Tech sovereignty is a must: India can't afford to be a digital colony

We remain critically dependent on foreign digital technology while our national interest calls for strategic independence

- AJAI CHOWDHRY

The story of India’s rise in technology is compelling. Aadhaar, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Indian space exploration and defence innovation have all showcased our ability to think big and deliver on ambitious goals.

But behind these accomplishments lies a sobering reality: India’s digital backbone—from search engines, social media and the cloud to chips and servers—is still dominated by the US and China.

Investment firm Bernstein, which recently did an analysis, puts it plainly: apart from our digital public infrastructure, we ‘own’ little. And in a world where technology is increasingly wielded as a geopolitical weapon, this dependence leaves the country vulnerable.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly makes strong pitches for Swadeshi and being ‘vocal for local.’ But between Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle, all of which are leading US-based global players, nearly every layer of our digital backbone is foreign-controlled. From cloud to search and messaging to social media, we remain tethered to US platforms. All our data sits in the cloud and with our vendors. On the hardware side—servers, laptops, networking gear and semiconductors—we are reliant on China. The bottom line is that we are squeezed between two tech superpowers that would prefer to keep India dependent rather than see us rise on our own.