Less Tax, Better Policies

Protecting user data, enhanced capital support to start-ups and changes in it sector laws can transform india into a digitally empowered society

- Rukmini Rao

It’s a fight for survival now and I hope youngsters don’t lose heart,” says a leading angel investor, who has been spending a lot of time these days “trying to boost the morale” of start-up founders of his portfolio companies.

Last year, the government released a report on how India has the potential to create $1 trillion of economic value from the digital economy by 2025, up from the current $200 billion. Nearly 50 per cent is expected to come from new digital ecosystems in sectors such as financial services, agriculture, healthcare, logistics, e-governance and others.

The virus outbreak has, however, thrown a spanner in the country’s growth story. Though $1 trillion looks like a distant dream, timely changes in policy and subsequent implementation can still do some damage control.

Data, the New Gold

According to the latest report published by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), India had 504 million active Internet users at the end of March 2020. The country added 30 million rural users compared to March 19, a growth largely fuelled by cheap data. Indians are generating a huge amount of data, which has led to a number of deals in the tech space. Among the big-ticket ones is the Reliance Jio-Facebook deal, where Facebook invested $5.7 billion (₹43,574 crore) in Jio platforms for a 9.99 per cent stake.