More than 16 lakh government email accounts migrated to Zoho’s cloud platform at a cost of ₹180 crore
Union MoS Jitin Prasada on Wednesday informed the parliament that the Central government has migrated around 16.68 lakh official email accounts of Ministries and Ministries to a cloud-based platform managed by Zoho Corporation and the total expenditure has reached: ₹180.10 crore.
Responding to questions raised by TMC MPs Rachna Banerjee, Deepak Dev Adhikari and Mala Roy, Prasada said in a written response: “Payments depend on the actual number of email accounts migrated. Pricing, ₹170 and ₹300 per account per month based on mailbox size between 30 GB and 100 GB.”
Why Zoho?
According to the minister, the rationale behind this move was to have an independent and secure official email system.
“The Government recognizes the critical importance of having a robust, independent and secure official email system for Ministries and Departments,” Prasada said.
According to the Minister, the selection of Zoho as the Master System Integrator (MSI) was achieved through a transparent and competitive tender process on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM-CPPP). The process involved a Proof of Concept (PoC) evaluation with shortlisted bidders and designated public users.
NIC’s authority to proceed
He emphasized that the government continues to mandate the use of email services provided by the National Informatics Center (NIC) for official communications, while the upgraded cloud-based solution has been implemented to modernize legacy infrastructure and improve scalability, collaboration and security.
make in india
Addressing data control concerns, Prasada said, “Ownership and control of all government data remains with the Government of India. The project also provides independent and secure communication systems for official use, adhering to ‘Make in India’ principles.”
The government said it recognizes electronic mail as an important form of official communication for governance, inter-ministerial coordination and citizen-focused service delivery.
According to reports, the migration was accelerated following high-profile cybersecurity incidents such as the ransomware attack on AIIMS Delhi in 2022.
Earlier in February, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu had highlighted India’s focus on cost-effective and resource-efficient digital innovations, including smaller AI models tailored to local needs.
