Ravi Shankar Prasad said that there has to be a balance between data availability.

Taking a cue from industrialist Mukesh Ambani's oft-repeated statement that 'data is the new oil', the Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad urged entrepreneurs to help India become a big centre for data analysis."How can you help India become a big centre of data analysis? ...as someone said, data is the new oil," Mr Prasad said, speaking at an event to recognise start-up ventures jointly organised by MeitY, Assocham and Ericsson.The minister said the government needed data for policy making but the data procured should be anonymous.Giving an analogy, the minister said: "Suppose in a particular area a large number of children get affected by some diseases and the government wants to have a policy to help them. I seek your (start-ups) support. You must have the data, why this particular ailment is happening in this part of the country -- geographical, social, economic (data).""But data must be anonymous, so that victims people are not known."

Mr Prasad further said: "My take on data privacy is very simple. There has to be a balance between data availability, data utility, data innovation, data anonymity and data privacy."Saying that "we generate a lot of data", the minister added that it should be properly safeguarded.