Digital India to be a big part of Indian growth story: Indian-American inventor

Arogyaswami Paulraj, known for his contribution to faster wireless connectivity, also said that 'Make in India' is 'a good slogan'

Indian-American inventor Arogyaswami Paulraj, known for his contribution to faster wireless connectivity popularly known as MIMO, the core technology used in all modern wireless networks, said 'digital India' can be a major driver of the country's growth story, if executed in the right manner.

He also said that 'Make in India' is "a good slogan" but "it is a long way from a good slogan to execution".

"Digitisation of the country at every level will help and particularly with Adhaar, we can do a lot more. We really need to improve broadband access in India, which will be part of digital India campaign and the way to do it is through wireless and the way to wireless is largely through Wi-Fi as the access is cheaper," Paulraj said.

MIMO is a core technology used in all modern wireless networks. Without it, high-speed Internet connections embodied in 4G LTE cellular and the latest Wi-Fi networks would not be possible. It will continue to be vital in the next generation of cellular networks, known as 5G.

Paulraj said that the Jan Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile trilogy is all in the right direction but everything depends on execution.

Comparing India with China, he said that while India as a country is more capable in many ways, it cannot execute as well as China does. "But we are a democracy and we move slowly but never the less we are heading in the right direction," he added.

He is "sceptical" about whether India can do what China did 20 years ago. Because Indian labour is already becoming expensive and since India is a democracy the country needs to think of a different way.

"I think one thing missing is government policy. If China has succeeded it succeeded because of government policy. I don't think we have an effective government policy. Make in India is a good slogan but it is a long way from a good slogan to execution," he said on the sidelines of the European Inventor Award ceremony held here.

He, however, does not believe in the free Wi-Fi model. "We need to build Wi-Fi in India and we need to think of a business model to make it work. The politicians keep saying it is going to be free, if it is free, then how do you get entrepreneurs to put up networks and run it, maintain it and then give it up for free? We have to find a better business model," he said.