VFS Global to spend 3 million euro if data localisation is mandated in India
VFS Global, an international visa outsourcing and administration company, will spend about 3 million euros on migrating data of Indians from the UK and Germany if the Indian government mandates data localisation in the country.
The article was published in ET Tech on November 19, 2018. Pranesh Prakash was quoted.
VFS Global, an international visa outsourcing and administration company, will spend about 3 million euros on migrating data of Indians from the UK and Germany if the Indian government mandates data localisation in the country, a senior company executive told ET.
India is currently debating a draft data protection bill that suggests critical personal data of Indian users held by digital and global firms be stored and processed only in the country. The draft was part of the recommendations made by a panel on data protection led by former Supreme Court judge Justice Srikrishna.
The suggestion has concerned global giants which say the cost associated with collecting and managing the user database will be considerable.
"At present, our data is stored in the United Kingdom and Germany. It will take about 3 million euros to implement it, and migrate the data. Then there will be an annual cost which I have not fully worked out. It will depend on the final bill," said Barry Cook, Group Data Protection Officer at VFS Global.
VFS Global, a division of Switzerland-based Kuoni Group, manages the administrative and non-judgmental tasks related to visa, passport, identity management and other citizen services for its client governments.
VFS Global clocked in a turnover of 447.0 million Swiss Francs (392 million euros) in 2016 versus 347.7 million Swiss Francs (304 million euros) a year earlier.
"The worst case scenario will be that all data is mandated to be processed and stored in India. A more diluted version will be if only a secondary copy has to be stored in India with no processing."
Cook said VFS Global will not be able to pass on the higher costs to applicants as the contracts with all governments are not expected to change. At present, VFS Global processes about 5 million Indian visas for various countries annually.
Analysts say India’s infrastructure costs make it expensive to store data in the country currently.
"It is far cheaper to store and process data in New York, London, even Australia, than in India. We don't have proper stable electrical connectivity because of which they will need power backup. Interconnectivity, land, power costs are higher in India," said Pranesh Prakash, a fellow at The Center for Internet and Society.
