Rebooting India’s Technology Diplomacy
| AUTHOR | Lokendra Sharma |
| DATE | November 3, 2026 |
| CATEGORIES | India High Tech Geopolitics |
Amid an already strained India-US relationship, Washington recently fired yet another salvo. On 8 October, the US government announced suspension of large firms like Infosys, Tata and Wipro from the Permanent Labor Certification Program. Beyond adversely affecting Indian tech workers, this move is also bound to impact the India-US technology relationship. From placing India in tier 2 of the AI diffusion rules last year to restricting access to Mythos more recently, the India-US tech relationship has encountered a series of hiccups. Non-tech but serious problems around tariffs and the Russian oil question have not helped either.
Lokendra Sharma is a Staff Research Analyst with the Takshashila Institution’s High-Tech Geopolitics Programme.
As the two-decade-old, rapidly growing technology partnership with the US comes under strain, India faces the challenge of closing technological gaps in AI, space, semiconductors with major powers. Architecting a pathway that safeguards New Delhi’s interests amid supply chain security concerns and the ebbs and flows of US-China supply chain warfare has not been an easy task.
Against this backdrop, the recently released report by the parliamentary Committee on External Affairs has offered some incisive recommendations that the Indian government should seriously consider and expeditiously act on. Titled “India’s Role in Global Tech diplomacy, Digital governance, Outer Space diplomacy, AI and emerging innovations,” it was presented to the Lok Sabha Speaker on 25 September 2026. More than 250 pages in length, the report comprehensively examines India’s tech diplomacy and specifically looks at digital public infrastructure, outer space, and artificial intelligence. Based on stakeholder consultations, including with the Ministry of External Affairs and other government and non-governmental organisations, the report offers 51 recommendations. Based on an analysis of this report in the current geopolitical context, I highlight two inputs cutting across the many recommendations for the consideration of the Indian government.
Reducing technology dependencies, even on the US
While the committee appreciates and stresses on India’s technology partnerships, it also warns against dependence “on foreign partners for hardware, advanced components, and frontier AI models” given the “strategic risks” that emanate “from the export control and regulatory decisions of other countries.” The committee then categorically calls for diversification of India’s tech supply chains to address the risks. Further targeting Washington, while the committee welcomes India’s participation in the US-led Pax Silica initiative, it asks India “to actively explore the feasibility of a complementary supply chain security initiative involving non-OECD and Global South partner countries.” It is significant that the committee’s recommendations portion of the document concludes by asking the MEA to assess Pax Silica to “examine any conditions or dependencies that may affect India’s strategic autonomy.” While the committee uses “dependency” very often, it is important to note that not every dependency is fully avoidable in an economically interdependent world (however imperfect at the moment). India must target dependencies that are vulnerabilities or have the potential to become vulnerabilities.
Further, highly relevant to the development around the Permanent Labor Certification Program, the committee exhorts the government “to develop targeted incentives and career pathways for skilled Indians abroad in the United States and other countries who wish to return because of persistent visa insecurity or employment difficulties.”
One recommendation that I would like to add, in line with the committee’s report, is that to reduce vulnerabilities and overcome geopolitical coercion by major powers, India should architect sectoral plurilateral blocs in tech areas such as space, digital public infrastructure and AI.
The need for a technology vision and strategy document
The committee is appreciative of how the Indian government has prioritised technology in its external engagements spanning across various sectors such as AI, cyber and space. But at the same time, the committee highlights the government’s self-admitted lack of a “single, stand-alone policy document that consolidates all these strands”. Fully aware of the critical importance technology holds for India’s future, the committee flags that the current “approach is fragmentary, piecemeal and ad hoc, and falls short of what an arena as significant and fast-evolving as technology diplomacy demands.”
In order to rectify the situation, and in keeping with India’s tech aspirations, the committee calls (in consultation with various stakeholders) for the creation of “Technology Vision and Strategy Document that brings together India’s objectives, priorities, sequencing and institutional responsibilities across digital governance, artificial intelligence, cyber issues, space and emerging technologies within a coherent framework.” Finally, fully aware of the capacity gaps on technology within the government, the committee also calls for the creation of a standing Technology Diplomacy Council that has representatives from different stakeholder groups.
Technology and India’s aspirations
With technology being central to India’s growth aspirations in a world increasingly in geopolitical turmoil and replete with supply chain disruptions, the Indian government can further India’s core interests (sustained access to technology, materials and investment) by swiftly acting on the two major cross-cutting committee recommendations highlighted above.