Discussing India's Techade At the launch of the book 'India's Techade', the Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Piyush Goyal said that India has found its place in the sun in terms of the foray into digital payment and digital public goods, which have become the talk of the world.

The story of how UPI changed the digital payments landscape of India is no secret. In just a few years, UPI created a payment revolution in India. Its success can be gauged from the fact that in mere 18 months, more Indians signed up for it than for credit cards in the last 18 years. Not just UPI, India also witnessed the rollout of digital direct benefit transfers, digital public infrastructure and inter-linked e-governance systems. The digital solutions created by India led Prime Minister Modi to term this decade as 'India's Techade'.

Decoding this term further, on Thursday, at the launch of 'India's Techade', a book by leading political scientist and author Nalin Mehta, the Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Piyush Goyal said, "Today we have found our place in the sun in terms of the foray in digital payment and digital public goods, which have become the talk of the world."

"India is a 30-30-30 story. The world today recognises that in the next 30 years, India will add 30 trillion dollars to our economy, and will be a 35 trillion dollar economy by 2047. We are 3.7 trillion dollars today. It's the largest opportunity today anywhere in the world and no time in history has any nation seen this kind of opportunity, where you grow from 3.7 to 35 trillion dollar in less than three decades. The second element is our population, which at one point in time used to be bane. The world recognises it to be a boom today. We have an under 30 population. Our demographic dividend is between 28 and 29 years. And all of this rests on the foundation of our foray into the digital world. We are already the third largest economy in the world. The fact that our young population today is driven by fire in the belly for good things of life, which has come from the digital world. Every nook and corner of India today is connected digitally," said the minister.

Continuing the discussion, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder CEO, Paytm, who was one of the panelists said, "The period between 2014-2018 was the time when the internet and Aadhaar took off. We were the customers who submitted to it. Aadhaar is the truest foundation for us. We were the ones who built mobile payment."

On going global, Sharma said its begins with the home and recalled an interaction with the RBI governor, where he said,. "We want you to go out into the world to build systems in other parts of the world. What we have built in this country is of global reference. What we are building, inventing and solving in this country is the need of the world and at the price point and skillpoint which is phenomenally incredible."

Concurred Rohan Verma, CEO & Executive Director, MapMyIndia, and another panelist at the event, "India is now at the point where people are using maps, location and digital technology in such interesting ways to optimize their business, to enhance governance, and to improve the lives of citizens. I think India and Indians know how to use technology and our government has vision and execution capabilities to leverage technology. So it's a decade for technology and decade for India. And that's why it's a Techade."

Digital transformation and Startup ecosystem

The discussion on India's digital transformation is not complete without the talk of the startup ecosystem in the country, which has been greatly impacted by it. The startups are leveraging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things and blockchain, for new products, services, and business models. However, lots remains to be done.

Says Raj K Gopalakrishnan, CEO & Co-founder, KOGO Tech Labs, "While it's far easier now for startups than few years ago, there are issues about regulations and compliance. A lot of single founders today still flounder.Though, it's a great start, we have many miles to go and AI can actually help in better governance, compliance, and in faster implementation."

Blueprint for other nations

There is no denying that digital transformation in India is the most remarkable change that has come about in this era. The shift has not only become the global talking point but also has become a blueprint for other nations to follow. "This is a phenomenal country where the pre-PC to the post AI world exists all together in a single generation," added Sharma.