Digital India campaign

It is an initiative taken by government of India on July 1, in order to create transparent,

participative and responsive government. It was being launched with a vision of transforming
India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. There are three major aspects
of the vision-

a) Digital Infrastructure as a Core Utility to Every Citizen

b) Governance and Services on Demand
c) Digital Empowerment of Citizens

The program was being launched, with a huge support from top industrialist of this nation with a
common dream of connecting people from every city to every village through a digital-platform.
The need for digitalization was felt, back in the mid-1990s. When it took a broader dimension for
wider sectoral applications with emphasis on citizen-centric services. The major ICT initiatives
of the Government included, inter alia, some major projects such as railway computerization,
land record computerization, etc. which focused mainly on the development of information
systems. Later on, many states started ambitious individual e-governance projects aimed at
providing electronic services to citizens.

Few other steps like Adhaar Card for e-identification has enabled citizens as well as government
to connect each individual to a protected data base. Though these e-governance projects were
citizen-centric, they could make less than the desired impact due to their limited features. The
isolated and less interactive systems revealed major gaps that were thwarting the successful
adoption of e-governance along the entire spectrum of governance. They clearly pointed towards
the need for a more comprehensive planning and implementation for the infrastructure required
to be put in place, interoperability issues to be addressed, etc. to establish a more connected
government.

According to a report on, Top 20 countries with the highest number of internet users published
by Internet World Stats India ranks 2nd with 34.4% of active internet users of the total population
with a growth percentage of 9,142.5 % from year 2000-2017. But the current infrastructure is yet
to be developed to accommodate such massive development like installation of High speed fiber
optics cable network across the country. The government has proposes seven lakh kilometers of
optical fiber to be laid to connect 250 gram panchayats in three years. Few other measures had
been taken to support the program like- installation of Public Wi-fi spots, states like Maharashtra,
Madhya Prasad, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana and Chhattisgarh roll out the NOFN (National
Optical Fibre Network) to facilitate the mission of digital India.

To list a few impacts of digital Indian to the population of India are as follows:

Broadband in 2.5 lakh villages, universal phone connectivity

 Digitally empowered citizens (Public wi-fi hotspots for citizens)
e-Governance & eServices: Across government
Wi-fi in 2.5 lakh schools, all universities;
Digital Inclusion: 1.7 Cr trained for IT, Telecom and Electronics Jobs
Job creation: Direct 1.7 Cr. and Indirect at least 8.5 Cr.
Usage of digital locker- The campaign makes possible the implementation of digital
locker system which in turn reduces paper work by minimizing the usage of physical
documents as well as enabling e-sharing through registered repositories.

Conclusion- India is heading toward to growth at a rapid pace. The growth majorly
depending upon developing and strengthening it IT infrastructure. A country where major
portion of the population is young, has correctly understood the strength of Information
enabled generation. It not only creates accountability across sectors and industry but also
makes even the remote crowd accessible to the basic amenities through a click of a
button.

Source- http://www.digitalindia.gov.in/content/management-structure
TOP 20 COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST NUMBER OF
INTERNET USERS - MARCH 31, 2017
 Growth (*)
Country or Population, Internet Users Internet Facebook
# 2000 -
Region 2017 Est. 31 Mar 2017 Penetration 30 June 2016
2017

1 China 1,388,232,693 731,434,547 52.7 % 3,150.8 % 1,800,000

2 India 1,342,512,706 462,124,989 34.4 % 9,142.5 % 157,000,000

3 United States 326,474,013 286,942,362 87.9 % 200.9 % 201,000,000

4 Brazil 211,243,220 139,111,185 65.9 % 2,682.2 % 111,000,000

5 Indonesia 263,510,146 132,700,000 50.4 % 6,535.0 % 88,000,000

6 Japan 126,045,211 118,453,595 94.0 % 151.6 % 26,000,000

7 Russia 143,375,006 104,553,691 72.9 % 3,272.7 % 12,000,000

46,695.6
8 Nigeria 191,835,936 93,591,174 48.8 % 16,000,000
%

9 Germany 80,636,124 71,727,551 89.0 % 198.9 % 31,000,000

10 Mexico 130,222,815 69,915,219 53.7 % 2,477.6 % 69,000,000

66,865.0
11 Bangladesh 164,827,718 66,965,000 40.6 % 21,000,000
%

United
12 65,511,098 60,273,385 92.0 % 291.4 % 39,000,000
Kingdom
 22,580.0
13 Iran 80,945,718 56,700,000 70.0 % 17,200,000
%

14 France 64,938,716 56,367,330 86.8 % 563.1 % 33,000,000

15 Philippines 103,796,832 54,000,000 52.0 % 2,600.0 % 54,000,000

16 Italy 59,797,978 51,836,798 86.7 % 292.7 % 30,000,000

24,770.9
17 Vietnam 95,414,640 49,741,762 52.1 % 40,000,000
%

18 Turkey 80,417,526 46,196,720 57.4 % 2,209.8 % 46,000,000

19 Korea, South 50,704,971 45,314,248 89.4 % 138.0 % 17,000,000

20 Thailand 68,297,547 41,000,000 60.0 % 1,682.6 % 41,000,000

TOP 20 Countries 5,038,740,614 2,738,949,556 54.4 % 914.7 % 1,051,000,000

Rest of the World 2,480,288,356 993,023,867 40.0 % 990.6 % 628,433,530

Total World Users 7,519,028,970 3,731,973,423 49.6 % 933.8 % 1,679,433,530

NOTES: (1) Top 20 Internet User Statistics were updated for March 31, 2017. (2) Growth percentage
represents the increase in the number of Internet users between the years 2000 and 2017. (3) The most
recent user information comes from data published by Facebook, International Telecommunications Union,
official country telecom reports, and other trustworthy research sources. (4) Data from this site may be
cited, giving the due credit and establishing a link back to www.internetworldstats.com. Copyright 2017,
Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.

Source- http://www.internetworldstats.com/top20.htm

Demonetization- Its impact on Indian economy

The move by Indian government had a direct and indirect impact on the
economy of the country. This step was being taken to curb out the black
money, fight against terrorism are to name a few reasons. The impact of
demonetization was felt across every sector be it automobile, cement,
capital goods, consumer staples / jewellery, NBFCs, Real state, health care,
retail or Smart phone for that matter.

Post demonetization we all witnessed a massive cash crunch. Were bank ran
out of cash. The demand was so huge that it took nearly 60 days to fully
recover from the crisis. In such scenario a latent need for digital cash came
into picture. Companies like paytm, airtel money, Mpesa etc who were
struggling in the market of pre-demonetization era, got a huge positive
response.

According to RBI data, in the first four days of December, the volume of
transactions done daily through eight leading mobile wallets and prepaid
payment instruments (PPI) was about 25 lakh, worth about Rs 60 crore.
Paytm alone witnessed at least 32.5 lakh transactions every day on its digital
wallet.

FreeCharge registered a nine-fold jump in merchant transactions on its platform, and MobiKwik
reported an overall 18-time increase in its transaction volumes. Oxigen Services, which also has
a digital wallet, its transactions increased to Rs. 600 crore in November from an average of Rs.
450 crore a month. In the absence of currency notes, with digital transactions, money came into
the system, which was accountable, generated tax and help develop the country's economy even
in the crisis situation.

Witnessing the positive aspect of digital economy, the government doled out a number of sops
for consumers when they make payments digitally. These include discounts on purchase of fuel
and payments for insurance and at toll plazas. Service tax has been waived on digital transactions
for purchases up to Rs 2,000, while charges on transactions through feature phones have also
been cut.

Conclusion- Though one never had thought of the digital money being the reality of the future.
But the transparency and accountability which come as a plus point has pulled the attention of
the government towards it. In a nation where only 1.5 % of the total population pay their taxes.
Government has banked its hope on the usage of digital economy. The campaign done by the
Indian e wallet company paytms slogan, Paytm karo successfully caught the attention of the
huge mass. But at the same time raising a new Challenge for IT Security & Networking.

Sources-
 http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/slideshows/investments-markets/how-demonetisation-will-
impact-top-11-sectors-of-economy/telecom/slideshow/55432939.cms
http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/mobile/digital-wallet-cos-claim-growth-post-
demonetization-rbi-thinks-otherwise/55865444
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Digital-payments-soar-by-up-to-300-
after-demonetisation/articleshow/55902284.cms?TOI_browsernotification=true
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/why-income-tax-payers-in-india-are-
a-small-and-shrinking-breed/articleshow/56929550.cms
http://businessworld.in/article/As-Demonetization-Boosts-Digital-Banking-Raises-New-
Challenges-For-IT-Security-Networking/23-12-2016-110224/
https://indianceo.in/news/paytm-digital-marketing-increase-profit-demonetization/

3) Impact of these two policy on Paytm (e-wallet) and Indian Mobile Wallet Industry