Pariksha SaathiPIB Backgrounder on India's cloud ecosystem: MeghRaj, launched in 2014, adopted by 2,330 government departments; 30 cloud service providers empanelled
A PIB Backgrounder of 29 October 2026, 'Cloud Ecosystem in India', says cloud computing is becoming an important foundation for digital governance and public service delivery, and that a domestic cloud can support data sovereignty by strengthening national control over critical digital resources. MeghRaj, the Government of India's Cloud Ecosystem, was launched in 2014 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to accelerate e-governance and optimise public ICT spending; MeghRaj 2.0, the second-generation iteration of this National Cloud Computing Initiative, provides IaaS, PaaS and SaaS models through a distributed cloud architecture and hosting for platforms including DigiLocker, MyGov, the National Scholarship Portal and the Department of Posts' Advanced Postal Technology (APT). By September 2026, adoption of the ecosystem had grown to 2,330 government departments. As of September 2026, India had empanelled 30 Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). The National Informatics Centre (NIC) operates 4 National Data Centres and 24 Mini Data Centres across the country, and India's data centre capacity reached 1.57 GW as of August 2026 and is projected to grow to nearly 8 GW by 2030. In March 2026, MeitY issued a Cloud Selection Framework to guide Ministries and Departments in selecting cloud infrastructure based on data sensitivity and criticality. The Digital India BHASHINI platform has migrated to an Indian cloud operated by Yotta Data Services, keeping its language datasets, AI models and citizen interactions within India's jurisdiction. The IndiaAI Mission, approved with an outlay of ₹10,371.92 crore, has onboarded more than 45,000 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for a common AI computing facility, and the FutureSkills PRIME programme, launched in 2021 by MeitY-NASSCOM, had 34 lakh registered candidates by August 2026.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
In a reply in the Rajya Sabha on 12 December 2025, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada said that a national cloud infrastructure had been established under the Digital India initiative to meet the Government of India's cloud requirements: the 'GI Cloud', known as MeghRaj, provides secure, scalable and elastic cloud facilities for delivering e-Governance services, and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) offers the cloud services to Ministries and Departments, 2,170 of which had hosted their cloud-based applications on MeghRaj. MeitY had also empanelled the cloud services of 26 cloud service providers, after a successful audit by the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate with reference to international security standards (ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018 and ISO 20000). Industry estimates put India's cloud data centre capacity at approximately 1,280 MW, expected to grow 4-5 times by 2030.
Check yourself: by what other name is MeghRaj known, and which body offers the cloud services to Ministries and Departments?
The 'GI Cloud'; the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
Revision task: from this release, note MeghRaj's launch year and ministry, the number of government departments that had adopted the MeghRaj ecosystem by September 2026, the platforms MeghRaj 2.0 hosts, the number of empanelled cloud service providers, NIC's data centres, the data centre capacity now and projected for 2030, the IndiaAI Mission's outlay and GPUs, and the Cloud Selection Framework; from the note, MeghRaj's other name, who offers its services, the December 2025 figures for departments and cloud service providers, and the standards used to audit the providers.
Test yourself
What is the name of the Government of India's Cloud Ecosystem, launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in 2014 to accelerate e-governance and optimise public ICT spending?
Show the answer
Answer: MeghRaj
MeghRaj, the Government of India's Cloud Ecosystem, was launched in 2014 by MeitY; by September 2026 its adoption had grown to 2,330 government departments. Its second-generation iteration, MeghRaj 2.0, provides hosting for platforms including DigiLocker, MyGov and the National Scholarship Portal.
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