Nandan Nilekani and the $10 trillion remaking of India

The rise of digital public goods is set to revolutionise the Indian economy. Here's how you can gain from it as an investor.

- SAURABH MUKHERJEA

On 28th January in Bangalore, the architect of India's digital public goods (DPGS), Nandan Nilekani, laid out a roadmap for India to become a $10 trillion economy (you can watch it here https://bit.ly/3yyhp9Q). He believes that the DPGs used in India today will form the basis for India's economic development because the three cornerstones of the modern economy are no longer roti, kapda, aur makaan; they are identification, financial inclusion, and mobile + internet connectivity. The creation of the 'India stack' Aadhaar (universal identification), Jan Dhan (bank accounts for all), Unified Payments Interface (UPI: online transactions using mobile phones), and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC: seamless & democratized eCommerce) - is helping India get closer to delivering on this critical trinity.

We have summarized below the three broad takeaways from Mr Nilekani's session.

India's tech build-out is very different to how the Western tech infra was built
Major western big tech companies primarily generate revenues via advertising. However, in India, the proliferation of technology (i.e., the India stack) has been through democratising the basics of life, such as identity validation (Aadhaar), financial inclusion (Jan Dhan), transactions and e-commerce using interoperable platforms (UPI and ONDC respectively). Therefore, the tech build-out in India has been centred around using it as an enabler for dispensing public services on a massive scale.