--- title: "Pronto Faces MeitY Scrutiny Over In-Home Video for Physical AI" description: "Pronto has started recording household chores through its Verified service. Urban Company and Snabbit say they will not. The ministry wants to know who sees..." url: "https://bharat.digital/originals/pronto-meity-scrutiny-gig-worker-first-person-video-physical-ai-data-nov-2026/index.md" canonical: "https://bharat.digital/originals/pronto-meity-scrutiny-gig-worker-first-person-video-physical-ai-data-nov-2026/" published: "2026-11-13T15:00:00+04:00" updated: "2026-11-13T15:00:00+04:00" section: "Originals" type: "startup" author: "bharat.digital desk" image: "https://bharat.digital/img/originals/pronto-meity-scrutiny-gig-worker-first-person-video-physical-ai-data-nov-2026-auto-6764f0eb-og.jpg" language: "en-IN" site: "bharat.digital" --- # MeitY questions Pronto and other home services apps over cameras that record inside Indian homes to train robots *Pronto has started recording household chores through its Verified service. Urban Company and Snabbit say they will not. The ministry wants to know who sees the footage and whether it leaves India.* By bharat.digital desk. Startup, Startups & Fintech. Published 2026-11-13T15:00:00+04:00. 2 min read. ![MeitY questions Pronto and other home services apps over cameras that record inside Indian homes to train robots](https://bharat.digital/img/originals/pronto-meity-scrutiny-gig-worker-first-person-video-physical-ai-data-nov-2026-auto-6764f0eb-hero.webp) ## At a glance - Company: Pronto - What it does: Instant home services platform whose Verified service records household tasks with worker-worn cameras for physical AI training data - Based in: Bengaluru - Latest: Called to MeitY consultation over in-home first-person video collection for physical AI training - Date: 2026-11-12 - Founders: Anjali Sardana India's IT ministry has stepped into one of the strangest new corners of the AI boom: workers wearing cameras while they clean and cook in people's homes, so the footage can teach robots to do the same jobs. On 12 November, MeitY Secretary S Krishnan chaired a consultation with home services platforms Pronto, Snabbit and Urban Company, along with technology and robotics companies, The Economic Times reported. Entrackr and MediaNama followed up on the meeting. The meeting was set off by a home services platform giving domestic workers head mounted cameras to record everyday chores, according to ET. Among the big instant house help apps, Pronto has begun in-home video recording through its Verified service, while Urban Company and Snabbit have decided against it. ET reported that Pronto has been asked to file a detailed representation on its data collection practices and procedures. The ministry's questions go to the heart of the privacy problem. It asked for standard operating procedures for collecting, processing and storing first person video, how workers give consent, and how the privacy of household members and anyone else caught on camera is protected. It also asked whether the data is being sold, shared or sent to AI developers outside India, and sought details of data sharing agreements, vendor contracts and retention policies. Legal experts quoted by ET said video, facial images, location traces and sensor data can count as personal data under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act when they can be linked to a worker, which brings notice, rights and grievance duties with them. Some executives at the meeting argued that collecting data in India and selling it to foreign robotics developers did not put the country in a favourable light, and robotics startups pushed for building physical AI capability at home instead. In a statement carried by Entrackr, Pronto said it took part as part of a wider industry discussion on responsible data practices, that data from its booking journey involves customer consent, and that its practices are designed to comply with the law. Pronto, a Bengaluru startup, raised $20 million from US investor Lachy Groom, and its founder Anjali Sardana has since launched Provision Labs, a San Francisco based company that gathers data to train physical AI systems. No rule has been issued yet, but the direction is clear. As Indian startups line up to supply the real world training data that robot makers want, the government is signalling that consent, household privacy and where the footage ends up will be checked against the DPDP Act, not left to company policy. ## Sources 1. [The Economic Times: MeitY probes physical AI data use (ETtech Top 5)](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/newsletters/tech-top-5/meity-probes-physical-ai-data-use-ola-electrics-q2-slump/articleshow/135771212.cms) 2. [Entrackr: MeitY examines data collection by home services platforms for physical AI training](https://entrackr.com/news/meity-examines-data-collection-by-home-services-platforms-for-physical-ai-training-12806000) 3. [MediaNama: Is footage from Indian homes going abroad to train robots? MeitY questions Pronto and other platforms](https://www.medianama.com/2026/11/223-footage-train-robots-meity-questions-platforms/) Written by the bharat.digital desk from the sources above. Figures are as reported by those sources.