India is preparing the biggest change to its accessibility law since the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. The rules are still a draft, so treat everything below as "proposed", and check the official Gazette for the final text. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Why it is happening: two Supreme Court judgments
- Rajive Raturi v. Union of India (8 November 2024). The Supreme Court held that Rule 15 of the RPwD Rules, 2017, which was only recommendatory, went beyond what the Act allows, and gave the government three months to frame mandatory accessibility rules.
- Pragya Prasun and Amar Jain v. Union of India (30 April 2025). The Court held that digital access is part of the right to life under Article 21 and issued 20 directions to make e-KYC accessible.
What the draft rules say
Draft RPwD (Amendment) Rules, 2026 were published for comment in July 2026, with a 30-day comment window, according to law-firm analyses of the Gazette notification. As described there, the draft:
- covers websites, mobile apps, electronic documents and ICT hardware;
- requires every establishment to publish an Accessibility Conformance Report against IS 17802 (Parts 1 and 2), India's ICT accessibility standard, in human- and machine-readable form and free of charge;
- sets timelines of one year for large entities (turnover of ₹500 crore or more), 18 months for smaller ones, and full compliance in two years;
- relies on the penalties in the Act, with possible suspension of registrations or approvals.
Industry has pushed back. On 3 September 2026 the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) asked for a sector-specific, phased framework.
Related: SEBI's rules for regulated entities
Separately, SEBI's circular of 31 July 2025 made digital accessibility mandatory for all SEBI-regulated entities, and SEBI extended the timelines again on 31 July 2026. We could not read the new dates in the published PDF, so check SEBI's site for them.
What we don't know yet
- We could not find the draft on the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities' notifications page, so the details above come from law-firm write-ups.
- We found no final notification, so the rules may change before they apply.
What to do now
- Find out where you stand against IS 17802 (which is harmonised with EN 301 549, so it tracks WCAG 2.1 AA for web content).
- Start the ACR habit now. An Accessibility Conformance Report says, criterion by criterion, how a product meets the standard. AccessiSight can generate a draft from a scan in its India edition, which a person then completes with manual testing.
- Watch for the final notification. The timelines start from it.
See the RPwD Act page for how the current rules map to WCAG.
Sources: Raturi judgment (Indian Kanoon), LiveLaw on the Amar Jain judgment, IndiaLaw LLP via Mondaq on the draft rules, IAMAI reaction, SEBI circular, Jul 2025 and SEBI extension, Jul 2026.