Setting Base For A Strong Digital Economy-E. S. Rao

IN the last 70 years, India has moved from the Agriculture age to the Industrial age and now moving towards the digital age with the revolution in the digital electronics, IT and Telecom technologies and contributing to the Indian economic growth and GDP. 

As our Honorable Prime Minister said, “Digital India is an enterprise for India’s transformation on a scale that is perhaps unmatched in human history.” And, as Shri Nandan Nilekani, Co-founder of Infosys, has said, “The new trifecta of a bank account, digital identity and smartphone for everyone will drive economic change.” And, as Sunder Pichai, CEO of Google, puts it, “We have learned that when we solve for a place like India, we solve for everyone around the world.” 

The advancements in the Information Technology in the application Software in India has led to the growth and diversification of the applications to different industries, which enhances the productivity and reliability of the deliverable services and products with CMM Level-5 quality.

Financial Interconnectivity 

With the revolution in the telecom high-speed connectivity (4G and Fiber), accessibility and affordability of e-commerce and m-commerce have grown phenomenally in the last five years. It enabled largely the logistics and retail stakeholders usage with the specialised and niche fintech application software using the standalone desktop computer and the smart mobile phones.

As an intermediary, fintech companies with specialised software are interconnected with banking, insurance and NBFC entities in compliance with the banking and insurance regulations and provides highly reliable and secured services on the digital telecom networks with proper risk management frameworks to minimise the losses. 

The fintech companies are now using predominantly huge databases and applying the data analytics with the help of deep machine learning and AI for optimising the performance and risk minimisation, This provides the confidence to all the stakeholders during the live transaction operations passing through various digital networks while following all the compliances and regulations as per the IT Act.

Financial Inclusivity

With the evolution of the 5G and IOT devices which are likely to be fully operational by 2023 along with the growing tele-density above 90 per cent and the drop in the smart mobile phone prices, the banking, insurance and NBFC sectors are likely to have more of digital nature and applications, connecting to various other industrial sectors. Conequently, they are more likely to reach the rural areas for the inclusive digital divide to avail the quality fintech services to all corners of the country. 

With the successful enablement of JAM and good literacy levels, the usage of various fintech Apps on the mobile phones and the connectivity of the state level e-governance digital networks are able to provide various governance services at an affordable cost to the common man, even in the remote areas without going physically to the bank or the government office. Thus, we can say with confidence that India is moving at a significant speed in the digital economy space. It also enhances the valuations of the fintech start-ups and attracts the investments and FDI, enabling India to be in the forefront in the international arena.