Thomas K Thomas At a time when consumers of data are concerned over data breaches and privacy in a digital world, India’s top software maker, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has developed a product that will enable entities to collect data more transparently.

The product, which is already being used by one of TCS’s clients, allows consumers to determine what data they share and for what period of time.

Speaking to BusinessLine , TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan said: “We now have a product that allows our clients to give the option to their end-customer to choose what elements of their usage data they want to share and for how long. So, rather than not pick up data from users due to privacy concerns, this allows you to be transparent about what data can be collected. Users can also authorise what anyone can do with that data.”

“We are doing this for a client but it can replicated across a whole lot of areas. So, the approach to data should not be — close your eyes and give everything. But it cannot be the other extreme of not giving any data. We should be able to manage data transparently, we should be able to govern it,” he added.

On the fallout of the political rhetoric in the US, Gopinathan said that there is unlikely to be any fundamental change in the way the US does business. “But, if there is any change, it will not just be disruptive for us but for the entire global economy. This is not about any one industry,” he added.

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