The Indian Innovation That Can Change the World

Source: The post is based on the article “The Indian Innovation That Can Change The World” published in The Times of India on 16^th December 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Governance

Relevance: Digital revolution in India

News: The first two decades of the 21st century saw the tech giant Google, Amazon, Meta coming up with innovation and value creation in the market. However, India has taken a unique path for its development.

What path has been taken by India for development?

India has adopted Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in its governance. This has enabled India to lead the world and reduce the digital divide.

These public digital platforms are open source, have open APIs (application programming interfaces), open standards for interoperability and leverage public data for innovation.

These low cost and inclusive platforms are based on principles of consent-based data sharing and reduce the digital divide. They also create a level playing field through regulatory framework.

The platforms included in DPI are – JAM trinity which links Aadhaar, mobiles and bank accounts, DigiLocker for digital storage and documents, Bharat Bill Pay, etc.

These platforms are based on principles of openness, equity, inclusivity, fairness, transparency and trust. India has also been able to solve the challenge of digital inclusion with these platforms.

For example, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has seen an increase in the number of accounts operated by women from 15% to 56%, and 67% of the account holders are from rural and semi-urban areas. The average deposit per account has gone up by 71%.

A recent study by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) highlighted that India has made a remarkable progress in digital public infrastructure.

It is expected that this digital infrastructure will act as an economic divide amongst the nations of the world in the coming future.

Further, it has also led to development of top-class payment products on top of UPI like PhonePe, GPay, etc.

What is the future innovation being taken by India?

India is now democratising e-commerce through interoperability, i.e., the launch of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

ONDC will provide access and equity to small and medium-sized merchants, increasing choice and quality for customers, and ensure competitiveness and efficiency across the value chain.

It will revolutionize the transaction of people, empower MSMEs and provide with greater negotiation options. It will also help in democratising the digital platform to Indian retailers who have stayed away from it.

What can be the course of action?

India is taking over the G20 presidency and it is a great platform for India to create a complete package of these digital platforms and deliver them as an end-to-end e-governance service to digitally transform the world.