Key takeaways
- Government migrates 1.67 million official email accounts to Zoho Cloud for enhanced security and sovereignty.
- The ₹180-crore migration ensures government retains full data ownership and aligns with Make in India.
- NIC selected Zoho via competitive bidding to provide cloud-based email services to government users.
- Pricing for email services ranges from ₹170-₹300 per account monthly based on storage capacity.
- Initiative mandates NIC email use, improving scalability, security, and control over official communications.
The Centre has migrated around 16.68 lakh official email accounts to a cloud-based platform operated by Zoho, with total expenditure reaching ₹180.10 crore so far, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) informed the Lok Sabha.
The migration was carried out through the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which selected Zoho as the Master System Integrator (MSI) to provide a cloud-based email solution for government users. The selection followed a Government e-Marketplace (GeM-CPPP) bidding process, which included a proof of concept with shortlisted vendors and designated user groups.
According to the Ministry, the move is a part of a broader push to establish a secure and sovereign official email system for government departments. The system ensures that the government retains full ownership of data and intellectual property generated under the contract while also aligning with “Make in India” requirements.
The pricing for email services ranges from ₹170 to ₹300 per account per month, depending on the mailbox storage capacity, which varies from 30 GB to 100 GB. Payments are made based on the number of accounts successfully migrated to the platform.
The latest figures indicate a significant increase in adoption over a few months. In December, the government had reported that approximately 12.68 lakh accounts had been migrated, including 7.45 lakh belonging to central government employees.
The initiative aims to regulate official communication infrastructure across ministries and departments by mandating the use of NIC-provided email services. By moving to a cloud-based system, the government is seeking to improve scalability, security, and administrative control over official communications.
The update was shared in response to a parliamentary question by MP Rachna Banerjee, with Minister of State for Electronics and IT Jitin Prasada outlining details of the tendering process, pricing structure and implementation progress.
The migration marks one of the largest deployments of a domestically managed cloud-based email system within the government.
