DPDP Act reinforces trust, transparency in today’s digital economy: IBM’s Sandip Patel
What are the trends in AI worldwide, and do you think Indian enterprises are reluctant to adopt it?
Around the world, enterprises are moving from pilots to production, focusing on using AI tools to drive better business outcomes and RoI. India ranks among the world’s top digital adopters and is leading in building AI use cases. According to IBM’s AI study, 87% of Indian IT leaders report strong AI strategy progress, with 76% achieving measurable RoI.
Some of the key AI trends include data first, intelligence second, and building sovereign technology capabilities, responsible AI agents, open-source AI, and energy-efficient AI for all.
AI systems will only be as effective as the quality, accuracy and relevancy of data that feeds it. IDC estimates that by 2028 more than one billion new apps will emerge globally. To address this need, we just announced our intent to acquire Confluent, a logical next step in our hybrid cloud and AI strategy. Confluent’s platform moves data from where it is created to where it is needed, in real time. This extends our existing capabilities and completes the foundation for an end-to-end Smart Data Platform that gives enterprises a way to move, manage, and act on data living across all IT environments. Sovereignty over data, technology, and operations is no longer just a compliance issue, it’s going to be the foundation of competitiveness, resilience, and survival in the AI-driven global economy. There is a need to build sovereign capabilities in areas like large language models and generative AI, because there may be data that cannot be shared widely or there are region-specific use cases that the global ecosystem may not want to invest in.
You also indicated open-source AI and energy-friendly AI. What are your broad views on it?
The only way to guarantee that the transformative changes of AI can be harnessed by all is to ensure that the future of AI is open. That is why we collaborated with over 100+ organizations to launch the AI Alliance across industry, startups, academia, research and government. The International Energy Agency suggests AI could increase data center electricity demand tenfold, doubling power usage by 2030. For AI to scale we must work towards finding ways to reduce AI’s environmental and cost impact across the lifecycle, like adopting energy efficient hardware and using smaller AI models.
You have recently partnered with Airtel Cloud with AI-ready servers. What are few inherent benefits including data residency requirements?
Our partnership with Bharti Airtel will bring together the telco-grade reliability, high security, and data residency of Airtel Cloud with IBM’s leadership in cloud solutions, and advanced infrastructure and software technologies designed for AI inferencing. This will enable regulated industries like Banking, Manufacturing, Government and Healthcare, to scale AI workloads more efficiently, allowing interoperability across on-premise and multi-cloud environments. This ensures that Indian businesses can work with data wherever it may reside, adhering to evolving regulations.
Airtel Cloud customers will be able to deploy the IBM power systems portfolio as-a-Service, including the latest-generation IBM Power11 autonomous, AI-ready servers for mission-critical applications in regulated industries. With this partnership, Airtel Cloud will extend their availability zones in India from four to ten with plans to establish two new multizone regions (MZRs) in Mumbai and Chennai soon. The MZRs will help Indian enterprises strengthen their resilience while addressing data residency requirements.
Share your views on the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act?
The DPDP Act is a timely and welcome step. It reinforces how essential trust, transparency, and accountability are in today’s digital economy. The Act puts strong emphasis on consent management, purpose limitation, and data minimization, ensuring that individuals retain meaningful control over how their personal data is used. It also pushes enterprises to strengthen data discovery and classification, which are foundational for knowing what personal data exists, where it resides, and how it flows that is critical for delivering compliance at scale. Privacy and governance can no longer be afterthoughts; they must be embedded into architecture from day one. Our philosophy has always been that technology should enable compliance, clarity, and choice. The Act aligns well with that vision and encourages organizations to build systems that safeguard personal data while still enabling innovation and growth.
What is the kind of growth you are anticipating in the next two years on the back of increased adoption of AI and quantum computing?
India is truly at a digital renaissance moment, accelerated by the adoption of the technology trinity of AI, hybrid cloud and quantum. AI and hybrid cloud are no longer separate strategies; they are the new currency for growth. While hybrid cloud will provide control, locality and integration, AI will become the productivity and insights layer on top of that infrastructure. Quantum will address complex problems related to optimization, materials science, cryptography and new algorithms over the coming years. IBM is uniquely positioned to help both enterprises and public sector entities leverage these technologies. As AI adoption accelerates in the coming years, we expect clients to continue to turn to IBM as a trusted partner to help them modernize, embed AI, and build resilient infrastructure.
How many software labs do you have in India? What are your expansion plans locally?
We currently have six software labs in India and have announced our seventh in Lucknow. These labs reflect our belief in innovating in India, for India and for the world. In India, we operate as a microcosm of the IBM corporation. We have vibrant software labs, research labs, systems labs, and a global delivery centre, all continuing to grow. We are also expanding into cities like Kochi and Gandhinagar to access local talent and build closer partnerships with universities and clients. We are seeing strong growth in these centres. The idea is to take innovation beyond metros and make technology development more inclusive.
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