Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has launched the SovereignSecure Cloud, an AI-enabled platform designed to meet India’s Ministry of Electronics and IT’s (MeitY) data localization guidelines.
The TCS SovereignSecure Cloud offers enterprises data sovereignty, AI-readiness, and Zero Trust security. TCS claims to deliver end-to-end control, compliance with India’s laws, and hybrid cloud flexibility tailored for regulated sectors with the new offering.
SovereignSecure Cloud will operate in an isolated environment to protect against cyber threats and internet-based risks. Enterprises can deploy workloads on TCS data centers or a government-chosen data center based on operational needs. It features CloudCockpit for monitoring, planning, and managing cloud usage, alongside FinOps to optimize operations. The platform includes a pre-built AI-optimized hybrid cloud with HPC capabilities, scalable storage, and on-demand GPU support for AI training and inferencing.
“The solution reportedly features a built-from-scratch security stack, minimizing reliance on foreign technologies. This could be vital for sensitive sectors like defense, finance, or public infrastructure, offering custom hardware-level encryption and AI-driven orchestration tailored to national security needs,” said Manish Rawat, analyst at TechInsights.
He added that, designed with “compliance by design,” it aligns with India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) and sector-specific norms from bodies such as the Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India. This contrasts with global cloud providers, who typically localize their infrastructure without fundamentally reengineering it for compliance, Rawat said.
Surge in sovereign clouds
With the rising demand for Sovereign clouds, the SovereignSecure Cloud model from India could serve as a template for sovereign clouds elsewhere, though the exact playbook will vary by country.
Rawat noted that, for emerging markets in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, where concerns over data sovereignty and dependence on US or China-based cloud providers are growing, the new TCS offering could act as a blueprint for reducing reliance on global cloud giants.
India already has many sovereign cloud deployments, but experts believe their capabilities have been limited.
While National Informatics Center’s MeghRaj, C-DAC’s PARAMShavak, and hyperscaler-hosted Indian regions (e.g., AWS Hyderabad, Oracle with Airtel) address localization, they lack interoperability and sovereign enforcement, said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO at Greyhound Research.
And the present options in India, be it from hyperscalers or data centers, aren’t truly indigenous. “While all leading cloud services, such as AWS, Google, Microsoft, and others, also conform to the laws prescribed, like data localisation for instance, the tech stack isn’t indigenously designed and developed,” said Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst and co-founder at Techarc.
India’s data center players, too, are exploring similar cloud solutions. Late last year, Yotta Data Services acquired IndiQus Technologies to address the big void of made-in-India Cloud and AI platforms. Earlier this week, NxtGen announced the launch of its sovereign cloud, built to meet the demands of the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector. Bharti Airtel’s B2B arm, in collaboration with Google, is also planning to launch an AI-enabled sovereign cloud solution.
But the true test will lie in scaling AI capabilities effectively and proving cost and performance competitiveness against established global hyperscaler ecosystems, said Prabhu Ram, VP for the Industry Research Group at CyberMedia Research.
Source:: Network World