Negotiating the Digital Domain: Strategic Engagement Frameworks in India’s Data Diplomacy

Abstract

The growing significance of data-intensive technologies has positioned data as a critical geopolitical asset, prompting the emergence of data diplomacy as an increasingly important domain in contemporary foreign policy. This article examines the strategic relevance of data diplomacy in India’s foreign policy through a qualitative analysis of policy documents, legislative frameworks and international engagements in the digital domain. It examines data diplomacy as a mutually re-enforcing process in which domestic data governance and international digital strategy are interrelated. The article analyses how domestic regulatory choices shape India’s global negotiating positions while geopolitical, technological and economic imperatives simultaneously influence the evolution of domestic data governance. By locating areas of cooperation and contestation, the article demonstrates how data diplomacy is emerging as a crucial mechanism in India’s digital strategic outlook through which it seeks to reconcile multiple objectives such as developmental priorities, digital sovereignty, economic competitiveness and strategic autonomy within an evolving global digital order.