e-Red Tape, virtual CAs and wait-and-watch hoops - a look at India's digital Selfie

Bertram D’Souza, Chief Product Innovation Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd. helps us to unpack how India’s digital stacks, digital goods, fast interfaces, real-time financial lanes and tech-driven tax administration shine and where they do/can falter if we ignore some tough, but practical, questions.

- By Pratima H

BERTRAM D'SOUZA Chief Product & Innovation Officer, Protean eGov Technologies Ltd

What power will India wield as we strengthen our Digital Public Goods stack and DPI game globally?

India is in a unique position globally where we have built a robust technology architecture with the National ID infrastructure like Aadhaar and MOSIP (Modular Open Source Identity Platform) which has helped set a global standard in how Identity systems can be designed and rolled out. In addition to this, India has a uniquely-evolved Tax Identity or PAN Card ecosystem enabling real-time validation as well as the ability to track all financial accounts, transactions and assets. On top of these identity enablers, India has a robust Payments layer with real-time payments systems like IMPS, UPI enabling instant money movement between individuals. India also has a unique 'Data consent architecture' which allows for any data principal to have full-control over their information assets and consent for data sharing. Lastly, India has seen each of these Digital Public Goods stack create impact in the BFSI sector (JanDhanAadhaar-Mobile), eCommerce Sector (ONDC), Health Sector (Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission, COWIN, UHI), Agriculture Sector (Agristack) and many more by leveraging new technology enablers like Open Networks powered by Beckn protocols. The unique combination of the list of DPI/DPGs above have put India in a unique leadership position globally.

As the recent Nasscom-Arthur D report says - India can become a $1 trillion digital economy by 2030, thanks to DPI- what could speed up or slow down this path?