India aims to digitize 20% of GDP by 2025-26, says Chandrasekhar

In a significant move towards accelerating its digital transformation, India is setting its sights on digitizing 20% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the fiscal year 2025-26, according to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology. Speaking at the recently-concluded global AI summit in London, Chandrasekhar highlighted India's significant progress in digitising its economy over the past eight years, from 4.5 per cent to about 20 per cent of total GDP by 2025-26. 
As of now, 11 per cent of India's GDP is digitised. "The digital economy and the innovation economy are growing 2.5 or three times faster than the non-digital part of the GDP," ANI quoted Chandrasekhar as saying.Chandrasekhar emphasised the importance of international collaboration and dialogues between countries, asserting their crucial role in shaping the future of technology."The future of tech, whether it be innovation, partnerships, or institutional framework for regulating technology, should be driven by a coalition of nations rather than just one or two countries," media reports quoted him as saying.
Chandrasekhar also stressed the significance of digital advancements as real objectives and described artificial intelligence as a catalyst that can accelerate growth, governance, and the digital economy.International digital ministers, technology leaders, esteemed academics, and representatives from civil society gathered for the two-day summit. They discussed the shared risks arising from emergent AI technology and potential mitigation strategies. 

Future of tech should be driven by international collaborations rather than just a few countries!

Listen to MoS @Rajeev_GoI's remarks at the opening session of the #AISafetySummit, where he spoke about India’s transformational journey of Digital Expansion and highlighted PM… pic.twitter.com/Xy3OB7n32l

— Digital India (@_DigitalIndia) November 3, 2023

The ambitious goal of digitizing a significant portion of India's GDP is seen as a transformative step towards realizing the country's digital potential and fostering economic growth in the digital age. With a clear vision and robust strategies in place, India is poised to become a global digital powerhouse in the coming years.

(Ira Singh, Asstt Editor, Gandhinagar)