Telecom and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday termed 2023 as a landmark year and said, "India has built a unique framework for the digital economy."
G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant today hosted an event on ‘Building Resilient and Inclusive Economies: The Promise of Digital Public Infrastructure’.
Microsoft co-founder Gates, who addressed the session, appreciated India's competitive private market and reliable and low-cost connectivity. "This will be the cheapest 5G market," Gates added.
India has a great digital network and a very high percentage of people using smartphones, he noted.
Union Minister of Communications, Electronics and IT, and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw mentioned, "India has created a unique framework for the digital economy that focuses on making a difference in people's lives."
Digital public infrastructure is an important priority of India during its presidency year. A robust digital public infrastructure can accelerate a nation’s progress towards achieving economic growth and ensure greater job creation and innovation.
MobiKwik Chairperson and Co-founder Upasana Taku, ZestMoney Co-founder and CEO Lizzie Chapman and Open Financial Technologies Co-founder and COO Mabel Chacko also shared their views on the pace of financial inclusion and development of digital infrastructure in India.
‘What is unique about India’s digital public infrastructure is that it is open source, interoperable, scalable, transferable, secure, and based on public-private partnership. India has made it a policy objective to ensure the benefits of the digital economy reach the last mile—this is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of inclusive growth," Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant spoke on India’s digital public infrastructure model. He said, ‘Building and scaling digital public infrastructure has demonstrated the utility of safe, secure, and interoperable digital public platforms that have improved service delivery, minimized leakages and ensured efficient utilization of available resources."
Bill Gates said, ‘India has shown how investments in technology and innovation at scale can unleash changes from how people save money to how governments serve their citizens. There is an urgent need for an international initiative on digital public infrastructure to advance a range of G20 priorities, including pandemic preparedness, women’s economic empowerment, financial inclusion, good governance, food security, agricultural transformation, and digital health transformation.’
India’s achievements in financial inclusion, digital health, digital education, and governance demonstrate how to scale technologies, thereby maximising their impact. India’s digital transformation model holds more potential to unlock inclusive growth.