Over the past year, all 12 lakh email addresses of Union government employees, including those from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), have been migrated from a National Informatics Centre (NIC)-based system to a new platform developed by Zoho, officials said. Zoho is headquartered in Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu.
A senior official stated that Zoho’s office suite has now been activated to discourage government employees from using open-source applications for creating Word documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
While the suite had been available earlier, its usage among employees was limited. “It was observed that many government staff were relying on open-source tools, which could pose security risks to sensitive files. As a result, a decision was made to raise awareness and prominently feature the suite’s capabilities on the internal email platform,” the official explained.
On October 3, the Union Ministry of Education issued an order encouraging officials to use the Zoho suite, aligning with the Government of India’s broader vision of transitioning from a service-based economy to a product-driven nation and promoting a self-reliant ecosystem in technology, hardware, and software solutions.
The order noted that the Zoho Office Suite had already been integrated into the NIC mail system, stating, “By adopting Zoho’s indigenous office productivity tools, we take a significant step in the Swadeshi movement, empowering India to lead with home-grown innovation, enhance digital sovereignty, and safeguard our data for a self-reliant future.”
Another official clarified that while the domain names of the email addresses remain unchanged, still using nic.in or gov.in, the backend infrastructure for data storage and processing has shifted from the NIC to Zoho. The private firm was awarded a seven-year contract for the service in 2023, the official added.
Established in 1976 under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the National Informatics Centre (NIC) serves as the Union government’s technology partner, delivering digital solutions to both Union and State governments.
Addressing concerns about the security of the new services, an official said, “We consulted security agencies and bodies like NIC and CERT-In [Computer Emergency Response Team-India], and regular audits of the Zoho platform are conducted by SQSs [Software Quality Systems]. We have taken all necessary steps to ensure the data remains safe and secure.”
Former IAS officer K.B.S Sidhu pointed out that before full-scale migration, robust data protection should be guaranteed.
“There is no fundamental objection to the government promoting an indigenous suite developed by Zoho,” said a former Punjab Special Secretary. “However, robust safeguards such as end-to-end encryption and independently audited security for data centres located within India—must be mandatory, especially in light of increasingly sophisticated threats from both state and non-state actors. Before full-scale government adoption, which could include sensitive materials like Cabinet notes and national security documents, and the likely private sector uptake that will follow official endorsement, these protections must be fully implemented and independently verified. The product shows promise, but existing security gaps must be addressed first.”
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu, responding to a user on X on October 10 regarding privacy concerns with Arattai, Zoho’s messaging app, stated: “Our entire SaaS business is built on the trust that we DO NOT access customer data, nor do we use it to sell anything to them. End-to-end encryption is a technical feature, and it’s coming. But trust is far more valuable, and we are earning that every day in the global market. We will continue to honour the trust of every user of our products, everywhere.”
Vembu was appointed to the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), chaired by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, on February 3, 2021.
On February 21, 2023, the Digital India Corporation (DIC), a not-for-profit organization established by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), invited bids from private companies to select a cloud service provider to “operate, manage, and migrate existing as well as future projects.”
This bid came months after a ransomware cyberattack on November 23, 2022, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, which disrupted servers and e-hospital services at the premier public healthcare institution for over a month.
Last week, several Union Ministers announced on X that they had switched to Zoho’s email services. However, an IT official clarified that these shifts were personal, and their official government email communications continued to use the NIC-managed gov.in or nic.in domains. “They are publicizing their personal emails, which is within their rights,” the official said. Notably, Home Minister Amit Shah’s email address includes a BJP reference, indicating it is not an official government inbox.
The bid also covered migrating the email services of government employees previously managed by the NIC to a private provider. Although the government never officially announced it, Chennai-based business solutions company Zoho was chosen to manage these email services.
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