'Does He Understand IT Industry?': Vaishnaw Rebuts Rahul Gandhi At GBS 2026, Says 'Free Flow of Data Is India's Strength'

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday hit out at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for questioning India’s data strategy, saying such remarks reflect a lack of understanding of how the country’s IT and digital economy functions. Speaking at ET Now Global Business Summit (GBS) 2026, Vaishnaw said India’s entire IT industry is built on the free flow of global data. Information from across the world being processed in India for global banks, insurance companies, retail giants, logistics firms and multinational corporations is processed here, he remarked."I don't want to get into a blame game, but recently the leader of opposition was questioning India's data strategy. I would like to ask him a few questions. Does he know that our entire IT industry is built on free flow of data?

The entire world's data is brought to India to do the processing here and do the operations of the companies, global companies, global banks, global insurance giants, global retail, global logistics, that entire data comes to India, gets processed here and does he know that that is the foundation of our IT industry? He is wanting to shut down every movement of data," said Vaishnaw.He also referred to the government’s data centre push, noting that the scheme announced in the Union Budget aims to attract the world’s data to India and enable Indian companies to provide AI-based services globally. Vaishnaw added that India’s semiconductor programme forms the backbone of a data-driven economy and is crucial for building sovereign AI models.“I will request the opposition to take a look at that, understand that, see that journey which has happened which could never happen in the first six decades of our independence,” he said.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, and later in a detailed post on X (formerly Twitter), Rahul Gandhi claimed that India missed a historic opportunity to shape the global AI future on its own terms and accused the Modi government of giving in to US pressure under the guise of digital trade reforms."With this deal, India will struggle to safely store the data of 1.5 billion Indians in India, ⁠get transparency in their source codes and algorithms, tax the profits they make using our data," he claimed.

Global Business Summit 2026

The Global Business Summit 2026 kicked off in New Delhi on Friday, bringing together global leaders, market experts and policymakers to chart strategies for a world moving at breakneck speed. Day one concluded with a keynote address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who highlighted that India’s true strength has been tested and proven during global crises over the past decade. He emphasised that this period has witnessed not only remarkable economic expansion but also the strengthening of India’s democratic foundations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk-XdeQIilk

Themed “A Decade of Disruption. A Century of Change,” the summit convenes some of the world’s most influential voices to debate the defining forces of our time — from rapid technological transformation and geopolitical realignments to sustainability challenges and evolving models of governance.