Microsoft’s Retiring Old Software Leaves Indian Companies With The Bill

By Dev Chandrasekhar

What?

Somewhere in a data centre in Navi Mumbai or Whitefield, a SharePoint 2016 system runs the document workflows of a listed Indian bank. 

SharePoint is Microsoft software that lets companies store documents, share them and control who can access them on their own servers. But the software stopped receiving security patches on July 14.

Another product, Office Online Server, that lets employees open a loan file in a browser and edit it alongside a colleague without moving the file off the company's servers, will stop receiving patches on December 31, 2026.

Microsoft describes the changes as part of its effort to modernise productivity software and focus on cloud-based products.

For shareholders, the logic is simpler — the on-premises business wasn't generating recurring revenue, so it was closed. 

The problem is that many Indian banks, insurers, brokerages and government-owned companies still have good reasons to keep sensitive documents on their own systems. They now have to decide what comes next.

And the risk isn’t theoretical either. 

In July 2025, attackers broke into on-premises SharePoint servers around the world through a vulnerability that forced Microsoft to issue an emergency patch for the 2016 and 2019 versions, as well as the current version.

The next vulnerability in the 2016 or 2019 versions will not get that treatment.

For an Indian bank, insurer or public-sector company still running them, what was once an upgrade that could be scheduled at leisure is now an open security and audit issue.

Every route away from those servers costs money.

Why? 

Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, the mail and calendar software behind Outlook for companies that host their own email, left support in October last year. 

SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019 followed on 14 July, the date Microsoft's own lifecycle list gives for both. 

Office Online Server, the add-on that lets staff open, preview and jointly edit Word and Excel files in a browser without the file ever leaving the company's own SharePoint, retires on 31 December with no successor.

Consider what that means for a company that kept its documents on its own servers so they never left the building. 

Until now, staff could open a file in a browser and edit it together while the file stayed put. 

From January, the only supported way to edit that file will be to download it to a PC, open it in desktop Word or Excel, and upload it back. That is how it worked a decade ago.

Every edit puts a copy of the file on someone's laptop, only one person can work on it at a time, and the single copy of record an auditor expects is replaced by versions scattered across the building. These are the problems browser editing was bought to solve.

The browser editing the company bought in 2016 will still exist. But instead it being on-premises, it will live only in Microsoft's cloud.

What Now? 

A perpetual software licence is bought once. A Microsoft 365 subscription generates revenue every month, with additional products such as Copilot available on top.

Retiring the older products removes an alternative.

For Microsoft, every customer that moves from an old licence to a subscription becomes a recurring source of revenue.

Retiring the on-premises products does not merely nudge customers towards that model. It removes the alternative.

Every reluctant migrant is a new annuity, and the refusal to sell extended support ensures the migration cannot be postponed past the current financial year.

Indian IT services companies have an opportunity here too.

Don’t Miss a Beat: The Hidden Risks to Indians

For people making high-stakes decisions every day, stress can become routine. Long hours, poor sleep and constant pressure are often treated as part of the job. But cardiovascular risk can build quietly. High blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and genetic risk may show few obvious signs, even in people who feel healthy and perform at a high level.

On 6 October, The Core, in partnership with EDGE Community, is bringing together leading cardiologists for a closed-door breakfast conversation hosted by The Quorum Club Mumbai, moderated by Govindraj Ethiraj.

The discussion will focus on what high-performing professionals should know about prevention, screening and the risks that are easy to overlook. If you manage risk for a living, your heart should be part of that equation too.

By invitation only| 6 October 2026 | 8:30 AM onwards | Mumbai

Some teams never seem to stop moving. They're on Attio, the agentic CRM.

Every customer signal is captured in one shared context layer, always current and compounding. Agents and workflows build pipeline, chase every buying signal, and move deals forward, an always-on revenue engine running alongside your team.

With Attio, you’ll get:

• Leads automatically prioritised and routed to the right rep

• Expansion and risk signals caught the moment they land

• Follow-ups written in your voice, already there when you arrive

Teams like Parallel, Turbopuffer, and Wordsmith build on Attio. Are you one of them?

Get started now

$9.5 billion

That’s how much equity capital the real estate, data centre and hospitality sectors attracted in India in Q3 2026, the highest quarterly figure on record, according to CBRE, a global real estate firm. The inflow more than doubled from $4.4 bn in the same quarter last year and from $3.8 bn in Q2 2026.

By the Numbers:

• Q3 2026: $9.5 bn

• Q2 2026: $3.8 bn

• Q3 2025: $4.4 bn

Origin: The surge was driven largely by rising investor appetite for data centres, along with continued investment in built-up office assets and land and development sites. Data centres alone accounted for 57% of Q3 inflows, while the three segments together made up nearly 91% of total capital deployed.

Pivot: Foreign investors also returned strongly, accounting for around 59% of total inflows. US investors contributed 90% of foreign capital, followed by investors from Canada, Singapore and Japan. Institutional investors accounted for about 79% of inflows, up 28 percentage points from the previous quarter.

The strong quarter took total investment in the first nine months of 2026 to $18.6 bn, nearly twice the level recorded in the same period last year and already above the $14.2 bn invested during all of 2025.

Red Bull’s FSSAI Relief

The Delhi High Court’s decision to set aside Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI’s) order against Red Bull’s use of the “energy drink” label has brought fresh attention to the regulator’s widening scrutiny of food products and packaging.

The court said Red Bull was not allowed to present its views before issuing the order, Reuters reported.

Fast Facts: FSSAI had ordered makers of high-caffeine beverages sold as “energy drinks” to stop using the description.

Red Bull challenged the move, arguing that the prohibition created regulatory uncertainty and affected its existing and planned investments. FSSAI plans to appeal the court’s decision, according to Reuters.

The action comes as FSSAI pushes tighter rules across packaged food. In September, it proposed a single-phase rollout of front-of-pack warning labels, under which products could carry a warning if even one of three nutrients, sugar, salt or saturated fat, crosses the prescribed limit.

Forecast: For FMCG companies, the Red Bull case highlights the growing business impact of changes in food-labelling rules.

As FSSAI moves to tighten warnings on packaged foods, companies may have to revisit packaging, product claims and compliance plans, while still waiting for clarity on the final rules and implementation timelines.

AI Slows Indian IT

Indian IT services firms, which enjoyed double-digit growth during the post-pandemic digital boom, are heading into earnings with little to cheer. Kotak Institutional Equities expects demand in the July-September quarter to stay flat, even though it is a seasonally strong period.

Infosys may lower its yearly growth forecast, and Wipro may predict a decline.

Context: The slowdown traces largely to artificial intelligence (AI). Tools that write code have made engineers more productive, so clients now ask for lower prices when contracts are renewed. Kotak estimates gross AI deflation of about 7% and net deflation of 3.5%, with new AI revenue still too small to compensate.

Setup: HCLTech is the lone large-cap bright spot at 2% sequential growth, while Infosys and TCS are forecast at 1.1% and 0.5%.

Social Media Shapes Home Buying

A new home is increasingly being discovered on a phone screen, with social media becoming a key source of inspiration for Indian shoppers.

Nearly 80% of home shoppers now discover products through social platforms, according to a Deloitte India report.

By The Numbers: India’s home and household market is expected to reach $260 billion by 2030, growing 1.6 times over the next five years. The market covers categories including appliances and durables, furniture and furnishings, kitchen and bath solutions, and interior services.

Social media is particularly important among younger consumers.

Around 57% of consumers aged 18-28 seek inspiration from creators and influencers, compared with 27% of those aged 45-60. At the same time, 60% of consumers use e-commerce apps in stores to research products, compare prices, and find offers.

Forecast: The changing discovery journey could push home and household brands to rethink how they reach consumers.

Deloitte said companies will increasingly need to connect physical and digital channels and offer more personalised experiences.

The US Visa Bottleneck

US visa delays in India are becoming a capacity problem. A new report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 68 US consular officers in India handled 1.45 million nonimmigrant visa applications in FY2025, averaging 21,401 applications each, the highest workload among the four countries studied.

India also had the longest average interview wait: 346 days, versus 283 days in Mexico, 34 days in China and 32 days in Brazil.

Impact: The delays matter because the US is a major destination for Indians, whether for higher education, work, business, tourism or visiting family. The country is also one of India’s biggest sources of international students and skilled-worker opportunities, making visa access particularly important for Indians planning to travel or relocate temporarily. 

State Department data showed B1/B2 appointments can still take up to 12 months in Hyderabad, with long waits in Mumbai and Delhi.

How We Got Here: GAO points to staffing shortages and high demand. Globally, nonimmigrant visa officers fell from 1,342 to 904 in FY2025, amid hiring freezes and attrition.

The best in influencer marketing. And you’re invited.

Get ready for Return on Influence Festival '26. An entire day dedicated to influencer marketing with speakers running some of the best programs in the world. October 21, 2026, 10 am - 5 pm ET.

Save your spot now

Why Indian Markets Have Gone Back 25 Years

On Episode 993 of The Core Report, financial journalist Govindraj Ethiraj talks to Peter McGuire, CEO of Trading.com Australia and Chief Market Strategist for the Asia-Pacific region at XM as well as Shriram Subramanian, founder and managing director at InGovern Research Services.

• Why Indian Markets Have Gone Back 25 Years

• What The Combination Of High Oil Prices And Rising Bond Yields Means For Capital Flows

• Essar Group Is Back With $18 Billion Steel Project, But In The USA

• How Foreign Investors Are Buying Into Real Estate

• And The Logjam Within Logjams As Tata Trusts Comes Up With Merger Proposal To Save Tata Sons From Listing