Configuring India's digital ecosystem

Policies must favour consortiums of local players

Two developments highlight the need for government to sponsor consortiums to build India’s digital ecosystem:   

• Facebook’s announcement in April to invest $5.7 billion in Reliance Jio was momentous.  In a slowing economy, Reliance Industries raised an incredible $20 billion with a cascade of foreign investments combined with a rights issue. This “consortium” makes Reliance debt-free, besides providing the capital and capacity to dominate communications in India.  
• India’s digital ecosystem’s dependence on China and on increasing imports underlines the imperative for corporate India to come together in a national endeavour that must succeed.

The Jio factor

Overwhelming dominance rarely benefits the