PUBLIC SECTOR DRIVING FORCE BEHIND INDIA'S RAPID DIGITIZATION

Jezamin Abdul Razak, Senior Research Manager, Government Insights, IDC Asia/ Pacific talks about the use of cloud, loT, AI, blockchain, Data Analytics, bluetooth and GPS in government operations.

- JEZAMIN ABDUL RAZAK

What are some of the projects that the Indian Government is looking to implement, and spend on in the upcoming year?

The public sector has been a driving force behind India's rapid digitization, where we could see several key projects, including Digital Infrastructure, Digital Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Startups, and Cybersecurity, have been launched by the government last year and will be seeing more projects within these areas in 2022.

For example, the Indian government has approved the state-wide roll-out of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) with a budget of Rs 1,600 crore over five years. The central sector system will be implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA). Citizens will be able to create their Ayushman Bharat Health Account numbers, that will be linked to their digital health data. This will enable for the creation of individual permanent health records, which will aid healthcare providers in making better clinical decisions.

In terms of spending, in the recent budget announcement, the Indian Government has increased its budget on the Digital India programme by 67.13 per cent. This year's budget for the programme is at 1.39 billion USD, from 0.83 billion USD last year.