India Stack is an opportunity for Global South: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

A Founders and Funders Forum was the highlight of Day 2 of the second UAE edition of the India Global Forum (IGF) in Dubai. The event, which opened in Abu Dhabi on December 12, was headlined by India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar.

It covered conversations on 'Tech Winter – End of Good Times?' and a masterclass on 'Navigating Turbulent Times'. It also featured conversations on topics like 'Borderless Ambitions – Globalising the Indian Stack', 'Social Media is Dead', 'Long Live Social Media!', 'Metaverse and Web 3.0 — A New World of Opportunities or a Fool’s Errand?', and 'Have We Reached a Saturation Point with Fintech?'

One of the sessions, 'Partners in Disruption and Innovation', was headlined by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India’s Minister for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Electronics, and IT. He emphasised his vision for progressing India's digital economy and partnering with the UAE in the technology and innovation space.

"India Stack today represents an opportunity for the Global South; countries that have in a sense been left behind or have not been able to afford the digitalisation that other advanced nations have been able to invest in. It gives them an opportunity to rapidly climb up the ladder of digitalisation," he said.

“India Stack will provide first-time ability to countries that are hitherto away from the technology landscape, to deliver to their governments and citizens the benefits of digitalisation."

Rajiv Chandrashekhar added that India Stack is well tested in India. "We have mainstreamed every Indian who was at the periphery and who felt left out. Today, our citizens, who would have been otherwise left out, are empowered and feel connected to the Government of India.”

Delving into India and UAE's bilateral ties, he said there were tremendous opportunities in a boundaryless partnership with the UAE. "Through CEPA [Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements], we will create corridors for innovation and data to flow between entrepreneurs and startups of the UAE and India. Across consumer technology, semiconductors, electronics, AI, blockchain and high-performance computing, to name a few sectors, we will create co-development models with the UAE.”

Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama, UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, highlighted areas of collaboration between the UAE and India in the digital sphere.

“What India Stack provides is a no-excuse mandate for countries that say it can’t be done, whether small or big. A country the size of India was able to implement that is something that cutting-edge within less than a decade. I cannot state how incredible that is. And, it was not an imported solution, it was built from scratch," he said.

“The only way to combat bureaucracy is through digitalisation. For the UAE, we want to take the learnings and see how we can carve out for a country of our size and position," said UAE Minister Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama.

Another highlight of the day was a masterclass on 'Navigating Turbulent Times' by Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital.

Shailendra said: “We will have a dozen billion-dollar revenue companies in India in the coming years. Probably in the next 10 years, more than a quarter of India’s 100 top listed companies will be tech companies."

In his talk on the future of social media, Aprameya Radhakrishna, Co-founder, Koo India, said: “The novelty of its creators helped social media for the last 15 years. However, now questions are being asked on transparency, neutrality, profit sharing and unbiased behaviour."

Highlighting overall media tech, Umang Bedi, Co-Founder VerSe Innovation, said that the creator economy is over a billion-dollar market in India. "When I think about how big it is globally, there are influencers that have built billion-dollar companies, with over a billion dollars in revenue. Now these stairs of influencers will be very different and there is going to be a proliferation of three or four technology elements that are going to drive overall disruption in consumption."

In a fireside chat on India’s climate leadership, Bhupender Yadav, India’s Minister of Labour & Employment and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said: “As far as India is concerned, India is always a part of the solution, not the problem."

“Our climate action programme also shows that India is committed towards achieving its target. India is one of the few countries to submit its low carbon emission strategy programme. The greatest challenge is climate finance and technology transfer. That’s the promise made by the developed countries that has not been fulfilled," he added.

Towards the end of the day, Professor Manoj Ladwa, Founder and Chairman, India Global Forum, said the second day of deliberations marked a range of agenda-setting dialogues among thought leaders and influencers from India, the UAE and indeed around the world.

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