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India’s Techade: Digital Revolution and Change in the World’s Largest Democracy
Author: Nalin Mehta
Publisher: Westland
Pages: 184
Price: Rs 599
While the world media is flooded with headlines about how America’s “Big Tech” companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Apple and Meta are dominating the world, which prods us to think that India is only an adopter and user of tech invented by others, a quiet revolution has been underway in India that could change all such notions. Nalin Mehta’s book (I guess the word “Techade” in the title is supposed to be an acronym for “Tech Decade”) describes this silent revolution. It’s the story about UPI (Unified Payment Interface), a system that makes possible the transferring of money between bank accounts using a mobile phone. What is more, this system is better and more reliable than anything that American, European, Chinese or Japanese payments can do. And if you are not astonished enough, consider that it is created by an Indian public sector company, the National Payments Corporation of India, working under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India.
This book provides us insights into how this miracle creation of an Indian public sector company is on a path to world domination in the hottest area of the tech industry, financial technology or fintech. And what makes it interesting is that the author does not write from a distance — he has dived deep and spoken to all the key people involved in this miracle, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And, yes, the PM’s personal contribution to this success story is also quite revealing because, normally, our political leaders are always ready and present to cut ribbons at opening ceremonies but are rarely part of the engine that drives the success of a project.
But, first, a few words on why a UPI system is such a critical part of a country’s infrastructure. To start with, UPI makes it easier for citizens to pay for the things they want — they don’t need to trundle around with a wallet full of cash or struggle to get a credit or debit card or decode the mysteries and complications of a bank transfer. Because the UPI works on a mobile phone and accepts even small amounts such as Rs 5 or Rs 10, it is usable by ordinary citizens and not just the rich. Similarly, it makes it easy for even tiny street-side vendors of fruit and vegetables to accept payments from their customers.
Mr Mehta’s book helped me understand why India’s UPI has, for the first time in the history of the world, enabled an Indian technology innovation to be a winner. As he points out in his book, it is based on a series of initiatives. To start with, the UPI is built on the solid foundation of Aadhaar, which provides each of us Indians with a unique identity. The success of Aadhaar, in turn, was
based on the mobile phone revolution in India, where almost every Indian now has a mobile phone. The near-universal ownership of mobile phones, in turn, was based on almost universally available cheap internet services. He demonstrates this progress through multiple charts: For example, he has a chart that shows how a gigabyte of data that used to cost Rs 269 in 2014 came down year-wise to a mere Rs 10 by 2021.
This is a feature of this book; almost every other page has an easy-to-understand chart that illustrates the author’s point.
One insight that surprised even me, who fancies myself a know-all about all things tech, was this: How tech adoption can be accelerated by aligning it with the electoral goals of our political leaders. He gives the example of the direct benefits transfer (Aapka Paisa Aapke Haath) programme introduced in 2013 by the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government, where money owed to citizens could be transferred into people’s bank accounts rather than running the risk of being pocketed by intermediary officials.
Nothing much came of this until Mr Modi, on the campaign trail in 2019, transferred Rs 2,021 crore of subsidies to over 10 million farmers in Gorakhpur. This meant transferring Rs 6,000 for each person in three instalments of Rs 2,000 every four months. Suddenly, at every level of government, pushed by the desire to impress the electorate, the opening of bank accounts, the issue of Aadhaar cards and efficient money transfer became as much an electoral goal as a socio-economic one. This development introduced a new political economy angle to the adoption of dramatic technical innovation. The author describes how combining tech with electoral positioning (direct benefits transfer by the Party of the Poor) could lead to both electoral success plus economic growth.
The author describes many other such efforts in India (the COWIN platform, BHIM App and so on) that is driving India to leadership status in the global digital economy. UPI, for example, is now under consideration for adoption by many European countries, giving India a leading role in the booming fintech world economy.
The reviewer is an internet entrepreneur. ajitb@rediffmail.com
