In an era where the internet underpins finance, governance, and daily life, a nationwide outage could trigger cascading crises. TRG Datacenters, a US‑based colocation and digital‑infrastructure provider, evaluated roughly 100 countries and assigned India a vulnerability score of 23.4, positioning it ninth‑most at risk of a severe digital breakdown.

Global Benchmarks: Cables and IXPs

The number of submarine cables reflects a nation’s global connectivity. India’s 22 cables lag far behind the United States’ 115, while the UK sits at 65 and Indonesia at 72. Equally critical are Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), where domestic networks exchange traffic locally, reducing latency and cost. India hosts 40 IXPs; the US leads with 209, and the UK has 30. This disparity means that, in a crisis, the US can reroute traffic domestically far more efficiently than India.

Population Reach and Internet Penetration

Approximately 70 % of Indians are online, slightly below Indonesia’s 72.8 % but far behind Australia’s 96.1 %. High penetration amplifies the impact of any outage, as billions of users, businesses, and critical services would lose connectivity simultaneously.

Risks and Policy Recommendations

With limited cable redundancy and fewer IXPs, a single cable cut could force Indian traffic onto congested routes, inflating latency and raising costs. The study suggests that policymakers prioritize expanding submarine cable landing stations, incentivising the creation of more IXPs, and exploring satellite‑based backup solutions to diversify connectivity.

Future Outlook

India’s “Digital India” and “Network Sovereignty” initiatives aim to close these gaps, but tangible progress will depend on coordinated investment from the government, private sector, and international partners. Resilience is not merely a technical metric; it is a strategic imperative that will shape the nation’s economic stability and security in the face of potential global cyber‑infrastructure disruptions.