India is building a domestic cloud ecosystem to keep sensitive data under Indian jurisdiction, combining government cloud services, data centres, provider standards and rules for classifying and hosting information.

That effort is backed by rapid infrastructure growth: data-centre capacity reached 1.57 GW in August 2026 and is projected to approach 8 GW by 2030, with about USD 70 billion in investment underway and another USD 90 billion in announced projects.

At the centre of the government’s cloud infrastructure is MeitY’s MeghRaj, launched in 2014; by September 2026 it hosted applications for 2,330 ministries and departments, up from 2,170 in December 2025, including services such as DigiLocker, MyGov and the National Scholarship Portal.

MeitY had also empanelled 30 cloud providers by September 2026, spanning Indian companies and public-sector operators such as Jio Platforms, TCS, BSNL and RailTel, alongside global providers operating through Indian subsidiaries.

The Cloud Selection Framework issued by MeitY on 20 March 2026 bars Top Secret and Secret workloads from cloud hosting, classifies other data by sensitivity, prioritises government-backed infrastructure and allows hybrid arrangements with empanelled providers.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 sets safeguards for processing personal data and conditions for transfers outside India, while NeGD reviews e-governance projects against security and technical standards.

BHASHINI’s move to an Indian cloud operated by Yotta illustrates the sovereignty strategy in practice; the government reports up to 40% better performance, 20–30% cost savings and 99.99% uptime.

India is also expanding shared AI infrastructure: the IndiaAI Mission, with an approved outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crore, has onboarded more than 45,000 GPUs, while the Union Budget 2026–27 includes measures to strengthen investment in cloud and data-centre capacity.

Building the workforce is another priority, with FutureSkills PRIME recording 34 lakh registered candidates by August 2026, NIELIT operating a network of training centres and a 2026 industry report estimating 2.25 million cloud-native developers in India.

The strategy’s main challenges include sustaining capacity growth, securing reliable power and connectivity, managing water and energy use, staffing with skilled workers and balancing domestic providers against global hyperscalers.