IBM and Yotta to build agentic AI platform on India-hosted sovereign cloud
Synopsis
IBM and Yotta Data Services are joining forces to build an agentic AI platform on India-hosted sovereign cloud — a move that directly addresses the country's tightening data residency and compliance mandates. With IBM watsonx Orchestrate and IBM Sovereign Core running on Yotta's MeitY-empanelled Shakti Cloud, the collaboration signals a maturing shift from AI experimentation to governed, enterprise-scale AI deployment in India.
Key Takeaways
IBM and Yotta Data Services announced plans on 7 May 2025 to build a jointly developed Agentic AI platform for Indian enterprises and government organisations.
The platform will use IBM watsonx Orchestrate deployed on Yotta's Shakti Cloud , a MeitY-empanelled, India-hosted GPU infrastructure.
IBM Sovereign Core will also run on Shakti Cloud, offering continuous compliance monitoring and governed AI execution.
Target use cases include IT service management, HR, finance, procurement, and customer support .
The solution is designed to meet India's data residency mandates and regulatory compliance requirements.
IBM and Indian cloud infrastructure firm Yotta Data Services on Thursday, 7 May announced plans to jointly develop an Agentic AI platform for enterprises and government organisations in India, to be hosted entirely on a locally based sovereign cloud. The platform is designed to help organisations scale AI adoption while meeting India's evolving data residency, security, and regulatory compliance requirements.
What the Platform Will Offer
The proposed platform will be built using IBM watsonx Orchestrate — IBM's enterprise agentic AI solution — and deployed on Yotta's Shakti Cloud, a scalable GPU-powered infrastructure designed specifically for Indian enterprises. According to the official statement, the platform will enable organisations to deploy and manage AI agents across key business functions including IT service management, HR, finance, procurement, and customer support.
Additionally, IBM Sovereign Core will also be hosted on Yotta's Shakti Cloud, enabling organisations to build and operate AI-ready sovereign environments. This layer is intended to deliver continuous compliance monitoring, verifiable control, and governed AI execution across data, operations, technology, and AI workloads.
Sovereign Cloud and Regulatory Alignment
A key feature of the collaboration is its alignment with India's regulatory framework. IBM Sovereign Core, deployed on a MeitY-empanelled infrastructure, will provide a sovereign environment tailored to the country's compliance requirements. The solution is designed to help enterprises and government bodies meet data residency mandates, maintain audit-ready compliance evidence, and deploy AI workloads within defined sovereign boundaries.
This comes amid growing pressure on Indian enterprises and public sector organisations to ensure that sensitive data and AI-driven operations remain within national borders — a regulatory priority that has intensified as AI adoption accelerates across sectors.
What the Leaders Said
Sandip Patel, Managing Director of IBM India and South Asia, said,
Point of View
Finance, and IT service management sounds compelling on paper, but enterprise deployments at scale routinely expose integration debt that no partnership announcement addresses. India's sovereign cloud market is heating up fast, and this collaboration stakes out early positioning — but the proof will be in live government and enterprise deployments, not press releases.
NationPress
8 May 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IBM and Yotta agentic AI platform?
It is a jointly developed Agentic AI platform announced on 7 May 2025, built using IBM watsonx Orchestrate and deployed on Yotta's Shakti Cloud, an India-hosted sovereign cloud infrastructure. The platform is designed to help Indian enterprises and government organisations deploy AI agents across business functions while meeting data residency and compliance requirements.
What is IBM watsonx Orchestrate?
IBM watsonx Orchestrate is IBM's enterprise agentic AI platform that enables organisations to orchestrate AI-driven workflows across business functions such as HR, finance, IT service management, and customer support. It forms the core AI layer of the IBM-Yotta collaboration.
What is Yotta's Shakti Cloud?
Shakti Cloud is Yotta Data Services' scalable GPU infrastructure and AI services platform designed for Indian enterprises. It is empanelled by MeitY, making it eligible for government deployments, and will host both IBM watsonx Orchestrate and IBM Sovereign Core under the new collaboration.
Why is sovereign cloud important for AI in India?
Sovereign cloud ensures that data and AI workloads remain within national borders, meeting India's evolving data residency mandates and regulatory compliance requirements. For government organisations in particular, using a MeitY-empanelled infrastructure is increasingly a prerequisite for AI adoption.
Which business functions will the platform support?
According to the official statement, the platform will enable organisations to deploy and manage AI agents across IT service management, HR, finance, procurement, and customer support functions.
