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‘Techno-colonialism’: Bhavish Aggarwal likens tech giants to East India Company, says 20% of global data from India

Livemint · 1y

Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has expressed concerns about the exploitation of India's data by international tech giants, likening it to historical colonial practices. He coined the term "techno-colonialism" to describe the export of Indian data for processing abroad and then sold back to the country. Aggarwal emphasized the need for India to develop its own technological solutions based on indigenous values and called for data ownership to be with the creators. He cited examples like digital public infrastructure and the importance of acknowledging the origin of content and data creators.