As the 19th day of the war approaches, numerous Western multinational corporations and franchises are ceasing business in Russia. India must analyze its digital preparedness for it has become the 5th dimension of warfare. Russia may win the war, but the west has managed to plummet its economy.
Corporations and Giants pull out from Russia
The world’s five most powerful digital companies Google (now Alphabet), Apple, Facebook (now Meta), Amazon, and Microsoft, have taken efforts to impose severe and (mostly) voluntary penalties on Russia.
In March: Visa, Mastercard, and American Express and their payment networks shut down in Russia. Also, a cut off of the number of Russian banks from the key international payment gateway, SWIFT, by the United States and the European Union (EU).
Even though these are private businesses, they have shut down operations in specific nations at the request of the US government. This reflects the authority the US and the EU nations hold, enough to eliminate any nation which defies its stance.
India and its concerns
The concern is, what happens if there arises an instance in the future where India stands on the parallel end, what would happen to the security and sovereignty of India if it ever falls foul of these penalties? Could India survive on its own in this overtly globalized world?
The sanctions imposed by any nation aim to get the economy of the enemy state crippled by restricting access to critical services that regular residents rely on. This transitioning time has made India reflect upon its locus-standi in the present events of the world.
To prepare for future dynamics, India must strengthen its digital infrastructure to ensure its sovereignty remains intact even in adverse.
Requisites for India
For India to realize its digital capabilities, it requires its Government Policies, Industrial Strategy, and Indian Banking System to align. This includes, India shifting to a digital economy embrace, UPI, Net Banking, etc. must be familiarized to civilians, till the last strata to ensure complete absorption of the technology.
Digital Maneuverings
The SaaS (Software as a Service) as industry has a Trillion Dollar opportunity evaluation. The youth must be introduced to this at the earliest to ensure the proper cultivation of the technology and its advancement must be facilitated.
Need For Industrial Plan
To make the Indian industry stand in the global ranking, a proper Strategy Plan must be laid out ensuring the industrial dynamism does not get compromised.
The government act as a promoter and facilitator to provide protection, platform, and finances to MSMEs, and infant industries.
Government’s Role
The ease of doing business can be improved when the Government simplifies its tax regime and releases business-friendly policies, GST has improved India’s tax regime. The legislation and judiciary must also be simplified to ease out the risk that invites curbing of the business.
India’s present and future
India has seen success in the pharma industry where we have both private and government enterprises meeting the standard global, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech worked in tandem to provide India with its vaccine supplies and even facilitate exports for both business and humanitarian concerns.
While we have scarce instances where both private and government enterprises have both global standard meeting service or success in the global market.
The telecom industry is one such industry where Jio, Airtel, and others survive and flourish. On the other, we have BSNL which is barely surviving.
In the age of software and technology, India enjoys a natural advantage. We must establish conditions that allow Indian talent and the young to contribute to the nation’s security and sovereignty.
The survival of India is dependent not just on the development of parallel services being made available locally but rather on extending its reach globally. The aim is to encourage other countries to embrace it and expand its reach.
India’s ability to become a significant power in the next ten years will be determined by our ability to replicate our UPI and SaaS accomplishments in vital industries such as cyber-security, mapping, drones, 5G, medical AI, and more. Maintaining India’s security and sovereignty requires success in these areas.
Published By: Apoorva Wakodikar
Edited By: Subbuthai Padma
