Digital India Unlocking the Trillion Dollar Opportunity November 2016 - Deloitte
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Digital India Unlocking the Trillion Dollar Opportunity November 2016
Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Contents
Foreword 04
Messages from ASSOCHAM 05
Current Status of the Digital India Program 09
Enabling Services for Digital India Transformation 15
Capacity Building for a Digital India 24
Digital India: Making an Impact 30
Concluding Remarks 35
References 36
Acknowledgements 38
Contacts 38
About ASSOCHAM 39
03
Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Foreword
The Digital India program with its focus development of the fixed infrastructure million and 0.5 million users respectively.
on three key vision areas – infrastructure needs to be enhanced. Under the DigiLocker, the cloud storage service
as a utility to every citizen, governance BharatNet project, the government under Digital India, is now used by 4
and services on demand and digital plans to provide information highways in million users.
empowerment of citizens – has the terms of high speed fiber networks. This
potential to provide an incremental 20- project has witnessed delays over the Capacity building is critical for the
30% increase in India’s GDP by 2025. Since last few years and now aims to provide success of the Digital India program.
its launch in July 2015, significant progress connectivity to 100,000 gram panchayats As of mid-2016, digital literacy in India
has been made in several initiatives under by Mar 2017, which is much lower than the is less than 10%. The government has
Digital India. However, a few challenges original target. undertaken several initiatives to increase
that remain, need to be addressed in the rate of digital literacy in order to
order to realize the full potential of the Wi-Fi hotpots are also required to effectively harness the upcoming digital
program. provide last mile connectivity for digital wave. Further, to develop sufficient skills
services. To match the global average to support the Digital India Vision, the
The government is focusing on developing of a hotspot for every 150 people, 8 government has instated the Capacity
the physical infrastructure as well as million hotspots need to be deployed in Building Scheme to provide training
software and security infrastructure India. India currently has ~31,000 Wi-Fi for designing and delivering projects
to ensure the success of its vision of hotspots. To further the development under Digital India. Additionally, several
providing infrastructure as a utility to of digital infrastructure in India, the measures are being taken to increase the
every citizen. Till now, the government government should focus on improving adoption of digital technologies so that
has successfully achieved the digitization the participation from the private sector the benefits of Digital India can reach all
of all department post offices and has set through a collaborative engagement sections of society.
up Common Service Centers (CSCs) to model which allows for a viable business
deliver e-governance services in villages. case for the private sector as well as meet This publication reviews the initiatives
To increase the speed of development the objectives of the Digital India program. launched under the Digital India program,
and adoption of digital services, the and attempts to address some of the
government needs to increase availability Several digital services have been challenges in the implementation of the
of digital infrastructure in rural areas, launched over the last few quarters program. In addition, the impact of these
leverage existing infrastructure and that have seen significant adoption. The initiatives on citizens, business and the
improve digital awareness. e-payment portal, RuPay promoted by environment have been discussed. The
National Payments Corporation of India tripod of 1 billion digital identities, 1
There has been significant improvement represents 38% of all debit cards issued billion mobile and over 250 million bank
in the wireless infrastructure over the last in India, ahead of Visa and MasterCard. accounts is waiting to unleash a very big
12 months with 4G deployments by major MyGov app and Swachh Bharat App digital revolution in India.
service providers. However, the speed of have been launched and have over 1
Hemant Joshi
04
Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Messages from
ASSOCHAM
The world is witnessing the unfolding of promote digital inclusion and to expand the
the 4th Industrial Revolution, also known ambit of e-governance.
as the Digital Revolution, which will re-write
the way we live, work and interact with each The recent move towards demonetization
other – not only between people but also will further accelerate the adoption of
between people and machines. Businesses digital modes for financial transactions at
around the world are trying their best to ‘go a much faster pace in comparison to other
digital’ for the sake of survival. To remain countries in the world.
competitive, investing in digital technology
is a must now. I am very happy that ASSOCHAM has
decided to organize this conference in
India too has started experiencing this this backdrop. I am not sure if there is
digital transformation. However, it may any blueprint for successful adoption of
still take some time for India to feel the digital technologies, but certainly there
full impact of this change. Although the are plenty of success stories to learn from.
use of digital technology is on the rise in This conference aims to bring to the fore
India, there still exists a wide ‘digital divide’ such examples which can offer valuable
between urban and rural India which needs insights into the approaches and actions of
to be bridged urgently. Keeping in mind a successful digital transformation. I wish
the global reality, our Prime Minister has the conference a grand success.
launched the Digital India programme to
Sunil Kanoria
President
ASSOCHAM
05
Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
ASSOCHAM welcomes the Digital India ministries, and provide a single platform for
programme being launched recently by interaction with its citizens, thus promoting
the Hon’ble Prime Minister as flagship participatory governance and increased
programme with a vision to transform India transparency and revolutionising public
into a digitally empowered society and service delivery.
knowledge economy.
ASSOCHAM’s initiative in creating
As citizens become more aware of their awareness about the concept and practice
right, they have become more demanding of e-Governance is almost more than a
in terms of better and quicker services decade, where efforts have been made
from Government. Effective public service to invite participation not only from
today, is more about transparency, Central Government but also from State
efficiency and accountability. Governments on one side and ensuring
participation from Industry leaders on a
e-Governance initiative in India have common platform.
traditionally being confronted with the dual
challenges of automating Government The 12th e-Governance National Summit
Departments and taking online services with the Theme “Unlocking Trillion Dollar
to the common man. But now has moved Opportunity through Digital India” is
beyond government departments just another step in that direction and we
having a portal. It is no longer confined sincerely hope that all the Stakeholders
to merely streamlining and automating will immensely gain from the deliberations
processes. It is about transforming the at this National Summit in achieving the
way governments work and reinventing objective of creating the ‘Digital India’.
people’s participation in the democratic
process. It is about empowering both the I convey my good wishes for the
Government and Citizen. Technology will success of this 12th National Summit on
be the enabler for the citizen to transcend e-Governance and Digital India.
the boundaries of departments and
D.S. RAWAT
Secretary General
ASSOCHAM
06
Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
For the past many years, through the dual challenges of automating government of citizen services, can be delivered to
National Summit on e-Governance & Digital departments and taking online services rural citizens subject to conducive and
India, ASSOCHAM has created a platform to the common man. It has lately moved progressive policy initiatives by the
for the central Ministries, State and the well beyond government departments government and with the participation
industry to come together and deliberate just having a portal, streamlining and of the entire ecosystem. However, the
on the way for forward for Digital India. automating processes. It is now about need of the hour is to adopt a grassroots
The main focus of National Summit is to empowering both the government and approach starting from the State-level with
help in statewide inclusive growth through the citizen. Technology will be the enabler key enablers being awareness building
effective implementation of the Digital and provide a platform for interaction and imbibing the benefits of e-services
India Program so that its benefits reach the promoting increased transparency and especially for the underserved parts of the
grassroots level in the remotest of areas. revolutionizing public service delivery. country.
Creating a digital society will be the key
in the competitiveness of nations in the This is also the decade of broadband – The 12th e-Governance National Summit
upcoming years. Digital Society is broader and we all recognize the vital importance with the theme “Unlocking Trillion Dollar
than ‘digital economy.’ A digital society of broadband as a social and economic Opportunity through Digital India”
integrates all social spheres and lends a development tool. It is a critical component is another step in that direction. We
competitive edge to the overall economy. of smart society. The Digital India program sincerely hope that all the stakeholders
The post de-monetization scenario has is aimed at further bridging the divide will immensely gain from the deliberations
further emphasized the importance of between digital “haves” and “have-nots”. It at this national summit and achieve the
cash-less digital transactions which are is an opportune time for both the industry objective of creating a ‘Digital India’.
possible only if we have a digitally serviced and the government to from a synergistic
society. partnership towards bolstering India’s I convey my good wishes for the success of
socioeconomic development through the 12th National Summit on e-Governance
E-governance initiatives in India have digital empowerment. The initiatives of and Digital India.
traditionally being confronted with the e-health, e-education and a wide variety
Umang Das
Chairman
ASSOCHAM National Council on eGovernance & Digital India
07
Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity Digital India holds the potential to truly ICT today has the power to ensure transform India from a developing into a eGovernance reaches every nook and developed economy. ICT infrastructure corner of India. Distances and locations lies at the very foundation of the success which are remote physically do not look of Digital India. I believe that as a nation appear distant anymore in the digital we should allocate a fixed percentage realm. We must ensure that government of our GDP to be invest exclusively on departments get access to the latest ICT creating, upgrading and maintaining technologies at the most competitive digital infrastructure. We have metrics prices. Government should come out with on percentage of GDP spent on social industry friendly procurement policies infrastructure and physical infrastructure. which will enable the ICT industry to supply It is time that we decide a minimum latest ICT technologies and solutions to the percentage of GDP which should be government. A strong and robust project spent for ICT infrastructure. Digital India management and monitoring mechanism is transcending beyond eGovernance to is essential to ensure that all ICT projects every aspect in the life of an Indian citizen. in government gets rolled out as per the ICT is deeply enmeshed in Digital banking, planned schedule thus ensuring citizens insurance, eCommerce, entertainment, derive benefits of ICT and at the same eHealth, eEducation, KPOs, IT/ITES, time protect the investments made by the modern manufacturing, transportation, industry. agriculture and many such sectors today. The robustness and the quality of ICT Indian ICT industry is partnering infrastructure will determine the success corporations and governments globally of digitization of Indian economy and in their digitization journeys and I am fully overall success of Digital India. As a nation confident that we can partner government we should also set targets to roll out fibre of India central, state and local in their infrastructure both in urban and rural digitization journeys. India. Our fibreisation is one of the lowest in the world amongst the large economies and we all should make it a national endeavor to bridge this gap. Ramu Patchala Co-Chairman ASSOCHAM National Council on eGovernance & Digital India 08
Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Current Status of the
Digital India Program
Overview of the Digital India Program The Digital India programme is focused
The Digital India programme was on fulfilling three vision areas through
launched over a year ago in 2015. The 9 “pillars” or focus areas, which lay
program has now moved from the down objectives in areas such as skill
planning phase towards execution and development, e-governance, mobile /
significant progress has been made in broadband connectivity, etc. These 9
implementation of the various initiatives. pillars are supplemented by initiatives
However, some challenges have been that are operating at various levels. All the
faced during the execution which need to initiatives have been launched and are in
be addressed. various phases of implementation while
significant progress has been achieved on
some of these initiatives, such as Smart
Cities, Jandhan, PAHAL, etc. in the last 6-12
months.
Figure 1: Overview of the Digital India Programme
Vision areas
Infrastructure Governance Digital
as a and empowerment
utility to every services on of citizens
citizen demand
Pillars
E-Kranti
IT for Jobs Access to E-Kranti PIAP E-Governance Information Early Broadband Electronics
Mobile for All Harvest Highway mfg.
Prog.
Initiatives
E-Sign
E-Sign Skill India PMJDY JAM E-Hospital Wi-Fi DBT BharatNet Smart Digi
Hotspots Cities Locker
09
Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity Overview of Digital Infrastructure in in order to enable electronic delivery India of government services to citizens. To The Information Communication and enable this vision, the development of a Technology (ICT) sector forms an strong digital and telecom infrastructure essential part of the digital infrastructure backbone is critical. requirement to ensure availability of telecom, broadband, computers and The government has taken several software across the country. While with initiatives to improve the digital increasing reach and affordability, ICT has infrastructure in the country which are evolved as a basic infrastructure, India’s in various stages of implementation. ICT readiness has remained low, ranking These initiatives extend beyond physical 131 in the ICT Development Index in 2015.1 infrastructure and also address software The Digital India program aims to increase and security infrastructure as all the three reach of digital infrastructure through an aspects are required in tandem to ensure extensive broadband and mobile network the success of Digital India. 10
Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Table 1: Initiatives undertaken by the government to build ICT infrastructure for Digital India
Initiative Description Current Status
BharatNet Aims to provide broadband access • 1,44,430 km of optic fiber laid; OFC connectivity to 62,943 GPs.
to 250,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) • Initial target: Broadband to 150,000 GPs by Dec 2015.
through a network of Optical Fiber • Revised Target: Broadband to 100,000 GPs by March 2017.2
Cable • Non-involvement of states in the initial phases has led to hurdles,
especially Right-of-Way issues, in laying of OFC.3
Smart Cities Creation of 109 smart cities (target • 60 cities have been chosen to be covered under the Smart Cities
revised from 100) by 2022. INR 5 mission.
billion allocated to every city over 5 • Allocation of INR 32 billion in union budget 2016-17.4
years for this purpose • Budget allocation of INR 70 billion done at the time of launch, but
revised to INR 1.4 billion in the 2015-16 union budget due to non-
deployment of funds.5
Common Service CSCs are centers through which • Over 1,70,000 CSCs are operational across India.
Centers (CSCs) e-governance and related services • 2,50,000 GPs to have one CSC each (at least).
will be made available to villages • Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE) model being followed to empower
locals; nearly 240,000 VLEs have been appointed.6
Digitization of Post Digitization of post offices including • All 25,297 departmental post offices have been computerized.
Offices setting up centralized data centres, • 238 million postal bank accounts have been digitized.
networking of all post offices and • 155,000 post offices (130,000 in rural areas) to be digitized by
enabling digital payments March 2017.7
Universal Access to Aims to provide mobile access to • 55,669 villages to be covered by March 2019.
Mobile more than 55,600 villages that do not • 8,621 villages in the North East to be connected by September
have mobile coverage 2017.8
• Accessibility of villages and sparse population make it commercially
unviable.
Public Wi-Fi Hotspots Creation of public Wi-Fi hotspots in • India currently has over 31,000 Wi-Fi hotspots.
India to enable citizens to access • Over 100 hotspots to be made operational at various railway
content without depending on stations by March 2017.
mobile data • India should have 8 million Wi-Fi hotspots to meet the global
average of one hotspot for every 150 people.
India Stack It is a set of open APIs that enables • Rapid adoption of the JAM (Jandhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) trinity has
development of payment-enabled enabled customer identification and access, based on which several
applications, using Aadhaar as the other digital transactions can be carried out.
base for authentication • The open API ecosystem combined with the digital literacy mission
can go a long way in creating apps that are customized to suit local
needs.
National Cyber The Ministry for electronics and IT • Process has been fast tracked; RFP expected to be finalized by
Coordination Center has planned to set up a center to December 2016 – January 2017.
(NCCC) safeguard India’s cyberspace against • NCCC expected to entail an investment of INR 9 billion.10
potential threats
11Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
The success of Digital India depends on DigiLocker service is also being linked to Layer (e-taal), which provides real time
the creation of an ecosystem in which governmental departments to enable transaction data of citizens with various
every citizen is digitally empowered and users to pull documents in a digital format. departments and agencies of the
has access to key services made available For instance, the integration of DigiLocker government along with a quick analysis
electronically. Globally, technology has with the Department of Transport enables of the information in graphical form. The
been the most important enabler in users to download a digitally verified copy e-taal portal currently provides data on
ensuring the success of such massive of their driving license. In May 2016, the over 3,100 e-services that can be analysed
transformational projects. While the government also made it mandatory for across geographies.12 This data can be
government has been focused on CBSE mark sheets to be made available used by government agencies to assist in
developing key technology enablers in a digital format which can be uploaded decision making in real-time.
for Digital India; adoption of digital and linked to DigiLocker.
technologies has remained a challenge. While the e-taal service has seen some
While significant progress has been made adoption, to increase usage and relevance
The key enablers to development of digital in cloud technologies, several hurdles to of this portal, the following steps need to
infrastructure in India have been cloud large scale adoption exist such as: be taken concurrently:
computing and usage of analytics:
• Ensuring safety and privacy of data, • Increasing the number of services
Cloud Computing • Lack of widescale access to citizens covered by e-taal to provide
The government plans to use cloud given infrastructure constraints, comprehensive, actionable analytics
technologies to enable seamless • Low Digital literacy hampering • Ensuring higher cooperation among
integration between various departments adoption of cloud services, and departments, state governments and
and delivery of services to the citizens. • Limited coordination among government agencies
DigiLocker, for instance, is a cloud departments and state governments. • Building capabilities within government
service which allows citizens to use a agencies to enable data-driven
shareable cloud space to upload, store Use of Analytics decision making
and share documents. As on date, the The Indian government initiated a • Using analytics to track the progress
space available per user is 1 GB and the data repository called the Electronic of various initiatives simultaneously,
number of users is over 3.96 million11. The Transaction Aggregation and Analysis possibly through dashboards
12Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Challenges faced in implementation
of Digital India & way forward
The Digital India program faces a number
of challenges that need to be addressed.
These include:-
1. Delay in development of
infrastructure: One of the biggest
challenges faced by the Digital India
programme is the slow progress of
infrastructure development:
• The BharatNet project was approved
in October 2011, with a two year
implementation target. As of 2016,
under 40% of the target has been
achieved.13
• Spectrum availability in Indian metros
is about a tenth of the same in cities
in developed countries. This has put
a major roadblock in providing high
speed data services.
• Public Wi-Fi penetration remains low.
Globally, there is one Wi-Fi hotspot for significant efforts are needed to • Several projects assigned to PSUs
every 150 citizens. For India to reach customize apps and services to cater are delayed given challenges related
that level of penetration, over 8 million to local needs. Finding vendors who to skills, experience and technical
hotspots are required of which only can provide such applications has capabilities.
about 31,000 hotspots are currently become a challenge. • Several RFPs issued by the government
available.14 4. Policy framework for Digital India: are not picked up by competent
• While the project has seen delays, the Challenges in policy, such as taxation, private sector organizations since they
exercise needs to be reinforced with right of way, restrictive regulations are not commercially feasible.
both funds and involvement of senior etc. are major roadblocks in realizing 6. Digital literacy: Reports suggest
government functionaries towards the vision of Digital India. Some of the that, as recently as 2014, nearly 70%
making it happen on a 'war footing' common policy hurdles include the of Indian consumers indicated that
2. Rural connectivity: For Digital India following: lack of awareness was the main reason
to have a large scale impact on citizens • Lack of clarity in FDI policies, for for not using internet services.15 Non-
across the nation, the digital divide instance, have impacted the growth of availability of digital services in local
needs to be addressed through last e-commerce. languages is also a major concern.
mile connectivity in remote rural areas. • Transport services like Uber have 7. Data security: With the proliferation
Currently, over 55,000 villages remain had frequent run-ins with the local of cloud-based services like DigiLocker,
deprived of mobile connectivity. This government due to legacy policy data security has emerged as a major
is largely due to the fact that providing frameworks which have not become challenge. The recent data breach in
mobile connectivity in such locations attuned to the changing business August 2016, in which debit card data
is not commercially viable for service landscape. for more than 3.2 million subscribers
providers. 5. Contracting: Implementation of was stolen highlights the importance
3. Development of the application the Digital India program has been of implementing foolproof security
ecosystem: For digital technology hampered by contracting challenges systems.
to be accessible to every citizen, such as the following:
13Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Key takeways models that ensure commercial to finance rural digital infrastructure
Development of digital infrastructure is viability needs to developed jointly growth in India through direct
a critical component of Digital India. To through consultation with industry investment or subsidies.
further enable development of digital bodies. This will encourage private
infrastructure, the following measures sector participation and ensure a 4. Use of complementary
should be considered:- better response to infrastructure technologies: Satellite
RFPs. In addition, startups need to communication solutions could be
1. Uniform policies for deploying be incentivized for the development used to speed up broadband access in
telecom and optic fibre of the last mile infrastructure and rural and remote areas. For instance,
infrastructure: A uniform RoW policy localized services and applications. banks can use VSAT technology
across all states with a reasonable to connect remote ATMs, remote
cost structure is required along 3. Rural infrastructure development: branches that need instant access to
with a single window mechanism Existing government infrastructure customer data. It could be used as a
for granting RoW permissions. PPP assets (e.g., post offices, government last mile connectivity solution in rural
models need to be explored for buildings, CSCs) should be further areas which lack telecom networks.
sustainable development of digital leveraged for provision of digital Another example could be of the
infrastructure, as has been the case services. navigational system NAVIC (Navigation
for civic infrastructure projects like with Indian Constellation), which
roads and metro project. In addition, In rural and remote areas, private can have applications in terrestrial,
the government should make efforts sector players should be incentivized aerial and marine navigation, disaster
to make additional spectrum available to provide last mile connectivity. USOF management, vehicle tracking and fleet
to telecom service providers for can be effectively used to incentivise management, integration with mobile
deployment of high speed data and create a viable business model. phones, precise timing, mapping and
networks. The deployment of funds so far has geodetic data capture, terrestrial
been erratic and not been used navigation aid for hikers and travellers
2. Encourage collaboration with the to effectively to fund the cost of and visual/ voice navigation for drivers.
private sector: Effective collaboration infrastructure creation in rural areas.
with the private sector is critical Currently, the fund has over INR 451
to the development of the digital billion in reserves which can be used
infrastructure. Innovative engagement
Figure 2: USOF Disbursed and Balance (INR billion)
459 451
391
337
279
218
17 22 21 31 34
6
FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17
(provisional)
Funds Disbursed Balance
14Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Enabling Services for
Digital India Transformation
Development and deployment of are perceived to be less user friendly and
services under Digital India difficult to use.
After infrastructure, digital services is the
second most critical component for the This section provides an overview on
success of the Digital India program. the existing services landscape, key
initiatives taken by the government, role
The government has undertaken a of the private sector and the way forward
number of steps to develop applications with respect to the challenges faced. In
and digitized services for citizens. While addition, case studies demonstrating the
few of these applications (e.g., DigiLocker, impact of Digital services in Healthcare,
MyGov) have witnessed high adoption, Education and Agriculture have been
several others are lagging behind as they showcased.
15Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Table 2: Status of major services launched under the Digital India Programme
Services Description
eSign eSign framework allows for online • Implemented and deployed
digital signature by leveraging Aadhaar • Used for business documents & tax returns
authentication
National Centre of Geo- GIS platform for sharing and collaborating • Platform has been developed and is seeking support from
Informatics GIS data source, location-based analytics and state government for deployment
‘Decision Support System’
Information Security Capacity building in the area of Information • 51 academic institutions
Education and Security to address the human resource • 4- Info. Security Research and Development Centers
Awareness (ISEA) Phase- requirement, training and develop information (ISRDC)
II & Cyber Security security awareness • 7-Resource Centers (RCs)
• 30,000 people trained16
MyGov app Citizen-centric platform empowering people • Service has been rolled out with more than 10,00,000
to connect with the government & contribute users17
toward good governance
DigiLocker Digital Locker facility provides citizens a • With 39,60083 registered users DigiLocker this service is
shareable private space on a public cloud and available for citizens18
making all documents / certificates available • App available in Playstore
on cloud
Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan To further the Swachh Bharat mission, the • 500,000 installs so far19
app government has launched this app which
will be used by people and government
organizations
Wi-Fi hotspots Under this initiative, the government plans to • 2489 hotspots
deploy Wi-Fi at public and tourist places • 1209 hotspot locations20
Payment Bank by India By March 2017, India Post will launch their • Development in progress
Post own Payment Bank across India
PayOnline Launch of National ePayment gateway is enabling every • e-Payment started in Railways, CPWD, Ministry of Urban
e-Payment Portal Indian citizen to make online payments for all Development for 152 Divisions, a total of 278 Divisions to
Government based transactions, ecommerce be on-boarded by the end of this year21
payments and other related tasks
Launch of Post-Terminals Handing over Post Terminals to rural Post • In progress and expected to be completed by March 2017
(Rural ICT – RICT) Masters. This will help in providing the financial
and other services in to rural areas
National Scholarships One-stop-solution for end-to-end scholarship • Developed and deployed successfully
Portal process right from submission of student • 1,22,96,926 registered students
application, disbursal to end beneficiary for all • 16,17,084 universities/institutes22
the scholarships provided by the Government
of India
16Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Launch of Online labs for Under this nationwide initiative, Online labs will • Online labs currently has over 90,000 registered users23
schools be available in Hindi, Malayalam and Marathi • Being moved to the National Knowledge Network (NKN) to
and offered in both urban and rural schools support large scale
30,000 teachers in all Indian states will be
provided training on Online labs
E-education Providing high-tech education in remote • In progress – Pilots / POCs deployed
and urban areas using technology like • Under deployment of nodal office and target to all school
smartphones, apps and Internet services with broadband and Wi-Fi available
• 30000+ teachers enrolled24
E- Health Provides timely, effective and economical • DPRs have been prepared. Execution yet to start
healthcare services such as online registration,
payment, report, claim etc.
Key enablers for the development c. Status of MMPs and challenges 2. Financial Inclusion – Moving
of services under the Digital India i. Lack of incentives for Towards Cashless Economy
program promotion, awards and rewards a. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan
A number of policy changes and initiatives for people, employees who use Yojana (PMJDY) is clearly the
have been undertaken by the government ICT largest financial inclusion exercise
as enablers to develop and increase the ii. Low IT Education levels among ever witnessed in the world. Under
speed of deployment of services. Some of semi-urban and rural areas to the scheme, approximately 260
the major enablers are detailed below: handle the applications million unique accounts have been
iii. Limited workforce trained for opened. With the PMJDY, nearly
1. Mission Mode Projects (MMPs): ICT in the government and in 100% of households have at least
a. Mission mode projects (MMP) the field (remote locations) one bank account. As of September
are individual projects within iv. Internet connectivity in rural 2016, approximately 23% of these
the National e-Governance Plan areas accounts had no deposits26.
(NeGP) that focuses on one aspect v. Infrastructure limitations However, this should reduce
of electronic governance. These especially in rural and semi significantly given the recent
projects are executed on fast urban areas (e.g., power, roads) demonetization announcement by
track mode and directly impact vi. Operations and maintenance the government.
the success of pillars under Digital issue for system deployed in
India. The components of MMPs case of theft, breakage, etc.
are as follows:
i. Capacity building: To enhance
service delivery with skilled
people
ii. Awareness and communication:
To improve training and
awareness
iii. Impact and outcomes: To
monitor benefits realization
iv. Standards and Policies: To
enable seamless collaboration
across projects
b. MMPs aligned with Digital India
i. MMPs under Digital India
includes a combination of
projects managed by the center
and states as well as those that
are managed jointly.
17Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Figure 3: MMPs under Digital India25
Central MMPs
Immigration,
Central Visa and
Banking Excise & Income Insurance MCA21 Passport Foreigners
Customs Tax (IT) Registration&
Tracking
Pension e-Office Posts UID
State MMP
Commercial Employment Land
Agriculture e−District Municipalities e-Panchayats
Taxes Exchange Records(NLRMP)
Road Treasuries PDS Education
Police(CCTNS) Computerization Health
Transport
Integrated MMP
National
e-governance
CSC e-Biz e-Courts e-Procurement EDI For eTrade India Portal
Service Delivery
Gateway
b. The demonetization initiative departments and organizations cash mediums. National Payments
undertaken in November to promote digital and card-based Corporation of India (NPCI)
2016 will lead to a significant payments. promoted RuPay represents 38%
reduction in cash transactions c. Further, with the launch of robust of all debit cards inssued in India,
and a higher usage of payment and secure e-payment portals, ahead of Visa and MasterCard.
applications like m-wallets, online RuPay, credit card, debit cards, However, share in the number of
transactions and net banking. In NEFT, RTGS, IMPS amongst others transactions is still low (~4% of
conjunction with demonetization, the government is making a push POS transactions and 2% of online
the government has announced towards cashless economy where transactions)27.
waivers on convenience charges, citizens are able to pay taxes, bills d. In another step towards a cashless
surcharge and service charge on etc. online with help of internet economy, a new service Unified
digital payments by government banking, credit card and other non- Payment Interface (UPI) has
18Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
been recently launched that will
allow for transaction between
two bank accounts using two
smartphones. This is very helpful
for secure transctions for people
who are not technology savvy.
e. While the government has been
has pushing towards a cashless
economy, it faces a number of
challenges including the following:
i. A large sized legitimate cash
economy
ii. Reluctance to use plastic (due to
limited knowledge, training on
usage)
iii. Unawareness of benefits
iv. Security concerns with usage of
plastic money
3. Role of VNOs (Virtual Network
Operators) in driving adoption of
services
a. The telecom department issued
4. Technology as an enabler for being developed which will
rules on 31 May 2016 for virtual
Digital Services focus on delivery on smart
network operators (VNOs) to set
a. Technology plays a pivotal role services to citizens through a
up operations in India. These
in the Government’s vision for a strong technology backbone.
operators could offer consumers
Digital India. Over 500 cities are also being
more choices for voice and data
i. Broadband infrastructure: upgraded under the Atal Mission
services while allowing telcos
Under the BharatNet program, for Rejuvenation and Urban
more options to monetize unused
the government plans to Transformation (AMRUT) program.
airwaves.
provide information highways Internet of Things (IoT) which
b. VNOs would lead to faster
in terms of high speed fiber comprises of machine to machine
penetration of telecom services
networks. communication technology will
and encourage lower rates and
ii. Mobile networks: 4G play a vital role in the development
introduction of new & innovative
networks are currently being services that will be provided to
services including machine-to-
deployed by most service citizens of these smart cities
machine (M2M) communication
providers. To increase available c. Technologies such as cloud
services. Rural and untapped
capacities, the government computing, mobility and analytics
markets will provide a significant
announced rules for spectrum are being used extensively by the
opportunity for VNOs and also help
sharing and has increased government to enable the vision of
with job creation, digital literacy
available spectrum for auction. Digital India (e.g., DigiLocker, eTaal).
and propagation of digital services.
The government has also d. Integrated technology framework
partnered with the private is being used by government to
sector to setup Wi-Fi in public integrate the systems together
places. so that data can be pushed and
b. Under the Smart cities mission, pulled by any system as and when
100 new Smart Cities are required for effective service
delivery and decision making.
19Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Case Study:
e-Hospital – A Digital India initiative towards making
premier healthcare facilities accessible
What is the e-Hospital programme?
The e-Hospital programme enables patients to register, book appointments, pay fee, avail diagnostic reports and seek
availability of blood types online in premier medical government institutes like All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS), Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) and Sports
Injury Centre (SIC) as well as any other government hospitals.
What is the current status of the programme?
As on November 2016, 56 hospitals provide this service with a total of over 472,000 appointments booked online till date.
How it works?
e-Hospital runs an Online Registration System (ORS) which is a framework for connecting various hospitals to citizens through
a Aadhaar based online registration and appointment system. The application is hosted on the cloud service of NIC and allows
patients to book online appointments with different section of the hospital by using eKYC data of the Aadhaar. The salient features
of the service include:
• Simplified online appointment process: The e-Hospital portal provides a simplified hospital registration and appointment
process through linkage to the citizen’s Aadhaar number.
• Dashboard reporting: Detailed reports can be viewed for the hospitals linked to e-Hospital along with their departments
showing information about new and returning patients, patient history and lab results.
• Hospital on-boarding and management of registration process: By enrolling on the e-Hospital service, hospitals can provide
their appointment slots for online booking by patients. Further, the system facilitates hospitals in managing and monitoring
the registration and appointment process.
What is the impact of e-Hospital service?
The overall Indian healthcare market is valued at approximately $100 billion and is expected to grow to $280 billion by 2020
exhibiting a CAGR of close to 23% boosted by the increased adoption of digital technologies in healthcare. The e-Hospital service
has a key role in the growth of the industry through:
• Providing wider accessibility to citizens: The services allows for citizens to access any government hospital through a click of
button. It also helps eliminate queues and time consuming registration processes enabling people to access healthcare and
facilities in an efficient manner.
• Better patient experience: Since patient can meet doctors at a pre-defined time, time is not wasted waiting in queues. Doctors
are less stressed to pack in too many patients in compressed timeframes
• Management and monitoring of appointments: The e-Hospital facility provides hospitals with a streamlined method of
managing and monitoring appointments helping them realize efficiencies in hospital operations.
• Accessibility of reports through digitization: The citizens can access digitized diagnostic reports through the e-Hospital portal
enabling quicker service, diagnosis and monitoring.
20Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Case Study:
Develop pilot Massive Open Online Courses
(MOOCs) –An initiative to provide quality
education in an affordable and scalable manner
What are MOOCs?
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a distance learning initiative allowing students to access video tutorials,
curriculum and instructions online. The Digital India project is initiating pilot MOOCs under the e-Kranti pillar to
provide real-time education. This will partly address the challenge of lack of teachers in education system through
smart and virtual classrooms. It also has the potential to make education accessible in rural areas and to weaker
sections of society through mobile devices.
What is the current status of the programme?
The Union Budget FY17 focused on providing entrepreneurship, education and training in 2,200 colleges, 500
government industrial training institutes, 300 schools and 50 vocational training centers via MOOCs.
How it works?
MOOCs enable distance learnings in an effective and cost efficient manner through digital platforms that can be
accessed online and on mobile devices. The courses are made available to students through virtual classrooms
encompassing instruction, curriculum and tutorials. The high speed network provides adequate infrastructure for
MOOCs.
What is the impact of MOOCs?
With the increase in data connectivity and improved IT infrastructure, the education sector is moving towards
online courses. India has seen a rapid rise in the number of students enrolling for MOOCs indicating that the
interest in MOOCs will continue to grow growing forward. The MOOCs have the potential to create a wide scale
impact through:
• Making education accessible: The poor literacy rate in India is due to unavailability of physical infrastructure in
rural and remote areas. This shortcoming can be addressed by MOOCs that can be undertaken through online
and on mobile platforms. The increasing smartphone penetration especially in lower tier towns and rural areas
has enabled a large section of the population to access quality education through MOOCs. Moreover, students
can refer the topic and read, view or hear material multiple times in several Indian language as per their
convenience. With no restriction on class size and usage of social media and online tools, MOOCs can be easily
accessed from anywhere.
• Increasing affordability of education: MOOCs are available to students at much lower educational fees than
conventional classrooms and other educational platforms. Due to the higher affordability, the enrolment of
students for MOOCs has seen a significant increase.
• Improving quality of education: Keys hurdle in the imparting of education across the country is access to quality
educators and poor pupil tutor ratio (27:1). MOOCs can provide education to the masses through instructions
from premier education institutes and the country’s leading educators.
21Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Case Study:
Krishidoot –An information and market place platform
for the agricultural community in India
What is Krishidoot?
Krishidoot is a platform for the
agricultural community in India, launched
jointly by Small Farmers’ Agribusiness
Consortium, an agency under the
Agriculture ministry and Reuters
Market Light (RML). It provides valuable
information to farmer groups such as
mandi pricing, crop advisory and local
weather forecast. It aims to increase
productivity by allowing farmers to
realize better prices for their agricultural
produce and optimize procurement
cost for quality agricultural inputs.
The platform is currently available in
5 different languages and has proven
transaction capability across 9 states and
55 commodities.
What is the current status of the
programme?
As on December 2015, 400+ Farmer
Producer Organizations (FPOs), 11,000+ Farmer Interest Groups (FIGs) and 10,000+ market players have been onboarded on
Kirshidoot.
How it works?
Krishidoot utilizes ICT technology and on ground facilitation to empower farmer groups to carry out transactions on the platform.
There is a five step process in which Krishidoot call centre, tablet or mobile based apps, event based SMS messages and on ground
support are used to complete the transaction.
What is the impact of krishidoot?
With the increase in data connectivity and improvement in digital infrastructure under Digital India, a larger number of
stakeholders including FPOs, FIGs and market players are using Krishidoot. This has led to an increase in the quantity and value of
transactions completed.
Category Number
Number of Transactions Completed 40,675
Total Quantity transacted (in Quintals) 1.4 million
Value of transactions (in INR) 3.9 billion
Krishidoot has the potential to create a wide scale impact by:
• Benefiting farmers: Krishidoot is benefitting farmers by helping them realize higher prices than the prevailing market rates
and increasing their savings on overhead charges such as transportation and loading-unloading. As a result, FPOs have been
able to gain up to 25% benefit relative to Mandi/aggregator prices and an additional income of INR 120 million has been
generated. Farmers have also been able to save time on marketing and sale of produce and get access to on the spot payment
and fair weighing practices.
• Benefiting market players: Market players have benefited due to improved quality of the produce and better visibility of
produce supply. They have been able to procure produce at better prices and take advantage of bulk procurement.
22Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Key takeways Train-the-trainer approach should 4. Provision of user friendly
Development of the digital service be taken in areas where usage and applications and services: One
ecosystem is a critical factor in realising deployment is low. It will help in of the major reasons for the lower
the benefits of the Digital India program spreading the knowledge and benefits adoption rates for services is the
at the grass root level. To further increase of digital services. E-learning by short limited availability of applications.
speed of development and adoption of modules and using social media and The government needs to encourage
digital services the following measures campaigns to encourage the usage of deployment of citizen friendly, visually
could be considered: services is an effective way to improve appealing carrier class applications
adoption and deployment. that will help deliver the promise of
1. Higher private participation in the Digital India empowerment for citizens.
services ecosystem: Higher private 3. Establish an effective governance
sector participation is required for the framework: Considering the complex The government needs to provide
development of digital services. The nature of the country and multiple incentives and a collaboration and
government needs to provide a policy central/state/local government and learning platform to entrepreneurs,
framework and incentives that provide various private players operating technology startups and students for
for a viable business case for the with different technologies, the time development of innovative applications.
private sector for development and roll is ripe for the country to have a Chief
out of digital services to the citizens. Information Officer (CIO) who can 5. Enhancing cyber security
permeate the right infrastructure, mechanisms: A centralized
2. Improve digital literacy: Higher comprehensive policies & services and surveillance and security mechanism
adoption of digital services, especially ensure technological interoperability that monitors and safeguards India’s
in rural areas depends on provision of of key government functions across cyberspace against threats such as
digital infrastructure and effective and the country. data theft, hacking, etc. should be set
sustained training. up. Policies regarding cyber security
should be assessed on a regular basis
and should be extended to private
sector enterprises.
23Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
Capacity Building for a
Digital India
For the success of the Digital India Digital literacy in India second largest mobile phone market
program, capacity building is crucial. In India is rapidly evolving into one of the globally with over 1 billion mobile
addition to infrastructure development, largest digital economies globally. The rising subscriptions. Of this, smartphone
Digital Literacy, skill building and higher internet user base in India and smartphone users account for approximately 240
adoption of digital solutions is key to penetration are expected to provide million subscriptions which is expected
program success. This section provides accessibility to digital technologies to all to grow to 520 million by 2020. Majority
an overview across the following three sections of the population. of internet users access the internet
dimensions: through mobile networks. Given
• Rapid growth in Internet user base: the rapid growth in smartphones,
• Digital Literacy: Despite rising With increased 4G and 3G penetration, penetration of digital services is
smartphone penetration and internet the Internet user base in India is expected to rapidly increase.
user base, digital literacy in India has rapidly expanding and has reached a
been low. In order for the benefits of penetration of over 27% versus 50.3% Although internet penetration has been
the Digital India programme to reach all penetration in China. It is expected on the rise, digital literacy in India is still
sections of the population, improving to almost double to 600 million users as low as 10%.29 To effectively harness
digital literacy is imperative. by 2020 from approximately 343 the upcoming digital wave, it is important
• Skill Building: A strong skill base is users currently.28 Going forward, rural to increase digital literacy in India. The
required to support the initiatives and adoption of data-enabled devices government as well as several private
services that are envisaged under the is expected to increase with the players have taken initiatives to create
Digital India umbrella. Development BharatNet initiative under Digital India. awareness and increase the rate of digital
of technical skills within ministries • Smartphone penetration: India is the literacy in India.
and state governments will enable
the spread of e-governance services,
maintenance and upgradation and
Figure 4: Internet Penetration by Countries, 2016
decision making on all digital initiatives.
• Digital Adoption: For Digital India
Japan 93%
to be successful, all segments of
Indian society need to adopt digital US 92%
technologies. This will not only create
demand for Digital India but also UK 75%
achieve its vision of empowering all
citizens. Russia 73%
China 50%
Global 44%
India 27%
Source: World Bank Data
24Digital India: Unlocking the trillion dollar opportunity
National Digital Literacy Mission New Digital Literacy Mission candidates and certified over 61,500
(NDLM) The government is also planning to launch candidates with the assistance of 1,342
In August 2014, the government initiated a digital literacy mission scheme aimed at training partners.37
the National Digital Literacy Mission providing digital skills to 60 million people
(NDLM) aimed at combating the digital in rural areas representing 40% of the Other Initiatives
skill gaps and enhancing digital literacy. rural population in the next three years. In December 2014, Intel along with the
The mission is headed by NASSCOM and The government intends to invest INR government unveiled a digital skills training
targeted providing training to 5.25 million30 300 on each training bringing the total application in 5 Indian languages including
people by 2018 through 20 to 30-day cost of the programme to INR 18 billion modules on digital literacy, financial
programmes. ($265 million)34. For this programme, inclusion, healthcare and cleanliness
the government is working with content aimed to create digital literates across
The programme has been highly successful providers to include local languages and 1,000 panchayats38. Recently, Intel has
with close to 8.5 million people trained and is giving special focus to improvement of initiated the following projects designed
4.8 million certified under NDLM in since skills with mobile devices in line with the to accelerate digital literacy in non-urban
inception.31 The key factors enabling the strategic shift to m-Governance for various India:39
roll-out of NDLM have been:32 citizen-centric services.
• Inaugurated new 'Unnati Kendra at
• Partnership with private sector Skill development programme for Common Service Centre' (UK at CSC)
companies such as Amdocs, Cognizant, Electronics System Design and facilities in Karnal, Haryana under the
Cyient, Google, Intel, Microsoft and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector 'Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur' initiative. The
Zensar Technologies to create NDLM The ESDM scheme is aimed at enhancing centre will serve as a common access
centres across India. skills through training of 328,000 people digital learning centres and Intel aims to
• Delivery of the digital literacy training in ESDM sectors. Under the scheme, the open several more of these facilities in
through PPP models with partner government provides 75% to 100% of the state.
agencies identified by the respective training cost for industry specific skills • Launched the 'Digital Unnati'
State Governments and UTs. For for skilled and semi-skilled workers.35 The online portal, to upskill Village
example, NASSCOM is currently scheme also provides opportunities for Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) at
working with SAP India to set up 25 skill development for the private sector CSCs. The webpage is being set
new centres across the country to add through telecom and electronics sector up in collaboration with the CSC
to the existing 75 in Tier –I and Tier – II skills councils. e-Governance Services India and
cities. will enable VLEs to improve their
• Common services centers (CSCs) The Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) technology know-how.
established as access points for the aims to up-skill and certify 4.5 million
delivery of various electronic services personnel in 150 trades, train 24,000 Several other initiatives such as dSaksharta,
to villages to provide access to trainers and accredit 500 training Microsoft’s Digital Literacy Program and ICT
e-services for rural citizens utilising the organizations36. Further, the Electronics Academy’s Digital Literacy Programme have
existing infrastructure. By June 2016, Sector Skills Council of India (ESSCI) also been introduced to increase digital
approximately 170,000 CSCs in GPs had is created to provide training and skill literacy in the country by providing training
been set up across the country with the development to enhance employability in modules for introductory digital literacy
target is to reach out to 250,000 gram the electronics manufacturing industry. skills. Further, Telenor India has converted
panchayats by the end of this year.33 a number of its stores to customer
• Encouraging village-level entrepreneurs Till now, the ESDM skill development education hubs (Grahak Shiksha Kendriyas
(VLEs) to take up training and scheme has trained over 127,000 or GSKs).
awareness generation in villages.
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