'The digital economy will determine India's fate before the rest of the world'

“Till the end of the 17th century India’s share in the world’s GDP was 37% and within 150 years of colonization it came down to 0.1%. Now in the 21st century particularly the way the events have moved in last 3 years, the world is looking at India once again with hopes and there are many reasons for that. We are a country with 125 crore Indians, of which 800 are less than 35 years of age.The younger generation and our present leadership cannot afford to let down the hopes of the world and the hopes of Indians. The digital economy, the data protection and protection of individual’s privacy, all these determine whether India can rise to the expectations of the world. 

As Gen Shekatkar mentioned, till 19th century the world used weapons and military power to acquire resources; in the 20th century in the cold war between the 2 blocks,the Americans used the power of economy and the digital power to influence the 11 countries in the Soviet system for over 45 years, without firing a single shot but merely by stringent economic policy. This also led to the dismantlement of the Soviet Union. That is the digital power which Americans have shown to the world in the last century. While couple of months back, the Chinese used their digital power to influence the media and perception during the Doklam crisis for 79 days and created such a fear psychosis among the majority of the ill/misinformed Indians on how China can teach a lesson to India. They never fired a shot but they used the digital medium to such an extent that all the Indian media stationed in Beijing used to get everyday briefing and social media posts conveying that India needs to be taught a lesson. But thanks to the leadership of our country and the way they acted with maturity and confidence, the Chinese had to ultimately withdraw.”

Lt. Gen. V M Patil
AVSM, PVSM (Retd.) Vice Chairman – CKS