G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant hosted an event on ‘Building Resilient and Inclusive Economies: The Promise of Digital Public Infrastructure’. Union Minister of Communications, Electronics and IT, and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw delivered the keynote address, while Bill Gates, Co-chair and Trustee, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was the guest of honour at the event. The event also included a panel discussion between MobiKwik Chairperson and Co-founder Upasana Taku, ZestMoney Co-founder and CEO Lizzie Chapman, and Open Financial Technologies Co-founder and COO Mabel Chacko, moderated by the Sherpa.
Digital public infrastructure is an important priority of India during its presidency year. A robust digital public infrastructure can accelerate a nation’s progress towards achieving economic growth, and ensure greater job creation and innovation.Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “What is unique about India’s digital public infrastructure is that it is open source, interoperable, scalable, transferable, secure, and based on public-private partnership. India has made it a policy objective to ensure the benefits of the digital economy reach the last mile – this is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of inclusive growth. We are happy to share India’s experience of digital public infrastructure, with the extended global family, which finds an echo in our civilizational ethos and India’s G20 presidency theme ‘VasudaivamKutumbakam’.” G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said, “Building and scaling digital public infrastructure has demonstrated the utility of safe, secure, and interoperable digital public platforms that have improved service delivery, minimized leakages and ensured efficient utilization of available resources. India’s achievements in financial inclusion, digital health, digital education, and governance demonstrate how to scale technologies, thereby maximizing their impact. India’s digital transformation model holds many valuable lessons for the world.” Bill Gates said, “India has shown how investments in technology and innovation at scale can unleash changes from how people save money to how governments serve their citizens. There is an urgent need for an international initiative on digital public infrastructure to advance a range of G20 priorities.”
