India’s Search for Digital Sovereignty

The India-U.S. relationship is in a transitional phase where, as Tanvi Madan—senior fellow at The Brookings Institution—puts it, “the only constant is volatility.” Differences over trade, tariffs, India’s oil trade with Russia, and the nature of US involvement in the India-Pakistan conflict earlier this year have intensified the debate about “technological sovereignty” in India. These tensions take on added significance amid broader global shifts, including the United States’ dominance-oriented foreign and trade policies, and the ongoing US-China rivalry, which continues to sharpen and is now increasingly blurring the lines between US tech giants’ business and policy interests and the Trump Administration’s.

During his Independence Day address on August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointed out that Indians were “working on the world’s platforms,” whether it was “social media or any other platform,” and urged the country’s youth to build “our own platforms.” While calls to build products in India, or to assert greater control over them, are often made in the course of regular public discourse, explicit references to social media in this context are uncommon for the Prime Minister.

Approximately three weeks before the address, on July 22, Microsoft suspended services to Nayara Energy after the European Union placed it on a list of sanctioned entities. This led to Nayara Energy contesting the suspension of services in the Delhi High Court. Microsoft later restored access, claiming it happened due to “an automated ‘legacy’ compliance system,” but stated in court that it could not guarantee continued service. This episode sparked another round of conversations about India’s reliance on technological value chains it does not control, and the vulnerability that creates for the country. Commentary from many users on X described it as a “wake-up call” for India.