Budget 2019: 1 lakh villages to go digital, India next AI disruptor?

Bengaluru: India has around 600,000 villages of which 100,000 of them will be digitally enabled over the next five years.

Presenting an interim budget on Friday union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said more than 3 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) employing about 12 lakh people are digitally delivering services to citizens. These CSCs are expanding their services and also creating digital infrastructure and connectivity in rural areas to convert villages into Digital Villages. The government will convert 1 lakh villages into digital villages in over next five years, he said.

“Digital Infrastructure and digital economy of 2030 will be built upon the successes achieved in recent years in digitisation of Government processes and private transactions. Our youth will lead us in this endeavour with innumerable start-ups creating digital India, and millions of jobs in this eco-system,” said Goyal.

To this end, the government will set up a national centre for artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to harness new age-technologies for citizens in these villages. The move will help bridge the rural-urban digital divide and would open avenues to jobs and employment creation.

This would be catalysed by the establishment of the National Centre on AI as a hub along with Centres of Excellence. Nine priority areas have been identified. A national AI portal will also be developed soon. AI technology helps in analysing data in various technologies to improve the efficiency of the system like power management in cars, mobile devices, weather predictions, video and image analysis etc, he added.

Welcoming the government’s commitment for digital play, V Ramakrishnan, CFO, TCS said, “The target of extending connectivity to create 1 lakh digital villages over the next five years will further reduce the digital divide, and spur digital entrepreneurship in rural areas. The announcement of a national programme on 'Artificial Intelligence' with a Center as a hub along with Centers of Excellence, will provide a fillip to building national capabilities in this area.’’

As per the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the government’s vision to make 1 lakh villages into digital villages is ambitious and will usher in the much needed digital revolution under the Digital India initiative, and will help in the last mile connectivity.

Interestingly, monthly consumption of mobile data increased by over 50 times in the last five years. The cost of data and voice calls in India is now possibly the lowest in the world. India is now on the way to becoming a global manufacturing hub in various sectors, including automobiles and electronics, defence and medical devices.

“With more than 250 million unbanked population in the country, and 40% of bank accounts lying inactive, the creation of 1 lakh digital villages will provide digital payment companies a great opportunity to integrate this populace to a formal economy by designing simplified digital payment experience for them. India is now leading the world in the consumption of mobile data,’’ said Kumar Srinivasan, CEO, of fin-tech firm MatchMove.

LTI (L&T Infotech), CEO & MD, Mr. Sanjay Jalona said, “The continued support by the government on new age concepts such as AI that has the power to emerge as not only national assets but global disruptors is a huge trigger to further advancements in these fields. The role of such exponential technologies in driving the nation’s development is immense and provides a much-needed avenue to address and overcome pertinent age-old issues. Furthermore government’s vision for 2030 to place India as a modern, technology-driven, high growth and transparent society including leading the world in transport through electric vehicles and energy storage devices further emphasizes the role of digital technologies in transforming not only businesses but overall living standards.”