So, from scaling Mount UPSC, we’ll go to driving the digital highway. I’m going to start my presentation. We’re going to talk about the state of India’s digital economy. I’m hurrying up because I know there are a lot of things to do before lunch starts. Hopefully somebody is going to fix the screen soon.

This is a report that we publish every year in ICRIER. ICRIER is an economic think tank in Delhi called the Indian Council of Research on International Economic Relations. Thanks to Samir G and the SKOCH Foundation for this opportunity and the invitation. We are delighted. This is a report that came out about three weeks ago, so it’s fresh yet.

The report actually starts with a question, and I want to start with a question to all of you. Can you think of a product that is produced in India, which is far superior in quality to what you get anywhere in the world? I’m not talking about natural products, things that are a gift of nature like mangoes and strawberries, but something that we have invented and produced in India.

When I was a student 30 years ago, when I went to the US, if somebody asked me that question, I would have taken a long time to think. But today it’s not very difficult. Let me start with the COVID vaccination certificate. The one on the left is the one you get in India — digital, easy to carry, hard to replicate, very unique. On the right side is the vaccination card you get in the US. My first vaccination was in the US, the second was in India. The US one is handwritten, messy, easy to replicate, and susceptible to fraud.

What you see is not just that India has a superior product, but the process of getting it is also far more superior in India than in the US. There are ample examples — UPI, Aadhaar — many digital products and services in India are far superior to anywhere else in the world.

But interestingly, if you look at global indices that measure digitalization, you don’t see much of that reflected. India is still ranked very low. I’ll start with an example. The International Monetary Fund, in August 2024, came out with a report measuring the Artificial Intelligence Preparedness Index. According to that report, seven of the top ten countries were European — Denmark, Netherlands, Estonia, Finland, Switzerland, Germany, and Sweden.

Then DeepSeek happened, and there was a shock. China was ranked 30, Indonesia 60, Brazil 65, India 71. If you believe these indices, as a European policymaker you’d feel very comfortable. If you’re an Nvidia stock owner, you know whom to sue.

These indices do not reflect global realities. In our 2024 report, the US was number one, China number two, and India followed. But when research comes from a developing-country think tank, not many people pay attention.

The problem is that digitalization in the AI age is being measured using metrics developed during the telecom era. These are outdated. This is not a conspiracy; it’s intellectual inertia. People haven’t invested enough time to understand how digitalization happened in developing countries.

There are three problems with traditional indicators. First, they ignore scale effects. For example, Fiji with one million people and 90% internet penetration ranks higher than India with a billion users at 70%. The scale difference is ignored.

Second, digitalization is measured narrowly as connectivity. In rich countries, connectivity is fixed broadband; in India, it’s mobile broadband, which is undervalued.

Third, they ignore harnessing, innovation, protection, and sustainability. We created a framework called CHIPS — Connect, Harness, Innovate, Protect, and Sustain. There are five pillars, fourteen sub-pillars, and forty-seven indicators.

We created two indices: CHIPS Economy (aggregate, like GDP) and CHIPS User (per capita). Then we combined them into CHIPS Combined.

At the aggregate level, India ranks third globally — after the US and China. This reflects the rise of the Global South. China is second, Brazil tenth, Thailand twelfth, Nigeria eighteenth — often ahead of G7 countries.

At the user level, India ranks 28th because the average Indian is still not fully digitalized. When you combine both, India ranks eighth. That’s the key number. India is the eighth most digitalized country in the world when both breadth and depth are considered.

Only four Asian countries are in the top ten — China, India, Singapore, and Korea. Only three are from continental Europe.

We plotted scale versus intensity and found that global indices only look at intensity. That distorts reality. Our method combines both.

India’s strongest pillar is harnessing. Once connected, Indians use digital tools effectively — e-commerce, e-health, ICT exports. But we lag in innovation, especially AI infrastructure.

India is farthest from the frontier in AI infrastructure. We are 66% away in innovation. Government initiatives like the India AI Mission and recent budget allocations are timely and necessary.

Let me conclude by saying this: while India is doing very well overall, the average Indian is still not fully digitalized. There is a lot of work to be done in policy and investment so that India doesn’t just use technology but influences the third and fourth industrial revolutions.

Thank you very much.