ATLAS SHRUGGED-AGAIN

Should India flip the script in the book of geo-politics when it comes to the chapter of technology co-operation? Should it? Can it? A seasoned geo-politics expert translates the current set of events for the Indian tech industry and the regulatory stance.

- Pratima H

Before we double-click on the current geo-political turbulence, let's turn some pages of a recent EY CEO Imperative Study. In here, we saw that the geopolitics of technology and data is a top risk that has been affecting companies across all sectors and geographies. Yet, technology company CEOs were seen discounting the materiality of geopolitics to their businesses. They were observed as the least likely to say geopolitical risk requires new or increased C-level attention to ensure their company's growth over the next five years and beyond. In fact, compared to CEOs in energy and manufacturing, tech CEOs seemed to be much less focused on the impact of geopolitics. Turned out that 63 per cent of Forbes Global 2000 chief executives have technology, digital innovation and digital transformation in the top rungs of their business-concern list. But they ranked geopolitics last as an area impacting their company - with only 28 per cent perceiving political risk management as a top business concern. In the EY 2022 CEO Outlook Survey, when asked about issues which are the most critical risks to their future growth strategy, 18 per cent pointed out increasing geopolitical tensions, trade conflicts, protectionism and sanctions.

"GEO-POLITICS IS BECOMING VOLATILE. INDIAN INDUSTRY PLAYERS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE GEO-POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR ACTIONS. YOU CANNOT ISOLATE TECHNOLOGY FROM NATIONAL SECURITY. THE INDUSTRY SHOULD BE COGNIZANT OF THAT AND SHOULD RESPOND IN TIME.