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Govt moves 16.68 lakh email IDs to Zoho cloud platform, spends Rs 180 crore
Rs 180 crore spend backs push for secure, sovereign email system
NEW DELHI: The government has migrated around 16.68 lakh official email accounts to a cloud platform operated by Zoho, with total spending touching Rs 180.10 crore so far, Parliament was informed.
The update was shared by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in the Lok Sabha on April 1, highlighting a steady expansion of the Centre’s push towards a secure, homegrown digital infrastructure.
The migration has been carried out by the National Informatics Centre, which appointed Zoho as the master system integrator following a competitive bidding process on the Government e-Marketplace. The selection included a proof of concept phase involving shortlisted vendors and government users.
At its core, the initiative is aimed at creating a secure and sovereign email ecosystem for ministries and departments, with the government retaining full ownership of data and intellectual property. The shift also reflects a broader push to reduce reliance on global platforms for critical communication infrastructure.
Costs are tied to usage. The government pays between Rs 170 and Rs 300 per account per month, depending on storage capacity, which ranges from 30 GB to 100 GB. Billing is based on the number of active accounts migrated to the system.
The latest numbers mark a significant jump from December, when about 12.68 lakh accounts had been moved, including 7.45 lakh belonging to central government employees. The pace of migration suggests an accelerated rollout across departments in recent months.
With millions of accounts already onboarded, the project signals a clear shift towards digital sovereignty in official communications. As adoption deepens, the focus will likely turn to performance, scalability and user experience, ensuring that security does not come at the cost of efficiency.
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AI becomes key tool for Indian travellers, Agoda report finds
68 per cent plan to use AI for trips as 33 per cent already rely on it.
MUMBAI: Holiday planning is getting a software upgrade less “Where should we go?” and more “What does the algorithm say?” Indian travellers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to map their journeys, with new data from Agoda’s 2026 Travel Outlook Report suggesting that AI is fast becoming central to how trips are imagined, planned and booked.
While 33 per cent of respondents said they already use AI tools for travel planning, a far larger 68 per cent indicated they are likely to rely on it for their next trip pointing to a sharp acceleration in adoption in a market already comfortable with digital-first travel.
What travellers want from AI, however, goes well beyond basic search. The report shows 38 per cent are looking for recommendations on local attractions and activities, while 37 per cent expect personalised itineraries. Destination discovery remains a key use case at 29 per cent, with dining suggestions (23 per cent) and budget management (22 per cent) also emerging as practical applications.
The shift reflects a broader change in expectations AI is no longer a novelty but a planning companion expected to work across every stage of the journey, from inspiration to execution.
Trust levels appear to be keeping pace. Nearly 88 per cent of respondents said they either trust or feel neutral about AI-generated recommendations, including 53 per cent who expressed clear confidence. This builds on earlier trends, with Agoda’s 2025 survey showing nine in ten Indian travellers already using apps to book travel suggesting AI adoption is more evolution than disruption.
The company has been testing this appetite through initiatives such as its 2025 AI-powered Vacation Planner campaign, which generated customised itineraries and visuals based on user inputs, delivered with a layer of celebrity-led engagement.
For platforms like Agoda, which aggregates more than 6 million properties, over 130,000 flight routes and 300,000 travel activities, AI offers a way to navigate scale without overwhelming users turning abundance into relevance.
As AI continues to embed itself into everyday decision-making, India is emerging as a market where travel planning is not just going digital, but decisively intelligent.
