Democracy, DeepTech and a Developed India

As India wraps up the 2024 general elections, technology has taken center stage within the public discourse on an unprecedented scale. From the use of technology within campaigns to policy issues surrounding technology becoming the subject of campaigns, the 2024 elections have witnessed a nearly 360-degree focus on technology. The use of artificial intelligence to translate campaign speeches in near real-time is breaking language barriers, and the ground-breaking of multiple semiconductor manufacturing projects has placed India’s technology priorities at the top of the campaign agenda.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been steadfast in his public messaging on a multi-decadal vision powered by technology in almost all of his public appearances. His interaction between Prime Minister Modi and Microsoft founder Bill Gates offers a holistic perspective on how there is no dichotomy between the decadal technology vision and India’s developmental priorities. The conversation spanned a wide range of subjects from digital innovation, healthcare, education, agriculture, democratizing technology, and climate change, illustrating how the transformative power of technology fosters inclusion and addresses traditional problems through innovative thinking.

As India stands on the cusp of a new era, it is imperative for the new government to craft a visionary technology agenda that not only builds on past initiatives but also propels the nation towards a future of unparalleled innovation and resilience. This vision must align with recent global trends, leverage legislative frameworks, and anticipate future challenges. The moment calls for a comprehensive technology strategy for India, emphasising the critical areas that demand attention and innovation.

Over the past decade, India has embarked on several ambitious technology initiatives that have laid a robust foundation for future advancements. The Digital India campaign, Aadhaar, and the push for financial inclusion through platforms like UPI have revolutionised the way citizens interact with technology. These initiatives have demonstrated India’s capacity for large-scale digital transformation. Recent global summits such as the G20 have underscored the importance of digital public goods in addressing global challenges especially of the global south. The next phase should focus on the spin-off effects from these public funded technology initiatives to result in the emergence of a whole new class of General Purpose Technologies (GPTs) for India with relevance to the global south. While much of the focus of the technology efforts have been on higher level platforms and applications there has been very little by way of development of GPTs within India that have been built ground up with the Indian context in mind. As a result most of the indigenous platforms and applications are based almost entirely on GPTs developed outside India.

Indigenisation of GPTs is an economic imperative given the several hundred millions of dollars in costly imports apart from the resulting trade imbalance with countries like China. Systematic indigenisation of GPTs can not only save valuable foreign exchange but also build national resilience while reducing the dependency on vulnerable supply chains and non-democratic closed economies. This is apart from the opportunity to boost exports to the global south from Latin America to Africa and several of the Island nations of the global south that are most vulnerable to climate change.

To jump start this next phase of technology development with a focus on ‘Made in India’ GPTs will require Public-private partnerships. A good example is the collaboration between ISRO and private space tech companies, with opening up of the space sector in India to private participation that has seen several firsts from the nascent Indian private space tech industry.

At the intersection of climate change, deep-tech, and sustainable livelihoods is the lesser-known initiative of Nabhmitra. Central to this initiative is the deployment of technology currently used by Indian Railways for locomotive tracking and the Ministry of Fisheries for monitoring small boats in deep sea. This technology, pivotal for geofencing and emergency responses, operates via ISRO’s GSAT-6 satellite and is built on the indigenously developed Pruthvi 3 SDR chipset of Saankhya Labs. It has the dual capability to warn fishermen when they inadvertently cross into foreign waters and guide them safely during maritime emergencies, such as cyclones, by providing crucial direction advice. Remarkably, this technology also supports e-commerce activities for fishermen, enabling them to upload their catch directly to a website for bidding, thereby opening new economic avenues.

With Satellite communication (Satcom) poised to be a key component of 6G technology, offering always-on connectivity there is a significant opportunity for India’s technology ecosystem to take a leap forward. Indigenously developed chips enabling satellite communication have been used by ISRO to deploy over hundred thousand Satcom systems in critical infrastructure. These indigenously chips and communication systems developed by Indian startups have the potential to enable top global satellite operators to provide LEO and GEO terminals at a significantly reduced per-terminal through innovative designs. 

A low-cost indigenously developed satcom system that is affordable by the Global South, can give the current international players a run for their money while boosting the “Designed in India” story. A similar opportunity exists to advance an indigenously developed low cost GPT for Direct to Mobile Broadcasting, D2M with applicability to markets across the Global South.

For these deep technology initiatives to succeed, a cultural change is needed in targeting public spending towards the development of GPTs. This involves moving away from the current generation of rigid public financing rules to foster a mindset of investing in high risk innovations with long gestation periods through underlying policy frameworks to facilitate the same with appropriate incentives for public-private collaborations.

India’s technology vision for the next decade is ambitious yet attainable. By further evolving the Digital Public Goods strategy India has the opportunity to create a new class of indigenously developed General Purpose Technologies rooted in Indian design ethos and our democratic values for the greater global good.  

The author is former CEO Prasar Bharati