Data residency
What is Data residency? Which country or region your company's data is stored and processed in. Kinnow lets each company account choose its region.
In plain words
Data residency is about where your company's data physically sits, and who can reach it from elsewhere. It covers the database, your uploaded files, the backups, and any place the data is sent for processing, which now includes AI services.
Indian law does not make every business keep all its data in India. But some regulators, some government and bank customers, and some contracts do ask for it, so buyers now ask software vendors for the answer in writing.
A Pune pharma distributor wins a contract with a hospital chain. The contract says customer data must stay in India. Before signing, the finance head asks the software vendor four plain questions.
| Question to ask | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| Where is the main database? | A named country and city, in writing |
| Where do backups go? | The same country, or a stated exception |
| Where are uploaded files and search indexes kept? | The same country |
| Where does AI processing run, and what leaves the country? | A clear rule, with masked data where something does leave |
The hospital's auditor may ask for the same four answers a year later.
Why it matters
- Contracts and tenders: a clause on data location can decide whether you are eligible to bid.
- Audit and regulator risk: finding out after go-live that data or backups sit abroad is expensive to undo.
- AI services: a tool that quietly sends text to a model hosted in another country can break your own promise to a customer.
Need the data-location answers for a customer or auditor? Ask us to walk through them for your account.
How Kinnow handles it
Kinnow lets each company account choose its region. Each company decides whether AI calls may leave its country. This works today on Ask Kinnow and document search, and is being added to agents. A company can also make that rule stricter.
Veil, our privacy layer, holds back bank, tax and ID numbers and swaps names for placeholders before an AI call. It covers Ask Kinnow and most agents today; the rest are being added. The trust page lists the status of each protection.
Limit: where your records sit and where an AI service runs are two separate questions. Ask us for both in writing for your account. Kinnow does not decide for you what your law or your customer's contract requires.
Tell us your region and the AI rule you need, and we will show where each setting sits.
Questions
What is Data residency?
Which country or region your company's data is stored and processed in. Kinnow lets each company account choose its region.
Is data residency the same as data protection?
No. Residency is about location. Data protection covers how data is secured, who can see it, and what you may do with it. A company can store data in India and still protect it badly, or the reverse. You need both.
Does keeping data in India satisfy the DPDP Act?
Not by itself. The DPDP Act is mainly about consent, purpose, security and people's rights over their data. Location is one part of the picture. Confirm what applies to your business with your CA or legal adviser.