India leapfrogged 40 yrs of development with DPI: G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant

With effective implementation of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) like Aadhaar, CoWin, many others, India leapfrogged 40 years of development and made progress in seven years which was expected to be achieved in 47 years, G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said here on Tuesday.

Kant was giving a keynote address in the first Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) meeting that witnessed active participation from G20 members, knowledge partners, and eight guest countries.

"With effective implementation of DPI, India leapfrogged 40 years of development and made progress in 7 years which was expected to be achieved in 47 years. Any country can use the already developed DPIs and innovate on the top of the same," Kant said in a statement.

Kant spoke at length about the successes of DPI in terms of inclusion, delivery of social services, preventing monopolisation in digital space, and security, privacy & governance.

He shared the full suite of Indian DPIs, namely Aadhaar, CoWIN, DigiLocker, etc in his address.

The focus of the discussions on the second day was on two key priority areas of the DEWG group: Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Cyber Security in the Digital Economy.

Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Secretary of MeitY and the Chair of the DEWG, in his opening remarks emphasised that their goal is to ensure that the benefits of technology be available to everyone and added that DPI is crucial for digital transformation.

He also stated that resilience and cyber security of the digital economy are paramount and digital skilling is important for bridging the asymmetry gap and for creating a future ready workforce.

Representatives from Troika members Indonesia and Brazil also addressed the gathering and expressed their support for India's G20 Agenda.

Throughout the day, there were insightful presentations and interventions from G20 members, key knowledge partners, and guest countries.

The delegates also took a moment to express their condolences for the earthquake victims in Turkiye.