OPINION | Who owns India’s cloud, and other existential questions for a digital democracy

The uncomfortable truth is that India’s digital independence remains alarmingly incomplete.

If the East India Company were alive today, it wouldn’t need ships, soldiers, or muskets. It would need servers, algorithms, and data centres — and it would probably offer “free cloud credits” as a loyalty bonus. Welcome to Digital Colonialism 2.0, here empires don’t arrive on horseback but in code updates. And if India doesn’t act fast, it may find itself the proud owner of a trillion-dollar digital economy — run by someone else.

India’s Digital Miracle

Sovereignty today is about bandwidth, servers, and who controls your citizens’ data. India, with 1.4 billion people and the world’s most vibrant digital economy, is at the centre of this storm. Our Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-UPI trinity is rightly celebrated as a marvel of digital public infrastructure, and Indian engineers are literally powering Silicon Valley.

But the uncomfortable truth is that India’s digital independence remains alarmingly incomplete. We are coding for others, hosting our data elsewhere, and arguing our digital disputes in foreign boardrooms. Call it what you will — “platform dependence,” “algorithmic capture,” or “cloud feudalism” — the fact remains that India’s data is sitting on foreign servers, governed by foreign laws, monetised by foreign firms.

When EU sanctions hit Nayara Energy, Microsoft and SAP simply withdrew critical cloud services. When summoned by the Supreme Court, Google India pointed politely toward California. Imagine telling your bank manager that your wallet lives in another jurisdiction.

Here’s the cruel twist. The same countries preaching “open digital trade” to India are the ones hoarding sovereignty at home. The U.S. uses the Cloud Act and FISA to compel its companies to hand over data — from anywhere on Earth — in the name of national security. The EU has created its own Digital Markets Act and AI Act to rein in Big Tech and ring-fence European data. Even China, that great geopolitical Rorschach test, has built a parallel internet with homegrown giants, its own semiconductor ecosystem, and what it calls “cyber sovereignty.”

When Neutral Platforms Turn Political

India, on the other hand, is still signing trade agreements that give away digital leverage faster than a teenager clicks “Accept Cookies.”

Imagine it’s 2030. A government data centre in Delhi goes down because a foreign service provider has a “policy issue.” Health records, transport grids, education platforms — all offline. Meanwhile, somewhere in Seattle, a polite email explains that “due to global compliance protocols,” services will resume soon. This could be the geopolitics in the cloud era.

It is assumed that global platforms are neutral. But neutrality ends where national interest begins. And when the chips are literally down, well, we may discover they were designed in Taiwan, fabricated in South Korea, licensed in California, and merely assembled in Bengaluru.

History, as they say, doesn’t repeat itself — but it does rhyme, often in binary. In the 18th century, India produced the world’s finest cotton but exported it raw, only to import finished textiles at ten times the price. In the 21st, we produce the world’s finest coders, export their algorithms for free, and import digital products we then pay to advertise on.

Nvidia’s valuation jumped to $4 trillion this year — much of it built on Indian engineering talent. Yet, the domestic ecosystem captures little of that value. Indians build; others bill. Isn’t it a digital déjà vu?

Lessons from History

So what should we do? No, not unplug the internet or build a “Bharat Browser” with patriotic pop-ups. The task is more sophisticated: to craft sovereignty without suffocation -— openness without dependence. From digital dependence to digital dharma.

Here’s a tongue-in-cheek policy wishlist (which might just work):

Pass a digital sovereignty act: If a foreign firm makes money from Indian data, it should play by Indian laws, pay Indian taxes, and stay accountable in Indian courts. If they don’t like it, they’re free to host their next data centre on Mars.

Mandate “cloud residency”: If you hold India’s data, it stays here — on certified Indian servers. No more “sovereign cloud” stickers slapped on foreign infrastructure.

Demand algorithmic transparency: All “systemically important” platforms (read: those who know more about our citizens than our census) should submit their algorithms for audit. If they refuse, we assume the algorithm’s sentient and tax it accordingly.

Build the Indian Stack 2.0: We’ve built world-class payment rails. Now we need indigenous equivalents for search, cloud, operating systems, and AI platforms. Not to mimic Big Tech — but to create a parallel path that reflects India’s governance values.

Capture digital value: If Indian data creates profit abroad, a share of that must flow back home. It’s not protectionism — it’s digital GST with attitude.

Here’s the good news: India is better positioned than almost any other democracy to lead on this. What’s missing is a coherent doctrine — a philosophy that says: ‘India will collaborate, not capitulate; connect, not concede.’ Organisations like the Society to Accelerate Rational Thinking and Action (SITARA) understand the imperatives and are doing their best but their reach is limited.

We can’t afford to be the world’s digital back-office forever. We must become its digital conscience — showing that sovereignty and openness can coexist, that trust is a national asset, and that democracy can innovate without surveillance capitalism.

Done right, India will be the architect of the moral operating system in the digital century.

Crafting Sovereignty Without Suffocation

Perhaps there should be a “Swadeshi” movement for the cloud. Instead of spinning khadi, spin quantum encryption. Instead of boycotting foreign salt, boycott servers that mine our data. And chant, “Host Locally, Think Globally.”

Because in the end, sovereignty is about choice. The choice to decide, define, and defend our destiny.

If the 20th century was about who owned the land, the 21st is about who owns the cloud. And if we don’t claim it soon, someone else will — probably with a cheerful EULA and a monthly subscription plan.

(Muneer is a Fortune-500 advisor, start-up investor and co-founder of the non-profit Medici Institute for Innovation. Nivedita is a retired IAS officer and chief secretary. X: @MuneerMuh.)

Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.