NEW DELHI: The sweeping digitisation of the financial markets and payments system will drive the country’s digital economy, which currently accounts for a tenth of the GDP, and constitute a fifth or 20% of the GDP by 2026,” says a report prepared by the Reserve Bank.
Several enabling forces have come together to energise this revolution. Though Internet penetration was at 55% in 2023, the Internet user base has grown by 199 million in the recent three years. In India, cost per gigabyte of data consumed is the lowest globally at an average of Rs 13.32 ($0.16) per GB and the country also has one of the highest mobile data consumption in the world, with an average per-user per-month consumption of 24.1 GB in 2023, RBI said in its ‘Report on Currency and Finance for 2023-24, released on Monday.
“It is estimated that the domestic digital economy currently accounts for a tenth of our GDP and going by the growth rate observed over the past decade, it is poised to constitute a fifth of the GDP by 2026,” the report said.
Governor Shaktikanta Das said, “Digitalisation in finance is paving the way for next-generation banking; improving access to financial services at affordable costs; and enhancing the impact of direct benefit transfers by effective targeting of beneficiaries in a cost-efficient manner.” The country is at the forefront of the digital revolution, he noted.
The country has embraced not just financial technology by speeding up digital payments but has also celebrated India Stack comprising biometric identification, the unified payments interface (UPI), mobile connectivity, digital lockers and consent-based data sharing, the Governor noted and pointed out that the ongoing digital revolution is galvanising banking infrastructure and public finance management systems covering both direct benefit transfers and tax collections, while the vibrant e-markets are springing up and expanding their reach.
Cost per gigabyte data in India lowest globally
Though Internet penetration was at 55% in 2023, Internet user base has grown by 199 million in recent three years. In India, cost per gigabyte of data consumed is the lowest globally at an average of Rs 13.32 ($0.16) per GB and also has one of the highest mobile data consumption in the world, with average per-user per-month consumption of 24.1 GB in 2023.