Google may soon need a license to offer maps in India.

The Indian government has proposed a bill that will require companies like Google to get a license to offer and publish maps in the country. If it becomes a law, then anyone who create maps ‘incorrectly’ can be fined millions of rupees or imprisoned.

The draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016, says that "no person shall depict, disseminate, publish or distribute any wrong or false topographic information of India including international boundaries through internet platforms or online services or in any electronic or physical form”.

It goes on to add that violators will be fined anywhere between Rs 10 million to 1 billion or face imprisonment for up to seven years. This implies that while Google will have to take a license to run Google Maps and Google Earth in India, taxi apps like Ola and Uber will also need permission. The maps will have to be approved by a special government-appointed security vetting authority.

Even before this controversial bill, the Indian government has had several run-ins with Google over the portrayal of its borders. In 2014 the country’s official mapping organisation the Survey of India complained against Google for misrepresenting the coordinates of boundaries in the northern state of Kashmir. The Indian government has sent notices to Google for depicting Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as part of Pakistan in 2010 as well.

Most recently, in February, Google was accused of displaying high-resolution of images of sensitive defence installations, nuclear power plants and other locations on Google Earth and Maps, after a terrorist attack on the Pathankot air base.