Ola CEO: 'India Exports 90% of Its Data, Buys It Back in Dollars'

Ola's CEO Bhavish Aggarwal emphasized that India, despite producing 20% of global digital data, stores merely 10% domestically. The rest is processed abroad and sold back, echoing historical colonial trade patterns. He stressed the potential of India's youthful population in AI data production.

Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal revealed that while India contributes 20% of the world's digital data, only one-tenth is stored domestically; the rest is processed overseas and sold back in dollars. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Aggarwal remarked, 'Everybody in India pays in dollars. Ironically, we produce 20% of the world's digital data because we make up 20% of the world's population.'

Aggarwal urged that India should generate even more data, given its young demographic. 'Our strength in the realm of Artificial Intelligence lies in our large population. Data is the cornerstone of AI, and we should leverage our youth to enhance data production,' he asserted.

'Today, we generate 20% of global digital data, but 90% of it is exported to international data centers, predominantly owned by tech giants,' lamented Aggarwal. He drew a parallel with historical colonial trade practices, stating, 'It's reminiscent of 200 years ago with the East India Company exporting cotton. Now, we export data only to buy back processed intelligence from abroad—a form of techno-colonialism.'

(With inputs from agencies.)