The world is beginning to lose confidence in America. Amidst the lockdown in America, a big debate has erupted among Indian veterans. Nowadays, just imagining it creates shivers. This concern increases further when we think what would happen if platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, X and ChatGPT were suddenly shut down. Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has expressed concern over India’s increasing dependence on American technology. He believes that if the US suddenly cuts off access to its technology, India’s digital infrastructure could be badly affected. He has called for a 10-year “National Mission for Technological Resilience”. This is also important because countries are now using their power as a weapon. China has proved this to the world by controlling rare earth minerals. Even a superpower like America had to bow before him. Rare earth minerals are essential for making semiconductor chips, high-tech weapons, solar panels, turbines and much more.
Harsh Goenka raised questions
Industrialist Harsh Goenka expressed similar concerns about the US on social media platform “X”. The reason for this is that our dependence on America for technology is very high. Its companies like Meta, Google and X are present all over the world including India. Goenka asked whether we are prepared for such a situation. He said, “Just think, it’s scary, isn’t it? Just think seriously about what the consequences could be and what our Plan B could be.”
200 billion dollar economy at stake
Experts believe that if this happens, it could cause economic devastation. According to NASSCOM’s 2025 projections, a sudden technical shutdown could devastate India’s $200 billion digital economy, impacting more than 500 million users. Advertising revenues may decline by up to 60%.
In such a situation, Plan B includes promoting made-in-India alternatives, such as Zoho and NextCloud for cloud services, open-source AI models such as Aratai and Bhashini for messaging. Experts say that if we create UPI in 5 years, then it is possible to achieve sovereignty, i.e. dependence on one’s own technology, in 18 months. Recent geopolitical tensions have rapidly changed the world situation. In this environment, dependence on anything is considered inappropriate. This gives others the power to exploit you. The world has seen this in the context of America and China. This is why the demand for local solutions has increased.