India’s reliance on US tech poses economic vulnerability amid geopolitical tensions: GTRI

Think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has cautioned about India’s reliance on US software, cloud services, and social media platforms and said that this poses a major economic and security vulnerability in times of geopolitical tensions.

It noted that the US is in a position to cut off services or access to data, disrupting banking, governance, and defence systems, while controlling public discourse through foreign platforms. Meanwhile, to address this, it has suggested a launch of ‘Digital Swaraj Mission’ by the government, with core focus on sovereign cloud, indigenous OS (operating system), homegrown cybersecurity, and data-driven AI leadership.

It has highlighted that the Europe is already building sovereign cloud and enforcing the Digital Markets Act, while China, too, has replaced foreign code in government, defence, and industrial systems with indigenous platforms. Further, it cautioned about country’s reliance on US tech saying, ‘India's entire digital backbone could be crippled overnight if US tech giants pull the plug on Windows, Android, or cloud services’. It added that over 500 million Indian smartphones run on Google's Android, leaving the country's communications at the mercy of US decisions.

On the mission, it suggested that the plan can be rolled out in phases. In the short term (1-2 years), it suggests that the country should mandate sovereign cloud hosting for critical data, launch a national OS programme, and pilot Linux transitions in key ministries, while in the medium term (3-5 years), government systems should fully migrate to Indian software, and public-private cybersecurity consortia should be operational. Moreover, in the long term (5-7 years), country must achieve cloud parity, replace foreign OS in defence and critical sectors, and create globally competitive open-network platforms.