Microsoft 365 Copilot to offer in-country data processing in India

India among first four markets to get local data processing for Microsoft 365 Copilot by end-2025, aimed at boosting trust and regulatory compliance

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Software and services conglomerate Microsoft on Wednesday said it will start offering the option of in-country data processing for Indian customers in Microsoft 365 Copilot interactions by the end of 2025.

 

In-country data processing means allowing collection, storage, and analysis of data within the geographical boundaries of a specific country.

 

India is among the top four markets globally to get in-country data processing for customers’ Microsoft 365 Copilot interactions available in the market by the end of 2025. The other three countries include Australia, the United Kingdom and Japan.

 

“As every organisation evolves to become a Frontier Firm -- human-led, agent-operated -- trust is the foundation that powers

 

AI transformation for governments and enterprises worldwide. Where and how data is processed and stored by AI-powered services helps further reinforce that foundation of trust,” Paul Lorimer, the corporate vice president of Office 365 Enterprise and Cloud Engineering at the company, said in a blog post.

 

Microsoft will start offering Microsoft 365 Copilot users the option of in-country data processing in 14 other countries by the end of 2026. Users in countries such as Canada, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States will get this option by the end of 2026.

 

The offer, Lorimer said in the blog post, is to enable customers, especially in government and highly-regulated industries, to access Microsoft 365 Copilot “with an additional option for governance, security, and regulatory compliance”.

 

“With in-country processing, Copilot interactions are processed, under normal operations, in data centers located within a nation’s borders, giving customers greater control over their data. In-country data processing can also improve performance by reducing latency, delivering an even more responsive Copilot experience,” Lorimer said.

 

Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based subscription service that provides individuals and businesses with productivity applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneDrive, among others.

 

Several prominent technology companies are increasingly adopting in-country data residency and processing to ensure that users of their cloud services, AI programs, APIs (application programming interfaces), and other products comply with the local data storage and processing norms of their respective governments. Some companies have also started offering these options to users as concerns over sovereign data storage, processing and control have gained prominence.

 

Earlier this year, in May, OpenAI, in which Microsoft hold a 27 per cent stake, had said that it would start storing in India the data of domestic ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Edu, and the OpenAI API (application programming interface) Platform users to help them meet local data sovereignty requirements when using OpenAI products in their businesses and building new solutions with AI.