Innovative work of Digital India has led to IP generation

Digital India turned 5 years on July 1, 2020. We asked the industry regarding their views and the accomplishments, and the road ahead.

How has been the path so far for Digital India?

Girish Utagi, India Digital Capability Lead at CAPCO:

Digital India is certainly headed on an upward track, especially in the financial services industry, where we’ve seen a significant amount of digitalization. The payments sector is an area where we have observed a continuous flow of investment with more global players entering this space to provide a spectrum of payment services, and this is something that we have seen reflected around the globe.

In the UK, for instance, digitalization has been key to the government-backed open banking and PSD2 initiatives, which has seen challenger banks, fintechs, technology companies providing API based services to gain customer base.

Looking at the payments market in India, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has been widely adopted by almost every payment service provider.  The volume of financial transactions using UPI only proves that digital payments will continue to rule as services are offered at the click of a button on apps.

Sudhanshu Mittal, Head - CoE Gurugram & Director - Technical Solutions, NASSCOM Centre of Excellence:

While India has been an IT powerhouse for over 2 decades, Digital India initiative sought to build upon that for the development and promotion of emerging technologies. While the development of technologies has been accelerated by the initiative, the adoption by different user segments has not seen that much of traction.

Nikhil Rathi, CEO and Founder of Web Werks India:

The Digital India campaign has led India to substantial growth with a massive push in the use of the Internet and data. A lot of endeavors like data localization, Local pe Vocal, etc., are supporting the initiatives of Digital India. So, we are seeing more and more digitization and uptake of India centric services.

The Aarogya Sethu App and the support it brought to the nation while we work through the pandemic is one classic example. These initiatives supported by Indian technology make the country absolutely self-reliant particularly in the face of international dilemmas.

With apps like Cred, BHIM UPI, etc, you now have services available on your compute and some of these services are not even available outside the country. The government too has supported the growth of citizen services. With all of this, we see that even though India is a complex country, there has been a lot of improvement and a lot has been achieved.

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & CEO, India, South East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE:

The rapid transformation in the country is making it a more digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Within short span of Digital India’s commencement, we have not just seen a paradigm shift in the digital awareness of the citizens and stakeholders, but also an active participation of the government in revising the mediums to digital modes basis industry situation and trends.

However, Covid-19 has initiated government and companies to adopt digital solutions at an unprecedented pace, with the outbreak appearing to be a genuine catalyst for change. Changing global work patterns and a pro-tech government stance is likely to encourage public enterprises and private businesses to adopt newer technologies. Thereafter, our ecosystem of start-ups and established corporates are expected to dive headfirst into the race to apply technologies and digital solutions to solve unique Indian problems in various assets classes and embrace innovation.

What have been the accomplishments so far?

Girish Utagi, CAPCO:

Digital channels will certainly see a further boost going forward with every large company trying to get their customer onto these channels. The current situation with Covid-19 means that interactions with customers will inevitably undergo a change. Where once you could service a walk-in customer, that ability is now constrained; meanwhile, staff within the contact centres of the banks, insurance companies and other large firms are themselves working remotely and are constrained in their ability to service the customer.

At Capco, we have received requests from firms who are looking to explore digital channels to address these challenges, for instance via the use of bots or robotic process automation (RPA) based solutions to modernize the contact centers.

Sudhanshu Mittal, NASSCOM Centre of Excellence:

Apart from areas focused on governance, e-health, cybersecurity etc, multiple Centers of Excellence focused on different areas like blockchain, mobility, IoT and emerging technologies have been established throughout the country.

These centers, including the NASSCOM Center of Excellence – IoT & AI, have focused on supporting the innovators developing solutions in various ways and also on promotion of technology by users in different sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, etc. While there is lot more to be done in terms of the technology adoption, a strong start has definitely been made. The innovative work being done as part of Digital India has led to manifold increase in the intellectual property generation also.

Nikhil Rathi, Web Werks India:

Digitalization in India has not only contributed to the tech initiatives, but also into making India sustainable, financially independent, and self-reliant. We could use a number of perspectives to enlist our accomplishments.

From a government perspective, we can look at the success of digital literacy programs, mobile services, such as the mobile Aadhar services, the government connect through the AarogyaSetu app, digital legal systems, etc., have managed to improve citizen services dramatically. The government is also supporting the development of Indian conferencing systems, payment gateways, etc. Above all, Digital India has brought in a substantial amount of transparency in the government.

From a business point of view, it has supported the ease of doing business through bringing company law boards online, providing easier access to company information, thus helping the companies grow and scale-up. Also, amidst the pandemic, it was digitalization that helped businesses keep their operations running through the use of CDN tools, cloud, etc.,that supported remote working.

From an individuals’ perspective, the groundwork laid by Digital India has largely supported digital payments, public safety and security, and the modernization of public services. All of the services seen as basic utilities today, have been brought down from luxuries by digitization. They are not just seen across specific industries, but have transformed public life and supported it, particularly during Covid-19.

What is the road ahead?

Girish Utagi, CAPCO:

We need to gear ourselves toward a ‘new normal’ where remote working will be much more common. As a result, newer digital channels will definitely take greater precedence when it comes to customer engagement. We expect to see data analytics, in particular, come to the forefront as the customer buying behaviour will undergo a change, as banks and other providers look to build more sophisticated and attractive offerings to gain wallet share.

Sudhanshu Mittal, NASSCOM Centre of Excellence:

The road ahead is for the Indian startups and innovators to continue developing the intellectual property. Copy-paste from western world is not going to work in India, and the solutions have to cater to the unique Indian environment. The Covid-19 problem has exposed various fault lines in the supply chain and logistics industry, which provide strong opportunities for digital innovation.

Nikhil Rathi, Web Werks India:

While a lot has been achieved, we still have a lot to cover. Through data localization we have to bring in our data back to the country and as fast as possible. This is particularly to ensure that in times of strife, our data can be audited and protected within the country. Through the local pe vocal initiatives, we have to ensure that our data and our assets are secured, and digital concepts lead us to financial growth and stability and jumpstarts our economy.

Anshuman Magazine, CBRE:

According to a survey by CBRE, digitization is taking precedence across the sector and more than 90% of the occupiers and developers are aiming to bring a technological shift in their business operations within the next five years. With ‘Tech’ and ‘Digitalization’ leading the economies and businesses out of this unprecedented time, it is soon making itself viewed as an ‘essential’ commodity. In this age of growing Digitalization, C-suite priorities no longer keep IT and business solutions in isolation from each other; instead, the focus is on leveraging the synergy between the two.

With growing digital consumption pattern, Data Centres are expected to see a huge demand in India and are playing a critical role in keeping the country literally online. With growing dependence on digitalization, data centers will eventually enhance the digital infrastructure requirement for under the Digital India programme.