The change is happening as we speak.
Post pandemic, it is time to relook at the digital opportunity in India.
We are on the cusp of a once-in-a-lifetime transformation of our Nation.
A thread from my conversation with @NandanNilekani on @FoundingF
👇
The change is happening as we speak.
The digital infrastructure in the West was built on advertising. Over 200B$ flows through their digital economy via ads.
In contrast, India’s ad spend is small.
(Digital 3B$. Total 10 B$). Digital consumption, while growing rapidly cannot power the ecosystem.
Covid has brought this digital infrastructure to the fore and now it’s ready for phase2 with auto-debit & embedded lending
The Telcos went into the nooks & corners of the country and activated customers.
This was pre-Aadhaar, with limited trust & lending history, we had no choice but to ask people to pay first.
Trust, Identity and payment layers have been built and digital transaction infrastructure is processing billions of transactions a month.
This will drive a huge cycle of consumption and growth - credit will be frictionless and accessible to everyone.
People would be able to offer their own transaction data through RBI’s account aggregator to access credit facilities.
There’s an ‘India for the World’ opportunity too.
We are already seeing what Indian SaaS companies are doing. Sitting out of India, coding for the world - we have a huge talent & cost arbitrage.
The question is how to make most of it? What should CEOs of large firms do? What should entrepreneurs do? What should the Government do?
Digital can’t be a side project for you anymore. It has to be THE PROJECT.
They had multiple ways to reach & serve the customer.
Restaurants were closed. But McDonalds was still booming. Because they had a drive-thru and home-delivery.
But others like Walmart, Target, and Home Depot did well.
They had figured out various forms of reaching the customer—ecommerce, delivery at home, kerbside pickup, in store pickup, etc.
Companies which had a WFH home policy found it much easier.
Lesson: Don’t be a single trick pony.
Digital is no longer an “option”; digital gives you “optionality”.
There’s 60 years of muscle memory for large firms. And building the digital backbone will need DNA change.
You will have to hire smart entrepreneurs and rethink the entire business model
American - laissez faire, free, open
Chinese - firewalled with domestic champions like Alibaba, Tencent
European - Heavily regulated, small markets
Indian - Open, Large and Inclusive with the India Stack
India already looks like it's more digital savvy than most nations.
The India Stack proved its potential during Covid.
Earlier the collections had leakage and delays.
This makes roads easier to finance and build.
Supreme Court is using AI and neural machine translation to convert legal documents from one language to another.
GST is using AI-driven analytics to identify fake invoices.
It shouldn’t be an “English” internet for premium smartphones.
We have to find ways to serve India 1 & 2 and a large portion of Next Billion Users in their language on their feature phones.
We are already the vaccine capital of the world.
With Apps like CoWin, we can give a QR-coded digital certificate that you’ve been vaccinated.
This will make economic recovery faster.
Govt. has to build the fundamental digital rails - the backbone—inclusively - and let companies use APIs to build on top of that.
Let the companies/startups do the innovation.
‘Make in India’ should become ‘Code in India’
Now that the haze (brought by the pandemic) is clearing, it is time to relook at the India opportunity.
We are the only young country in an ageing world, perhaps one of its kind in the world.
ICYMI: here’s my Annual Trendspotting piece where I discussed the implications of India’s Digital Reset.
https://t.co/C6hl9q9I0x
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1/OK, data mystery time.
This New York Times feature shows China with a Gini Index of less than 30, which would make it more equal than Canada, France, or the Netherlands. https://t.co/g3Sv6DZTDE
That's weird. Income inequality in China is legendary.
Let's check this number.
2/The New York Times cites the World Bank's recent report, "Fair Progress? Economic Mobility across Generations Around the World".
The report is available here:
3/The World Bank report has a graph in which it appears to show the same value for China's Gini - under 0.3.
The graph cites the World Development Indicators as its source for the income inequality data.
4/The World Development Indicators are available at the World Bank's website.
Here's the Gini index: https://t.co/MvylQzpX6A
It looks as if the latest estimate for China's Gini is 42.2.
That estimate is from 2012.
5/A Gini of 42.2 would put China in the same neighborhood as the U.S., whose Gini was estimated at 41 in 2013.
I can't find the <30 number anywhere. The only other estimate in the tables for China is from 2008, when it was estimated at 42.8.
This New York Times feature shows China with a Gini Index of less than 30, which would make it more equal than Canada, France, or the Netherlands. https://t.co/g3Sv6DZTDE
That's weird. Income inequality in China is legendary.
Let's check this number.
2/The New York Times cites the World Bank's recent report, "Fair Progress? Economic Mobility across Generations Around the World".
The report is available here:
3/The World Bank report has a graph in which it appears to show the same value for China's Gini - under 0.3.
The graph cites the World Development Indicators as its source for the income inequality data.
4/The World Development Indicators are available at the World Bank's website.
Here's the Gini index: https://t.co/MvylQzpX6A
It looks as if the latest estimate for China's Gini is 42.2.
That estimate is from 2012.
5/A Gini of 42.2 would put China in the same neighborhood as the U.S., whose Gini was estimated at 41 in 2013.
I can't find the <30 number anywhere. The only other estimate in the tables for China is from 2008, when it was estimated at 42.8.
🌿𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 : 𝑫𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒗𝒂 & 𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒖
Once upon a time there was a Raja named Uttānapāda born of Svayambhuva Manu,1st man on earth.He had 2 beautiful wives - Suniti & Suruchi & two sons were born of them Dhruva & Uttama respectively.
#talesofkrishna https://t.co/E85MTPkF9W
Now Suniti was the daughter of a tribal chief while Suruchi was the daughter of a rich king. Hence Suruchi was always favored the most by Raja while Suniti was ignored. But while Suniti was gentle & kind hearted by nature Suruchi was venomous inside.
#KrishnaLeela
The story is of a time when ideally the eldest son of the king becomes the heir to the throne. Hence the sinhasan of the Raja belonged to Dhruva.This is why Suruchi who was the 2nd wife nourished poison in her heart for Dhruva as she knew her son will never get the throne.
One day when Dhruva was just 5 years old he went on to sit on his father's lap. Suruchi, the jealous queen, got enraged and shoved him away from Raja as she never wanted Raja to shower Dhruva with his fatherly affection.
Dhruva protested questioning his step mother "why can't i sit on my own father's lap?" A furious Suruchi berated him saying "only God can allow him that privilege. Go ask him"
Once upon a time there was a Raja named Uttānapāda born of Svayambhuva Manu,1st man on earth.He had 2 beautiful wives - Suniti & Suruchi & two sons were born of them Dhruva & Uttama respectively.
#talesofkrishna https://t.co/E85MTPkF9W
Prabhu says i reside in the heart of my bhakt.
— Right Singh (@rightwingchora) December 21, 2020
Guess the event. pic.twitter.com/yFUmbfe5KL
Now Suniti was the daughter of a tribal chief while Suruchi was the daughter of a rich king. Hence Suruchi was always favored the most by Raja while Suniti was ignored. But while Suniti was gentle & kind hearted by nature Suruchi was venomous inside.
#KrishnaLeela
The story is of a time when ideally the eldest son of the king becomes the heir to the throne. Hence the sinhasan of the Raja belonged to Dhruva.This is why Suruchi who was the 2nd wife nourished poison in her heart for Dhruva as she knew her son will never get the throne.
One day when Dhruva was just 5 years old he went on to sit on his father's lap. Suruchi, the jealous queen, got enraged and shoved him away from Raja as she never wanted Raja to shower Dhruva with his fatherly affection.
Dhruva protested questioning his step mother "why can't i sit on my own father's lap?" A furious Suruchi berated him saying "only God can allow him that privilege. Go ask him"