Nearly three centuries ago, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, and the English came to India, seeking to trade in spices, silk, gold, and other precious commodities. Over time, they influenced the political process and gained a stronghold on India, establishing themselves as colonial masters. Today, in 2019, history seems to be repeating itself; a few technology companies – all of them, American – are fighting a battle to get hold of one precious commodity: Data.
With over 1.2 billion people – and over 460 million internet users, the second largest online market – India is a data mining haven. With new users joining the internet, the numbers are only likely to increase. So, euphemistically, American technology corporations call India a ‘priority market.’ You can hear it in their facile rhetoric, polished press releases and artfully crafted mission statements.
“If you really have a mission of connecting every person in the world, you can’t do that without helping to connect everyone in India,” said Mark Zuckerberg, when he visited New Delhi in October 2015. What he did not mention, however, is how data generated by every Indian is a means to enrich his data mining empire – Facebook.
Similarly, the Managing Director of Google, India, Rajan Anand, said: “at Google, we are extremely committed to India. Our mission in India is internet for every Indian…we decided to put high-speed free wi-fi in India’s railway stations – through the course of that we built a product called Google Station.” India was a test market for Google’s product – ‘Google station.’ It was promptly replicated in other ‘developing countries’ across the world.
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