Will realise $1-trn digital economy goal in 5-7 years: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology said that despite the deep disruption caused by the pandemic, India as a nation has emerged stronger

India's ambitions post-Covid-19 pandemic have been reimagined, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday, adding that the country’s technology ecosystem and economy represent a huge opportunity for investors. Chandrasekhar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target for the country to become a trillion-dollar digital economy.

“I will point out that what we are seeing today in terms of the growth of the digital economy is only the tip of the iceberg,” said Chandrasekhar, while addressing industry leaders and civil servants at the Invest Karnataka 2022, the state’s Global Investors Meet (GIM). “Over the next  5-7 years, we will surely see our trillion-dollar digital economy goal become reality.”

He said that the opportunities in the technology ecosystem have moved systematically from technology services to startup innovation ecosystems and electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. These opportunities have also moved to areas such as artificial intelligence, Web 3.0, and 5th-generation mobile network.

“A call to action to all those interested in investments in technology is that ‘India is the place',” said Chandrasekhar.

Citing an example of how fast the technology ecosystem has grown in India, Chandrasekhar said that in 2014, over 92 per cent of all mobile phones used in the country were imported, but today over 97 per cent are made in India.

He said despite the deep disruption caused by the pandemic, India as a nation has emerged stronger. “We are the fastest-growing major economy in the world. We have received the highest FDI in the world,” he said.

India has also demonstrated the highest ever exports in its history. Also, 66 per cent of all the FDI (foreign direct investment) in electronics manufacturing has come to India in the last three years alone.

“I will certainly encourage and advise everybody who's an investor in the broader technology ecosystem to consider India and Karnataka as the destination for investment,” he said.

Chandrasekhar said one of the very impressive things that the government of Karnataka has done to address the issue of talent and opportunity is to move the opportunities in the post-Covid world to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. This way there is less pressure on infrastructure and more availability of talent.

He said Karnataka has always been the centre of technology innovation, and in a lot of ways spearheaded and led India's digital economy efforts.