MODI DRIVES INDIGENOUS TECH, ESSENTIAL FORNATIONAL ECONOMIC SECURITY

Pranjal SharmaIn a geopolitical era where nearly every product or service can be weaponized and used as a bargaining chip, global leaders have suddenly realised their deep dependence on the services that had been taken for granted. India must avoid strategic external dependence on critical services, materials, and products.

As India invests in economic infrastructure to build a new future, ensuring its economic security becomes a priority. In today’s world, the security of a nation doesn’t depend only on rockets and tanks. It depends on financial security, food security, health security, energy security and now tech security. Underlying all these is the importance of emerging technologies that are redefining all dimensions of security. As a result, India must enhance its capabilities for technological sovereignty.

For nearly every sector, private enterprises and government organizations depend on technology and digital platforms. Technological sovereignty means that India should ensure that it is not over-reliant on other countries for technologies that are strategic or can be weaponized.

In recent times, India has taken strong steps to develop domestic telecommunications hardware. It has encouraged development of power generation equipment. And there has been a concerted effort to increase domestic production of pharmaceutical ingredients, electronics, and defence equipment. The development of domestic satellites, drones and long-term plans to manufacture semiconductor chips is also an effort towards technological sovereignty.

The international payment system Swift was weaponized when it switched off services to Russia. In another example, Microsoft suddenly stopped its services to energy company Nayara because it buys oil from Russia. The decision by Microsoft to switch off services to Nayara Energy highlighted the dependencies India has on global technology companies.

While top tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have strong development centres in India, these companies can be pressured by the EU and US to take steps that can hurt Indian organisations. While Microsoft resumed services later, the message had been received: every technological service offered by an international company can be weaponized for geopolitical interests.

China has restricted the export of critical minerals to many countries since it wants to control the manufacture of EV batteries. Such examples should encourage India to keep developing its own capabilities so that it is not held to ransom by external forces.

Here are some other areas where the Modi government is pushing for technological self-reliance.

Critical magnets

Magnets play a vital role across various fields. In Medical sciences, they are used in portable X-ray machines, MRI scanners, contrast agents, nuclear medicine imaging, cancer therapies, genetic screening tests, and medical and dental lasers. In the realm of renewable energy, magnets are essential for hybrid vehicles, wind turbines, advanced rechargeable batteries, and biofuel catalysts. In technology, they contribute to the development of lasers, optical glass, fibre optics, masers, radar detection systems, nuclear fuel rods, mercury vapour lamps, highly reflective glass, computer memory, nuclear batteries, and high-temperature superconductors.

The magnet industry is in a harsh spotlight, and large economies are investing in domestic capabilities for rare earth magnet production. India is now prioritizing investment in supply chain independence.

The Government has declared its plans to create a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for rare-earth magnets. Union Minister of Heavy Industry H.D. Kumaraswamy has announced:

A recent report by the State Bank of India assessed rare earth and compound imports at $31.9 million and magnet imports at $291 million for FY25. India’s rare earth magnet imports have spiked recently amid rising consumption trends in various sectors.

The report also flagged that China dominates India’s trade in rare earth minerals and compounds, highlighting the need for India to boost domestic exploration and reduce import reliance.

Digital connectivity

Digital connectivity is the oxygen for AI. As the world organizes itself to deploy and control AI at a global scale, investment in digital connectivity will be critical.

Artificial intelligence and powerful semiconductor chips are critical dimensions of the partnership announced by India and the US under the COMPACT agreement. However, the billions being invested in undersea cable and satellite connectivity will be the key to smart usage and management of AI. Asia Xpress (IAX), and the India Europe Xpress (IEX). Together these are 15,000 kilometres in length with a strategic investment from China Mobile. IAX connects Chennai and Mumbai with Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia in Asia, and IEX connects them with France, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Djibouti.

India’s data transmission capacity is expected to grow four times with the activation of new submarine cables due in 2025 that connect the country to key global markets, TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti has said.

As of the end of 2023:

• Total lit capacity stood at 180 TBPS.

• Activated capacity stood at 132 TBPS.

Once new systems are operational in 2025, India’s data transmission capacity will quadruple with additional crucial routes. India plays a key role in the global submarine cable network, hosting 17 international subsea cables across 17 district landing stations.

Connectivity is the backbone of the digital and AI economy. Apart from undersea cables, satellite connectivity with domestic companies should also be enhanced.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) says submarine telecom cables serve as the lifelines of the global digital economy, enabling over 99% of international data exchange.

Connectivity infrastructure will deepen India’s domestic digital economy. At the global level, collaboration on technology systems will be shaped by international linkages. India must ensure that its domestic capabilities are as strong as the services provided by global players.

GenAI and LLMs

India has increased funds for the IndiaAI mission and also for the semiconductor sector. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has received an almost 50% budget increase to over Rs 26,000 crore.

While funding is important, several policy measures are also needed to ensure advanced manufacturing systems increase. Technology must be treated as a critical dimension of national economic security. Within this, cybersecurity will require greater investment, funding, and institutional effort.

The government is also supporting the creation of a national LLM model under the Rs 10,370 crore IndiaAI Mission. A few companies have been selected to supply 18,693 GPUs to boost national computing power.

While DeepSeek succeeded with fewer GPUs than OpenAI, India’s requirements will keep demand for high-end chips strong. The need for small language models will also grow in the era of AI muscle flexing.

GenAI bots too can be weaponized. Global companies could feed information into them to mislead consumers and citizens. Data from users could be stolen and used against Indian citizens. India must develop domestic GenAI capabilities to compete globally, ensuring that data from India cannot be exploited without consent.

Tech risks and cyber protection

Every wave of change brings risks. As technology evolves, the threats are becoming multidimensional.

The Global Risk Report by WEF highlighted biotechnology weaponization as a key risk: “Biotech-based weapons could also become increasingly integrated with other (non-biological) weaponry. Cyber espionage and warfare, and biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons and hazards used in combination have far greater compounding impacts than when used on their own.”

Advances in biotechnology hold immense promise but also come with significant risks if misused. Biotech could be exploited by threat actors to create or modify biological agents, leading to pandemics or targeted biological attacks. Increasing accessibility makes it easier for non-state actors to develop such weapons.

The Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 (WEF) also underlines the rising challenges:

• Complex global supply chains are creating opaque and unpredictable risk landscapes.

• Rapid adoption of emerging technologies is opening new vulnerabilities.

As regulation and technology move into uncharted waters, unanticipated risks will increase. Cyber borders are as important as political borders.

India must develop its own technological capacity to avoid overdependence on others. The Modi government must continue driving technological sovereignty with the same passion as it protects national sovereignty.

Pranjal Sharma is a geo-economic analyst and the author of The Next New: Navigating the Fifth Industrial Revolution.