FICCI in association with International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) organised a panel discussion on “Digitalization, Growth and Employment” which was held at FICCI auditorium on Tuesday (April 04).
The meeting began with key note addresses by experts in the domain of digital economy.
Subhrakant Panda (President ICC , India), Christiaan Van Der Valk (Co- Founder and President , Trust Weaver and Vice chair, ICC Digital Economy Commission), Ramesh Abhishek (Secretary Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India), Yaduvendra Mathur ( Additional secretary Niti Aayog) were part of the panel.
The panel discussed how PM Narendra Modi’s dream of Digital India can turn into a reality for the country only if we have a cashless, digital economy.
Abhishek pointed out on the fact that India has a large population which needs to be digitally accessed. The government as of now is pushing for achieving broadband connectivity in the most remote islands as well as villages. Providing infrastructure for a digital economy across the country is the biggest challenge. And the Narendra Modi government is leaving no stone unturned.
India now has almost 200 million bank accounts and 1 billion phone connections, which is a number enough to prove that the Prime Minister’s dream of digital India can be seen turning into reality.
In a bid to boost India’s digital economy PM will be launching the government’s new digital payment initiative- Aadhar Pay. The idea behind this is to make digital a platform accessible to all the citizens who lack formal education or training to use smart phones. Aadhar-pay will allow digital transactions just by the thumb impression of the payee.
Aadhar pay will be formally launched by the PM on 14th April, on the birth anniversary of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar.
“While there is access to government services or industry 4.0, this is critical for the development of India and I think what ICC is doing will definitely provide us with recommendations in policy making,” Abhishek stated.
Commenting further on the topic Yaduvendra Mathur said, “The roadmap of the government is that by Dec 2017, all wings of the central and state government will be digitised.”
The government’s target is to achieve 30 billion digital transactions per month by Dec 2017.
“We are on the right track for digital economy, the route has been set,” Mathur concluded.
