EMPOWERING INDIA’S IN DIGITAL WORLD

The views on digital transformations include the experience as a member of the research team that developed the first web browser (Mosaic, the predecessor to Netscape) in the early 1990s and as a technology entrepreneur.  The long arc of human history traces processes of digital disruption over which we collaborated here to describe what we see as a truly unique story of government-led digital disruption.

According to Finance Minister of India’s, the economy of country is operating with $45 billion less cash than it did prior to demonization. India’s digital infrastructure is coming to life, with a combination of policy and technological innovation having played an important role. The country is moving rapidly toward a digital-first economy.

The benefits of digital transformation in the provision of government services do not occur overnight. While the accelerated uptake of digital financial services following demonetization and the increased lending to small businesses following tax code reform came as a surprise to many outside observers, neither was an unintended consequence of the policy; they were consciously intended to activate India’s digital infrastructure.

In fact they are always greatest over the long-term, while the costs are concentrated in the near-term. That is exactly why technology-led disruption is generally resisted by status quo interests: at least some of them lose out as a consequence of change. This general point holds very specifically for demonetization and GST implementation; these were policies designed to have long-term and dynamic effects.

The India Stack comprises multiple layers, but the layers in this case are defined by different categories of government services. At the base of the stack — and thus at the beginning of India’s story of digital transformation — is a nationwide system of digital identity, generically termed the UID (Unique Identification) system, but more often in India referred to by its project name, Aadhaar. In the software world, a “stack” refers to multiple, interdependent layers of software services that are built on top of one another. The name for this digital infrastructure reflects its roots in the world of software development rather than public policy: It is referred to as the “India Stack.”