Digital sovereignty has evolved from being merely a policy or compliance matter to a crucial business imperative, particularly as enterprises increasingly adopt AI, cloud solutions, and digital transformation strategies. This was the consensus among technology leaders during the ETCIO Annual Conclave 2026. They emphasized the necessity for organizations to integrate sovereignty into their architecture, governance, infrastructure, and operating models as reliance on external platforms and distributed data ecosystems grows.
The session, titled “Digital Sovereignty by Design: Building Control, Trust, and Autonomy in the AI Era,” was moderated by Gautam Srinivasan, Senior Journalist and Consulting Editor at ETCIO.
Amit Sehgal, Executive Vice President at HDFC Bank, remarked that digital sovereignty has become paramount in the banking and financial sectors, which fundamentally depend on citizen data, trust, and security. He noted that the regulatory environment has shifted sovereignty from abstract policy discussions to concrete technical design implications.
“Security first has become a first-principle design requirement for every digital implementation,” Sehgal asserted.
Rupesh Nain, Chief Information Officer at Adani, expanded the concept of sovereignty beyond mere data localization. He argued that sovereignty encompasses infrastructure, applications, business processes, partnerships, and the entire digital value chain.
“Sovereignty is not only about data control; it is about control across the entire ecosystem,” Nain stated, stressing the need for enterprises to evaluate their critical dependencies and determine which workloads necessitate enhanced control, either through on-premise solutions or hybrid models.
Vrijesh Nagathan, Chief Information and Digital Technology Officer at Marico, highlighted that consumer rights to understand and control data usage must also be included in discussions of sovereignty. He emphasized that organizations must respect data ownership, consent, and transparency as essential components of digital trust.
“Consumer sovereignty has to be respected in how data is used and governed,” Nagathan said.
Hussain Zaidi, Vice President of the BFSI Client Unit at Kyndryl India, pointed out that the implications of digital sovereignty now extend beyond technology to encompass geopolitics, supply chains, and economic resilience. He noted that discussions around sovereignty are increasingly being framed as strategic business issues rather than solely IT concerns.
Gaurav Agarwal, Vice President of Technology at IBM India & South Asia, urged enterprises to consider the dimensions of sovereignty that stretch beyond data and infrastructure, including AI services, models, APIs, and control mechanisms.
“When you talk about sovereignty strategy, do not stop at data and infrastructure. Those are the basics,” Agarwal stressed, advocating for open architectures and in-house governance as means to retain flexibility and minimize reliance on a single platform or cloud provider.
The panel also deliberated on the balance between speed and independence. While cloud and AI platforms facilitate innovation, leaders cautioned that businesses must discern which capabilities are suitable for external consumption versus those that require direct oversight.
Further discussions addressed India’s strategic position in the digital market, positioning it as a critical player in advancing domestic capabilities in AI, chip manufacturing, cloud infrastructure, and secure enterprise solutions.
In conclusion, the session underscored that integrating sovereignty into design will be pivotal in creating trusted AI systems. As digital ecosystems become increasingly interconnected, organizations will need to adopt architectures that ensure scalability, resilience, transparency, and autonomy without sacrificing operational speed.
With contributions from Sachi Srivastava.
Published On May 22, 2026, at 05:30 PM IST.
