Everpure the company revolutionizing storage and data management, today released new global research revealing that 88% of large enterprise C-suite leaders globally, and 90% of those in India, believe a data sovereignty failure could cost them their jobs, while 91% (92% in India) worry about financial and reputational damage to their organisation. Despite these high stakes, 57% of Indian organisations, and 64% around the world, operate without a formal data sovereignty strategy in place—exposing a vulnerability in modern enterprise data management in today’s uncertain geopolitical environment.
Data sovereignty has evolved into a defining business risk—with challenges ranging from foreign-mandated data exfiltration to potential Denial of Service (DoS) incidents. Everpure’s Global Data Sovereignty Report 2026 surveyed 2,100 enterprise leaders across eight countries, including 300 in India, to evaluate strategic intent against real operational readiness.
The results reveal a stark divide:
Data Sovereignty Concern is Real:
- 90% of organisations globally, and 95% in India, recognise data sovereignty as a business concern, with the overwhelming majority expecting severe financial or leadership consequences in the event of a failure.
- 85% (82% in India) are willing to compromise on advanced features and functionality to work with a local or sovereign provider.
- 40% (39% in India) are already limiting their use of SaaS providers reliant on non-domestic infrastructure.
Recognition without Readiness:
- Despite these revelations, 64% of all organisations – and 57% of those based in India – operate without a formal data sovereignty strategy in place.
- 62% lack full visibility into who can access, control and manage their data, a figure which drops to 55% for Indian enterprises, the lowest of all the countries surveyed.
- 56% of all enterprises have no mitigation plans for geopolitical data exfiltration or service disruption, with 51% of Indian businesses admitting the same thing.
- 56% admit they lack the skills and capacity to deliver sovereignty initiatives, while 36% globally are facing challenges with executive buy-in. In India, just 26% struggle to gain executive buy-in – the lowest figure of any country surveyed – suggesting Indian leadership teams are more likely to be in lockstep with their technical teams on the need to act.
- Only 9%, both globally and in India, say protection from extraterritorial data access is a top priority.
The findings expose a clear “sovereignty gap” between executive recognition of risk and actual operational readiness. Many companies still treat sovereignty as a routine cybersecurity or compliance exercise. As a result, organisations fail to secure control of their data, and cannot defend against geopolitical threats that could result in significant consequences.
In India, the issue has also rapidly become a baseline criteria in procurement. 44% of local businesses, more than any other country surveyed, now classify data sovereignty as a significant consideration in their vendor selection/RFP processes, compared to just 1% who considered it significant one year prior.
“Indian boards are not the obstacle – 95% already see data sovereignty as a business concern, and executive buy-in is less of a barrier in India than in any other market surveyed. The opportunity is converting that mandate into operational reality, because 57% still have no formal strategy in place. As India builds out AI at pace, sovereignty becomes a question of knowing who can access your data, whose laws apply, and what happens to the business if critical services are disrupted.” – Ramanujam Komanduri, Country Manager, Everpure India.
“Digital sovereignty has moved from a compliance conversation to a critical board-level concern. The challenge for executives is not just about knowing where their data are hosted. It is about being in total control of all data access and transfers (including all metadata), guaranteed protection against extra-territorial data requests, and managing IT and vendor risks in the light of geopolitical uncertainties.” – Rahiel Nasir, Research Director and Lead Analyst, Worldwide Digital Sovereignty, IDC.
Everpure’s Recommendation: Sovereignty by Design
A successful sovereignty strategy requires moving from passive risk recognition to targeted operational execution. Organisations can follow a set of interconnected steps to become sovereign by design – a business-driven, risk-aware framework where sovereignty controls and governance are applied according to the risk of each data set, application and workload. The focus shifts from national sovereignty to corporate sovereignty, an approach based on an organisation’s specific risk appetite and view on regulation.
This model enables businesses to protect critical assets from key sovereignty risks without sacrificing the flexibility, innovation or scale of global SaaS and cloud providers.
Everpure Data Intelligence supports this model by discovering, classifying and contextualising enterprise data across the Everpure Platform, public clouds, SaaS applications, and third-party storage. This facilitates sovereignty by providing total visibility of their data estate, enabling organisations to make informed decisions about how data should be governed and protected.
By focusing on data and mitigating against risks, organisations can become sovereign by design – transforming sovereignty from a barrier to innovation to a source of resilience and competitive advantage.