In a move that could affect global giants like Amazon (AMZN  ) and Facebook (FB  ), India is considering legislation that would compel e-commerce and social media firms to exclusively store customer data locally. A draft of a sweeping data privacy bill has been submitted to India's government that, if enacted, will restrict the transfer and storage of information on more than 1 billion people by global technology corporations like Google (GOOGL  ).

Google generates $1 billion in ad revenues in India and Facebook, including its popular WhatsApp video messaging app, is accessed by 217 million people every month.

"The Act shall apply to the processing of personal data by data fiduciaries or data processors not present within the territory of India, only if such processing is - (a) in connection with any business carried on in India, or any systematic activity of offering goods or services to data principals within the territory of India; or (b) in connection with any activity which involves profiling of data principals within the territory of India," stated the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018.

The rising popularity of smartphones in India has triggered an explosion of sensitive information despite a lack of regulation, sparking concern among privacy activists and citizen groups about potential abuse. Advocates of the bill argue for more comprehensive regulation to protect the rights of users -- an issue that has been widely discussed since revelations about the leak of data on millions of Facebook users and a series of high-profile cyber-attacks.

"In a nutshell, these companies will be accountable for the data they collect in India. There will be consequences for this, and one hopes they engage to fix and strengthen this bill and recognize that a strong privacy law is a requirement for everyone," said lawyer and founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation, Raman Jit Singh Chima.

Google and Facebook declined to comment.

The measures come at a time when India is seeing investments flood in from deep-pocketed foreign players eager to tap into the country's e-commerce market, forecast to be worth $200 billion in a decade.

"If this becomes law, seamless data transfer between hubs will become a challenge for companies such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter, leading to a disjointed experience for their users," said Suneeth Katarki, founder-partner of Bangalore-headquartered IndusLaw, which consults for clients on the matter. "On the other hand, companies like Google and Amazon will be offered a massive business opportunity for expanding their cloud business in India."

The proposed legislation will hinder the operations of the internet giants and startups that are ushering in a digital economy. Companies such as Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Twitter Inc. (TWTR  ) say they rely on a global information network to most efficiently run their apps. And it's one more headache for Facebook in their largest user market.