In a significant step toward strengthening India’s digital sovereignty, all 12 lakh email accounts of central government employees have been migrated from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to Zoho’s homegrown platform. This migration also includes the email accounts of the Prime Minister’s Office, highlighting the government’s push for self-reliant technology solutions. Why the big switch Over the past year, all 12 lakh official email addresses, previously hosted by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), were moved to Zoho’s platform, officials told The Hindu. Though Zoho’s suite was available earlier, not many employees were using it. An official explained: It was found that many government employees were using open source tools, which could compromise the security of files, and it was decided to make them aware and display their features prominently on the internal mail platform. The move is also part of a broader “Swadeshi” push: using homegrown technology to make India self-reliant in software and digital tools. Government push to employees On October 3, the Ministry of Education encouraged officials to use Zoho, saying it aligns with India’s goal of: “…transforming the nation from a service economy into a product nation, and in pursuit of building a self-reliant ecosystem in technology, hardware, and software solutions.” By adopting Zoho’s tools, the government says it is: “…empowering India to lead with home-grown innovation, strengthen digital sovereignty, and secure our data for a self-reliant future.” What changed and what didn’t The domain names for emails, like gov.in and nic.in, remain the same. The big change is where the emails are hosted: now on Zoho instead of NIC servers. The contract with Zoho runs for seven years. NIC, established in 1976, has long been the government’s tech partner. But this shift marks a significant step toward using private, homegrown solutions for government services. Security concerns Security is a big focus. Officials said: “We took reports from security agencies and bodies such as NIC and CERT-In [Computer Emergency Response System-India], while SQSs [Software Quality Systems] regularly audit the Zoho platform. We have ensured that the data are safe and secure.” Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu, when asked about privacy features of Zoho’s messaging app Arattai, said on X (formerly Twitter) on October 10: Our entire SAS business is based on the trust that we DO NOT access customer data and we do not use it for selling stuff to them. End-to-end encryption is a technical feature and that is coming. Trust is far far more precious and we are earning that trust daily in the global market. How it happened The Digital India Corporation invited bids from private players in February 2023 to select a cloud service provider for government projects. This move came months after a cyberattack at AIIMS Delhi in November 2022 that disrupted hospital services. Zoho, a Chennai-based business solutions provider, won the contract. Ministers making the switch Several Union Ministers have reportedly shifted to Zoho’s email services for their personal use.
Home Minister Amit Shah, for instance, has moved his personal email account to Zoho, although his official government correspondence continues to use the gov.in or nic. in domains.
An IT official clarified: It’s their personal email that they are publicising, and they are entitled to that. The move by high-profile leaders signals growing confidence in the homegrown platform, even as the government continues to ensure the security and integrity of official communications. Their official government emails still use the gov.in or NIC.in domains, an IT official clarified.
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