As India accelerates the adoption of artificial intelligence across industries, Airtel believes the country must look beyond merely storing data within its borders and establish end-to-end control over the infrastructure supporting critical digital workloads.
Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
Key Highlights
Rahul Vatts outlined Airtel’s vision for sovereign cloud at Global Fintech Fest 2026.
Airtel believes data residency alone does not constitute true cloud sovereignty.
Sovereignty should include digital, operational and jurisdictional control.
India needs a consistent sovereign cloud framework covering critical sectors.
Sovereign cloud adoption and deployment at scale will be important measures of success
Speaking during a panel discussion titled “Building Sovereign AI for a Digital Economy” at the Global Fintech Fest 2026, Rahul Vatts, Group Chief Regulatory Officer and Director Corporate Affairs, Bharti Airtel, outlined the company’s perspective on what constitutes a truly sovereign cloud.
According to Vatts, cloud sovereignty is frequently interpreted only through the lens of data residency. However, ensuring that data is physically stored in India represents only one component of a much broader sovereign architecture.
“I think what is really happening on sovereignty is that we seem to have created sort of a mishmash that sovereignty is something in the data sense and is more about having data residency. So, if your data is in India, you tend to say, ‘I am sovereign.’ But I don’t think that’s the correct way to define sovereignty,” Vatts said.
Sovereignty Requires End-to-End Control
Vatts said true sovereignty depends on whether a country or organisation controls the complete technology stack supporting its AI and cloud workloads. This includes the infrastructure, control systems, operational environment and the jurisdiction under which the data is governed.
He outlined four principal elements that Airtel considers important when evaluating sovereignty.
The first is data residency, which requires data generated in India to be stored and protected within the country. The second is digital sovereignty, involving local control systems that manage data throughout the sovereign stack.
Operational sovereignty forms the third pillar. This determines who operates and controls the infrastructure, an issue that is becoming increasingly important amid geopolitical uncertainty and growing concerns over access to critical data.
The fourth element is jurisdictional sovereignty under this principle, locally generated data should remain protected by Indian laws and should not become subject to the laws or legal demands of another jurisdiction.
Vatts added that technological sovereignty is also sometimes considered a fifth component. Together, these elements go beyond the physical location of data and focus on who ultimately controls the infrastructure, operations and technology.
“For us, it’s not just about residency; it is really about having end-to-end control of this entire sovereign stack,” he said.
India’s Growing Data Economy
Explaining the need for a sovereign cloud ecosystem, Vatts highlighted the rapid increase in data consumption in India and the growing digitisation of financial services, healthcare, identity systems and other essential infrastructure.
He said customer data usage in India is currently around 38GB to 40GB per month and could rise to approximately 70GB to 75GB over the next three to four years. The expansion of digital payments and other online services is also resulting in the generation of large volumes of sensitive information.
Identity details, health records and financial information represent critical datasets that require strong safeguards, he noted. Therefore, India must have both the legal framework and the operational control necessary to protect such information.
Vatts said similar discussions are taking place internationally as countries respond to geopolitical developments and examine who controls their data and digital infrastructure.
Airtel Calls for a Consistent Policy Framework
Vatts also acknowledged the government’s work on cloud sovereignty, referring to guidelines issued in March and subsequent discussions on the country’s approach.
However, he called for greater consistency across sectors rather than a fragmented policy framework.
“For example, the government today says that critical government datasets should be under sovereign ground. But why not for the energy data of the country? Why not the health records of the country? Why not the identities of people?” he said.
According to Vatts, the framework must cover the complete universe of information considered critical to India. This would help strengthen safety, trust and the resilience of the country’s financial and digital systems.
Measuring Sovereign Cloud Success
Vatts proposed two broad measures for evaluating India’s progress. The first is whether sovereign cloud infrastructure is being deployed at scale. The second is the proportion of critical workloads that satisfy the different requirements of sovereignty, including residency, operational control and legal jurisdiction.
As sectoral regulators develop their own cloud guidelines, organisations handling critical information may consequently need to evaluate more than the location of their data centres. The larger question will be whether the selected cloud architecture provides end-to-end control under Indian law.
For sectors including banking, healthcare, energy, public finance and digital public infrastructure, sovereign cloud could therefore become an increasingly important foundation for India’s AI-driven economy.
Some people read for free. A few choose to support. If you found TelecomTalk useful, you can help keep us running.
FAQs
What did Rahul Vatts say about sovereign cloud?
Rahul Vatts said true cloud sovereignty goes beyond storing data within India. It requires end-to-end control over the infrastructure, control systems, operations and legal jurisdiction governing the data.
What are Airtel’s principal elements of cloud sovereignty?
Airtel’s framework covers data residency, digital sovereignty, operational sovereignty and jurisdictional sovereignty. Technological sovereignty may also be considered an additional element.
Why is sovereign cloud important for India?
India’s growing adoption of AI and digital services is generating large volumes of sensitive data. Sovereign cloud infrastructure can help keep critical workloads under Indian operational and legal control.
Which sectors could require sovereign cloud infrastructure?
Critical sectors such as banking, healthcare, energy, public finance, identity systems and digital public infrastructure could increasingly require sovereign cloud solutions.
How can India measure progress in cloud sovereignty?
According to Rahul Vatts, progress can be measured through sovereign cloud deployment at scale and the proportion of workloads that comply with sovereignty requirements.
Support Telecomtalk
