Centre’s Zoho migration and the evolving digital backbone

The central government’s decision to migrate 16.68 lakh official email accounts to Zoho’s cloud platform, at a total cost of Rs 180.10 crore, represents one of the larger administrative technology transitions undertaken in recent years.

While this may appear to be a routine IT upgrade, the scale, structure and intent of the migration suggest that it is part of a broader shift in how the government is building its digital infrastructure.

For decades, official government communication ran primarily through systems managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which has been the government’s technology backbone. Government email services using the @gov.in and @nic.in domains were hosted on government-managed infrastructure.

These systems are functional and secure, but over time the demands of governance changed. Officials today work across devices, locations and departments and require tools that allow real-time collaboration, large file sharing, mobile access and reliable storage, creating the need for a more scalable system.

Digital backbone

This is where cloud computing comes in, wherein the data and software are stored on remote servers and accessed through the internet rather than being stored only on local machines or government buildings. This allows systems to scale quickly, improves reliability and enables users in different locations to work together more easily.

According to a reply by Union Minister Jitin Prasada in Parliament, the objective of the migration was to build a “robust, sovereign and secure official email system” and to modernise legacy infrastructure while improving scalability, collaboration and security. In the context of digital infrastructure, sovereignty is essentially control over data, servers and digital systems that are critical to governance.

The financial structure of the project includes the Rs 180.10 crore expenditure, which is not a single upfront payment but part of a performance-linked model. The government pays based on the number of active accounts migrated and used. The cost per account is reported to be in the range of Rs 170 to Rs 300 per month, depending on storage allocation, typically between 30 GB and 100 GB per user. This subscription model allows the system to expand or contract depending on the size of the workforce, making it more flexible than traditional software licensing models.

Industry pricing comparisons also suggest that domestically developed enterprise platforms are often priced lower than comparable global services, which becomes an important factor when deployments are carried out at the scale of lakhs of users.

The minister has also stated that the platform was selected through a “transparent and competitive bidding process” conducted through the Government e-Marketplace procurement system. In large public sector technology projects, procurement processes and compliance requirements are as important as the technology itself, and the use of an established procurement platform is meant to ensure standardisation and accountability.

Security has been a central consideration in the migration. The system includes encryption of data both in transit and at rest, multi-factor authentication, geo-fencing and IP-based restrictions, along with disaster-recovery systems located in different seismic zones. This means data is protected while being sent and stored, logins require additional verification, access can be restricted by location, and backup systems are located far enough apart to reduce risk in case of a natural disaster or major outage.

The minister also stated that “ownership and control of Government data remain with the Government of India,” which addresses a key concern whenever public sector data is hosted on external platforms.

The importance of secure and resilient digital infrastructure has also been highlighted by major cyber incidents in recent years. The 2022 ransomware attack on the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, in which multiple servers were compromised and a large volume of data was encrypted, showed the risks faced by large public institutions that rely heavily on digital systems. Such incidents have reinforced the need for stronger security architecture, redundancy and continuous monitoring in government technology platforms.

Larger shift

Zoho’s selection is relevant in the context of India’s broader push towards domestic technology capability. The Indian-founded software company operates global cloud services and maintains data centres in the country. For the government, working with a domestic technology provider aligns with the wider policy emphasis on building local digital capacity and reducing dependence on foreign technology platforms for critical government functions.

The migration is also being implemented in phases rather than all at once. Earlier parliamentary replies indicated that over 12 lakh accounts had already been migrated by late 2025, and the number has since increased to 16.68 lakh. This phased approach reduces risk and allows technical issues to be addressed gradually while users adapt to the new system. At the same time, the arrangement reflects a broader administrative trend in which governments increasingly work with specialised technology firms for large digital infrastructure projects while retaining ownership and control over data.

Beyond the email migration, modern government work increasingly depends on integrated digital tools such as document creation, spreadsheets, presentations, file storage and internal messaging. Moving to a cloud-based platform allows these services to be integrated into a single ecosystem, which can improve coordination between ministries and departments and reduce dependence on multiple standalone systems.

Over the past decade, government services, records and communication have increasingly moved to digital platforms. As this digital layer grows, the infrastructure that supports it becomes as important as physical infrastructure such as roads or power systems. Email, file sharing and internal communication systems may not be visible to the public, but they form the backbone of everyday governance.

The migration of these email accounts to a cloud platform represents a shift towards scalable, service-based digital infrastructure where the government can expand capacity, improve coordination and maintain control over sensitive data within a structured and secure framework.