1 week Ago By Kamya Pandey
As data becomes the new oil, India is grappling with the questions of where the refineries for this new oil are, India’s Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar said during the Global Technology Summit in New Delhi on April 11. He mentioned that the country is also examining the questions of who the consumers are for this data, what their mode of consumption will be, and what trade will look like in this particular commodity.
“At the end of the day if the world is much more talent and data-centric, that is something which holds sambhavna [possibilility] for India,” Jaishankar said. He added that while these are possibilities, to make them a reality the country would have to alter its policies and make up for the deficiencies of the past. Jaishankar argued that the availability and flow of talent would be the Achilles heel of the industries in many countries.
“Certainly for us in the foreign policy side, that has acquired a much greater salience,” he said, adding that India’s discussion with many countries revolves around the smooth flow of talent. Global tech policy changes:“The United States has fundamentally changed its approach to engaging with the world and it has consequences across every domain, but the tech consequences will be particularly profound,” Jaishankar said. He added that the reason behind this is the connection between Make America Great Again (MAGA) and technology: which was previously not as clear.
Besides the United States (US), another major change is coming as the result of the advancement of China in trade and technology (including DeepSeek), Jaishankar added. “I would argue that the changes incurred by China are as consequential as the changes in the American position, one is to some extent influenced by the other,” he mentioned.On the European side, Jaishankar said while the region had the “ideal triangulation between the United States, Russia and China” five years ago, today every side of that triangle is under stress.
Within Asia, he mentioned that Japan particularly, and South Korea to some extent, have sought to make a geopolitical comeback through technology. On partnering and trading with other countries:Jaishankar mentioned that India’s more complementary partners are in the West. “These are economies where real growth is possible,” he said, adding that India has three big negotiations it is working on with the US, the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU).
“If these really work out for us, let us say in this year, we will be in a different position. All three have a very high tech content,” he added. According to a report by the Indian Express, India is looking to accommodate the trade concerns (such as quality control norms) that its Western partners, including the US, UK and the EU, have raised with the aim of finalising trade agreements with them.
Specifically discussing India’s tech partnerships, such as the India-U.S. Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), Jaishankar said that the regulatory system and the real economy have to move together.
“If we have discussions but they are not followed through by actual processes, those discussions, they don’t have seriousness that the other party could have given,” he explained. He added that over the past few years such partnerships have been resulting in more projects in India and more collaborative efforts but there is a lot of room for improvement. “I think we are heading for a period of sharp competition and contestation and different countries need to plan for it.
That planning is going to be much harder because in the past we could insulate sectors,” Jaishankar mentioned. He said that today, nothing is only trade anymore, and nothing is purely business. On China and Deepseek:When asked whether the Government was considering restricting DeepSeek just like it had previously blocked access to 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and Shein, in 2020, Jaishankar said that there was no determination in this regard at this time.
Notably, India’s Ministry of Finance has instructed its employees to avoid using AI tools like DeepSeek and ChatGPT for official work because of the confidentiality risks associated with these models, according to an Indian Express report.Energy requirements for data centres:When asked about the need for energy to operate AI data centres, Jaishankar advocated for nuclear power to support these growing energy needs. “Clearly the current law has not instilled confidence in the international nuclear industry for nuclear projects,” he said.
He added that the Government has come to the conclusion that it needs to change the laws around liability for nuclear energy companies. This focus on nuclear energy for powering AI data centres is interesting when one considers that US President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order stating that the country will use coal to power energy-hungry AI data centres. Also read:When it comes to tech, we are going to see a very strong national security filter, says S.
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