Between Firewalls and Frontiers: India’s Cross-Border Data Challenge
With the acceleration of digitalisation, data has emerged as the primary economic asset of the 21st century. An eloquent description offered by the Prime Minister: "Data has become the oil, the gold of the 21st century." India is leading this data revolution with an enormous growth in its digital ecosystem comprising online services, e-commerce, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. The country has set big targets, with ambitions to make a trillion-dollar digital economy by 2025, putting technology and connectivity at the centre of its agenda for economic development. Cross-border data transfers form the essential spine of this digital framework: they allow the synchronisation of customer databases, global applications, and cloud services. The world of business has set high standards for cross-border data transfers. The economic boon from the facilitation of cross-border data flows is enormous. These flows have been linked to an increase in trade and investment. Th...