Government Migrates 16.68 Lakh Email Accounts to Zoho Cloud, Spends ₹180 Crore

In a major step towards strengthening digital infrastructure, the Government of India has migrated approximately 16.68 lakh official email accounts to a cloud-based platform operated by Zoho Corporation. The initiative, executed through the National Informatics Centre (NIC), has incurred a total cost of around ₹180 crore, as disclosed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in Parliament.

The migration was carried out through a transparent Government e-Marketplace (GeM) bidding process, with Zoho selected as the master system integrator after a proof-of-concept evaluation. The pricing model ranges between ₹170 and ₹300 per account per month, depending on storage capacity (30 GB to 100 GB), with payments linked to the number of accounts onboarded.

This move is part of a broader push towards ensuring a secure and sovereign communication ecosystem for government operations. Authorities emphasized that full ownership and control of data remain with the government, reinforcing India’s focus on digital sovereignty and reducing reliance on foreign email service providers.

The transition also reflects a growing emphasis on modernizing legacy IT systems, improving scalability, and enhancing cybersecurity frameworks across ministries and departments. As digital governance becomes increasingly central to public administration, such initiatives are expected to play a critical role in enabling efficient, secure, and compliant communication channels.