The High Commissioner of India, Santosh Jha has commended the digital initiatives recently launched by the Sri Lankan government, including the ‘GovPay’ platform for digitization of all government payments, and the introduction of the Electronic Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates facility for Sri Lankans abroad.

Speaking during the BIMSTEC Digital Conclave held in Colombo on Friday (07), he stated that these initiatives form part of the special emphasis laid on digital transformation by the Sri Lankan Government led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka. 

The High Commission pointed out that India has over the past decade or so undergone a digital transformation at an unprecedented pace and scale, with unparalleled benefits to all sections of the society. 

At a time when mobile and data access were seen globally as a convenience, India adopted a model that envisioned digitization not only as a means of connectivity - but as a medium of equity and opportunity, he said, adding that  it is the essence of Digital Public Infrastructure. 

“India had issued digital IDs – referred to as Aadhaar – to1.3 billion of its citizens. We have 1.2 billion mobile phone users, 950 million internet users. 40% of the world’s real-time digital transactions take place in India. Over the last decade, India has laid optical fiber that is eight times the distance between the Earth and the Moon! Almost every district in India is connected to 5G services. Today, India stands as the second-largest 5G market in the world, and we are now rapidly working on 6G technology,” he said.

He further said that India has used the power of the “JAM trinity” – ‘Jan Dhan’ bank accounts, ‘Aadhaar’ or the digital identity, and Mobile phones – to revolutionize financial inclusion in India. 

The High Commissioner said this has allowed the Indian government to make 450 million direct cash transfers, transfer food rations to 850 million directly in full transparency in the last 10 years. Direct Benefits Transfer has amounted to about 450 billion US Dollars. It has also plugged leakages, and has saved over 35 billion US Dollars, he revealed.

Santosh Jha mentioned that the new buzz in the DPI space is around ONDC- Open Network for Digital Commerce, an innovation that will democratize e-commerce, particularly benefitting small and medium enterprises. 

He said that over 400 million Indians can access their important documents anytime anywhere using the ‘DigiLocker’ - a secure cloud-based platform for storage, sharing and verification of documents & certificates. “We are working towards bringing similar models of digitization for transformation in the health and education sectors as well.”

India is committed to lean on its DPI success story to fast track means of unlocking opportunities and potentialities for the entire region, Jha said. 

In the bilateral context, the High Commissioner pointed out that the recent visit of President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka to India added further momentum to this very important pillar of cooperation – people-centric digitization. 

The leaders agreed to expedite implementation of the India-assisted INR 300 crores Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SLUDI) project which will act as the foundational DPI and unlock developmental dividends of the DPI Stack for Sri Lanka. A Joint Working Group on Digital Economy has also been set up, he added. 

“Technical discussions on the implementation of DigiLocker in Sri Lanka are ongoing. While UPI Payments was launched in Sri Lanka last year for the ease of payments for Indian tourists, we are now looking at extending the use of UPI digital payments for the benefit of both countries,” the Indian High Commissioner added.
 
There is also interest for bilateral exchanges to garner learnings from India’s GeM portal, PM Gati Shakti digital platform on coordinated and integrated development of infrastructure, digitized customs and other taxation procedures, with a view to exploring the benefits of establishing equivalent systems in Sri Lanka, the Indian envoy noted. 

“The benefits of these are clearly visible in India. GeM Portal alone has led to saving of 13 billion US Dollars in last decade by bringing down expenditure on projects and procurements. The GATI SHAKTI has significantly expanded the pace of infrastructure development. Similarly, Digitization of Taxation System has increased revenues and has even brought in greater transparency.”