maps/Geospatial Data of spatial accuracy/ value finer than the threshold value only for the purpose of serving their customers in India. Access to such Maps/Geospatial Data shall only be made available through APIs that do not allow Maps/Geospatial Data to pass through Licensee Company or its servers. Re-use or resale of such map data by licensees shall be prohibited,” the guidelines further added.
