New Delhi (Gurpreet Singh): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday positioned India as an emerging global destination for digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence, highlighting Budget measures aimed at accelerating investments in data centres and strengthening the country’s technology ecosystem.
In an interview, Modi said the incentives announced in the Union Budget are designed to reduce the cost of building advanced digital facilities and attract global technology companies. “We invite the whole world’s data to reside in India,” he said, calling data infrastructure a critical foundation for the next phase of technological growth.
The Budget for 2026–27 proposes tax incentives to encourage large cloud service providers to route international workloads through Indian data centres. Data-centre services have also been brought under the Safe Harbour framework with a prescribed margin, a move aimed at improving investment certainty and promoting large-scale infrastructure development.
Emphasising the growing importance of computing capacity, the Prime Minister said artificial intelligence depends heavily on robust data-centre networks. Expanding such infrastructure today, he noted, would help build a strong domestic AI ecosystem while generating significant employment opportunities.
Modi also stressed that countries must move beyond digital adoption to digital leadership. In a technology-driven global economy, he said, leadership would determine competitiveness, inclusion and long-term growth.
India’s large population and diverse data ecosystem provide a strategic advantage, he added, noting that the country is among the world’s largest producers and consumers of data. He said the government is focusing on strengthening the entire data ecosystem, including infrastructure, security, software and skill development.
On data protection, the Prime Minister cited the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, as a framework to ensure privacy, security and citizen rights while enabling innovation.
The remarks come ahead of the Global AI Impact Summit in New Delhi from February 16 to 20, which is expected to bring together global technology leaders, policymakers and representatives from more than 60 countries.
Modi said India’s talent base in data science and software continues to be globally recognised, adding that the country is determined to play a leading role in the ongoing technology and data revolution.
