Explained: How PM Narendra Modi helped 'democratise' the internet

Just three years ago, anyone in Ramghat village of Arunachal Pradesh who wanted to apply for a government job had to make a 20-km motorcycle ride to a cyber café to download the application form. Today, Ramghat, in Papum Pare district, not only has internet connectivity but some enterprising villagers have bought computers to start their own internet cafe so that no one has to run to the capital Itanagar to get their work done.

This ‘democratisation of the internet and data’, as the government calls it, happened in the last few years. For the Narendra Modi government, its ‘internet for all’ initiative will be projected as one of its crowning achievements in election season. 

The Digital India campaign was envisaged as an umbrella scheme that encompassed many aspects to make India a digital-first society. The initial outlay was Rs 1 trillion in the ongoing scheme and Rs 13,000 crore in new schemes. 

The number of gram panchayats where optical fibre has been laid and connections provided as of March 17, is 117,000 — still short of the government’s target of connecting 250,000 gram panchayats by March this year. As of December 31, 2018, the mobile network had around 280 million subscribers and it is expected to cross the 300-million mark by end-March.

Between 2014 and 2018, the number of internet subscribers has more than tripled to over 560 million from 177 million.  This laid the foundation for several other programmes under Digital India to take off.

Demonetisation in 2016 triggered a new wave of digital money companies. A wallet became synonymous with Paytm, MobiKwik and Freecharge, among others. For its part, the government launched UPI or Unified Payments Interface and found new ways to promote digital cash. When it realised finally that it could not make India ‘cashless’, it made peace with making its ‘less-cash’. 

According to government data, from December 2018, digital payment transactions grew from 316 crore in 2014-15 to 2,071 crore in 2017-18. Transactions worth Rs 7,453 billion took place through UPI in the last year alone. 

“Fintech sector revenues have almost doubled since the start of Digital India. At OBOPAY, the growth is largely driven by digital distribution management. Over the previous few years, we have witnessed dramatic growth that’s around fivefold,” said Shailendra Naidu, CEO, OBOPAY.

Since the launch of Digital India in 2014, Facebook and Google have played an integral role in many aspects: Educating people about the internet; connecting far flung areas with high speed net; promoting entrepreneurship; and building startup incubators.  

“We are very focused on solving for the needs of the next billion users who are not online. This mission aligns very well with Digital India. A connected India will help businesses grow, power education for the next generation and create growth for the Indian economy…” Google told Business Standard.  

Experts believe that a number of important issues such as the legal, policy and regulatory rules around the digital ecosystem have yet to be addressed.  

“The government has still not come up with strong regulations for cyber security. While other countries are moving ahead, India has become more complacent,” said cyber security expert and Supreme Court lawyer Pavan Duggal.

Experts also believe that Digital India needs more transparency as it is still unclear how it can help a lot of sectors. 

“Digital India for startups is a good start but needs to be supported by conscious efforts by the government for it to be a success,” said Varun Bhutani, founder and CEO, Trihund Solutions. 

Aadhaar has been a controversial part of the government’s plans. “The government has provided a digital identity to over 123 crore residents with 99 per cent coverage of adult population as on 30th November, 2018,” said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in its year-end review. 

The linking of Aadhaar with government and private services came under fire from several quarters. It led to the Supreme Court striking down compulsory Aadhaar linking last year. However, the government took the ordinance route in February to allow voluntary use of the Aadhaar number as an electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) mechanism.

Earlier this month, the Unique Identification Authority of India, the agency that administers Aadhaar, said it will now begin charging private companies for e-KYC transactions, with each authentication costing Rs 20 and each yes/no transaction being charged at 50 paise.

The move has come under criticism from small businesses and startups who feel e-KYC costs will now rise.

Digital India is work in progress. A recent report from the MeitY and McKinsey pegged the digital opportunity at $1 trillion by 2025, but pointed out that the target depended on governance and execution.  

“Having built a strong foundation of digital infrastructure and expanded internet access through some 560 million subscriptions, India is poised for the next phase of growth — the creation of tremendous economic value and the empowerment of millions of Indians as new digital applications permeate and transform a multitude of activities and types of work at a national scale,” the report noted.