NEW DELHI: Microsoft has urged the government to consider using its cloud offerings and data centres for projects such as those involving stateowned enterprises, banking and smart cities.Microsoft chief legal officer Brad Smith met communications and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad , who said the government will be open to using the company’s products as long as it approaches the relevant authorities through proper procedures and ensures that security concerns are addressed, according to a person familiar with the discussions.Microsoft did not immediately respond to an email query seeking comment. Microsoft launched local data centres in India in September, offering its Azure cloud services and commercial Office 365 services, as the company sought to build up confidence in the products among the government, Indian companies and small and medium businesses in the country.“When we think about the cloud opportunity in India itself, it is going to be a $2 trillion opportunity,” Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella had said at the launch of the data centres.The ruling BJP has in the past asked multinational corporations to set up local data centres to maintain data sovereignty and a large number of Indian enterprises have increasingly voiced concerns about hosting their data on the public cloud due to security concerns.Setting up of local data centres by Microsoft was seen as an important development, especially for data-sensitive industries such as banking and e-governance projects. Smith also discussed the progress of its white space technology project to provide free Internet connectivity, which the technology giant has been testing in India since last year. Microsoft had proposed that it be provided spectrum free of cost for the testing phase.At Friday’s meeting, the minister is learnt to have said that the government will decide on using white space technology after evaluating the pilot programme.“The ministry will take a call on the project provided security concerns are met. The minister asked Microsoft to look at developing alternative technologies to take broadband to the inaccessible areas of the country,” the person said.