Website Accessibility Law in India: RPwD Act, GIGW and IS 17802

Website accessibility law in India is built on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act), its 2017 Rules, and technical standards such as GIGW 3.0 and IS 17802. In short: government websites must already meet accessibility guidelines, private service providers are covered by the Act's duties, and the Supreme Court's November 2024 judgment in Rajive Raturi v. Union of India pushed the government to make accessibility rules mandatory rather than advisory. If you run a website or app that serves people in India, accessibility is no longer a "nice to have".

This guide explains the key laws, which standards matter, who is affected and what a business should do next.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

The legal foundation: the RPwD Act 2016

The RPwD Act replaced the older Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995 and brought Indian law in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which India has ratified. It recognises 21 specified disabilities, including blindness, low vision, hearing impairment, locomotor disability, intellectual disability and specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

Three sections are especially relevant to websites and digital services.

Section 40: accessibility standards

Section 40 requires the Central Government, in consultation with the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, to formulate rules laying down accessibility standards. These cover the physical environment, transportation, and information and communication technology (ICT), including services and facilities open to the public in urban and rural areas.

Section 42: access to information and communication technology

Section 42 requires the appropriate government to take measures so that all content available in audio, print and electronic media is in an accessible format, and that persons with disabilities have access to electronic media through measures such as audio description, sign language interpretation and captions. It also covers everyday electronic goods and equipment being available in universal design.

Section 46: deadline for service providers

Section 46 is the one many businesses overlook. It says service providers, whether government or private, must provide services in accordance with the accessibility rules made under Section 40 within two years of those rules being notified. A website, app or online portal that delivers a service to the public is a natural fit for this duty.

The Act also contains penalty provisions for contravening its provisions or the rules made under it, and gives the Chief Commissioner and State Commissioners powers to look into complaints.

The RPwD Rules 2017 and the Rajive Raturi judgment

The RPwD Rules, 2017 put Section 40 into practice. Rule 15 listed the standards to be followed, and for websites and ICT it pointed to the government's web guidelines.

The problem was that many of the referenced documents were written as guidelines, not binding standards. In Rajive Raturi v. Union of India (November 2024), the Supreme Court examined this gap. The Court held that Rule 15, as framed, did not create the mandatory, enforceable standards that the Act intended, and it directed the Union Government to frame mandatory accessibility rules, distinguishing non-negotiable baseline rules from guidelines that encourage progressive improvement. The Court set a time frame for this and emphasised consultation with persons with disabilities and other stakeholders.

For businesses, the practical message is clear: the direction of travel in Indian law is towards binding, enforceable digital accessibility requirements, not optional best practice.

The technical standards: GIGW 3.0 and IS 17802

Laws say that you must be accessible. Standards say how.

Standard	Who publishes it	What it covers	Basis
GIGW 3.0 (2023)	Government of India (MeitY / NIC)	Government websites, apps and portals	Aligned with WCAG 2.1 Level AA
IS 17802	Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)	Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services	Based on European standard EN 301 549
WCAG 2.1 / 2.2	W3C	Web content accessibility success criteria	International reference

GIGW 3.0

The Guidelines for Indian Government Websites and Apps (GIGW) 3.0 were released in 2023. They cover quality, security and usability for government digital services, and their accessibility requirements are aligned with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. If you build for a ministry, state department, PSU or public body, GIGW compliance is usually written into the contract.

IS 17802

IS 17802 is a BIS standard for accessibility of ICT products and services. It is based on EN 301 549, the European standard that itself incorporates WCAG for web content. Because it covers hardware, software, documents and websites, it is relevant to procurement and to companies that sell technology products in India.

Why WCAG is the common thread

Both GIGW 3.0 and IS 17802 lead back to WCAG. That is good news: if you design and test against WCAG 2.1 AA (or the newer WCAG 2.2 AA), you are meeting the technical core of almost every accessibility regime, in India, the EU and the US. Our WCAG checklist walks through each requirement in plain language.

Who website accessibility law in India affects

Government bodies and public sector undertakings — central, state and local. These are already expected to follow GIGW.
Vendors and agencies building websites, apps and portals for government clients.
Private service providers serving the public: banks, insurers, e-commerce, travel, telecom, healthcare, education and edtech platforms. Section 46 applies to private providers too.
Regulated sectors, where regulators may issue their own accessibility directions on top of the Act.
Indian companies selling abroad, which may also face the European Accessibility Act or US ADA compliance expectations.

If your website lets people buy, book, apply, pay, learn or get support, assume accessibility applies to you.

Practical steps for businesses

You don't need to wait for the final mandatory rules to start. Accessibility work takes time, and fixing problems early is much cheaper than retrofitting under pressure.

Audit your key pages. Start with the home page, sign-up, login, checkout, contact and your most visited content. Run them through a free accessibility checker to find automated issues quickly.
Test manually. Automated tools catch only part of the picture. Try using your site with only a keyboard and with a screen reader — our screen reader testing guide shows how.
Fix the high-impact issues first. Missing alt text, low colour contrast, unlabelled form fields, broken keyboard focus and missing headings are common and fixable.
Adopt WCAG 2.1 AA as your internal standard. Put it in design reviews, developer definitions of done and vendor contracts.
Publish an accessibility statement. Explain your target standard, known limitations and how users can report problems or request content in another format.
Set up a feedback channel. Give users an email or form for accessibility complaints and respond within a reasonable time.
Train your team. Content editors need to know about headings, link text and alt text; designers about contrast and focus states; developers about semantic HTML and ARIA.
Monitor continuously. Every new release and blog post can introduce issues. Re-scan regularly.

Where accessibility widgets fit

An accessibility widget, such as the one Openwise offers, can give visitors helpful tools like larger text, contrast modes, a dyslexia-friendly font or read aloud. These help many people, but a widget alone does not make a site compliant. Missing labels, inaccessible code and keyboard traps must be fixed in the website itself. We explain this honestly in the truth about accessibility widgets.

Frequently asked questions

Is website accessibility mandatory in India?

For government websites, following GIGW, which is aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA, is already expected. The RPwD Act also places duties on private service providers under Section 46, and the Supreme Court in Rajive Raturi (2024) directed the government to frame mandatory accessibility rules. The legal position is moving firmly towards binding requirements.

Does the RPwD Act apply to private companies?

Yes. Section 46 explicitly refers to service providers "whether government or private" and requires them to provide services in line with the accessibility rules made under Section 40. Private businesses offering services to the public online should treat accessibility as a legal obligation.

Which WCAG level should Indian websites follow?

WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the practical target, since GIGW 3.0 is aligned with it and IS 17802 draws on EN 301 549, which also references WCAG AA. Meeting WCAG 2.2 AA is a sensible choice because it includes everything in 2.1 plus a few newer criteria.

What is IS 17802?

IS 17802 is a Bureau of Indian Standards standard for the accessibility of ICT products and services. It is based on the European standard EN 301 549 and covers websites, software, documents and hardware, making it important for procurement.

Will an accessibility widget make my website compliant?

No. A widget can offer useful personalisation tools for visitors, but compliance depends on the underlying code and content: alt text, labels, contrast, keyboard access and structure. Use a widget as a complement to real fixes, not a replacement.

Conclusion

Website accessibility law in India is maturing quickly. The RPwD Act sets the duty, GIGW 3.0 and IS 17802 define the technical bar, and the Supreme Court has made clear that accessibility standards must be enforceable. The best time to start is now: find your biggest issues, fix them against WCAG 2.1 AA, and keep testing.

Run your home page through our free accessibility checker to see where you stand in under a minute.