G20: India's Moment
The unexpected consensus at the summit meeting combined with the spectacular, state-of-the-art facilities has put India on the global centre stage. EPISODE #142
Dear Reader,
A very Happy Monday to you.
Over the weekend India hosted its most important global high table in New Delhi.
For three days the country hosted and feted leaders from the so-called group of twenty or G20 countries. At the end it was unanimously deemed a success. This was not about India’s ability to host such a high profile event in a newly commissioned state-of-the-art exhibition centre—Bharat Mandapam.
Instead, it is about successfully generating consensus among a very otherwise divided global high table. Indeed, a proud moment for India and every Indian.
In particular, I want to draw your attention to the unanimous support for the hitherto marginalised Global South—admitting the African Union—and backing the India way of empowerment using technology as the global template.
This week I explore the power of this new idea with immense potential to redefine the contours of a world that is in the midst of a geopolitical reset. Do read and share feedback.
A big shoutout to Shiv, Premasundaran, Aashish, Gautam, Ranjini, Vandana and Vidisha for your informed responses, kind appreciation and amplification of last week’s column. Once again, grateful for the conversation initiated by all you readers. Gratitude also to all those who responded on Twitter and Linkedin.
The cover picture is a memorable congregation of the G20 leadership at Rajghat.
Unfortunately, Twitter has disabled amplification of Substack links—perils of social media monopolies operating in a walled garden framework. I would be grateful therefore if you could spread the word. Nothing to beat the word of mouth.
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Is That India?
In the run-up to the G20 summit meeting in New Delhi this weekend, there were few who believed in a consensus outcome. The prospects got bleaker with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping deciding to drop out on the eve of the meeting.
However, the Indian presidency of G20 surprised everyone. It managed to generate a consensus document on the first day itself. Normally global negotiations go to the wire. This time however things were wrapped up by early evening—much to the relief of the media personnel, who otherwise would be scrambling to meet an unforgiving deadline. Wow!
I was reminded of this incredulous tone in the voice of a commentator when the Indian men’s 4x400 relay team for a brief moment, came from behind and overtook the United States at the recently concluded World Athletics championship.
It was only at that moment the commentator noticed India’s presence in the race and reacted: “Is that India?”
On Saturday there were many—critics and supporters alike—who felt the same. I don’t blame them.
For most of the last seven decades India has failed to deliver on its potential—often flattering to disappoint.
Worse it was beginning to acquire a reputation as a constant spoiler. I have lost count of the number of times India has walked away from global negotiations with a sense of moral indignation.
India buried this legacy on Saturday. At the same moment, by shepherding a consensus the country also held out hope for a world which otherwise is horribly fragmented.
The New Delhi Consensus
The beauty of the consensus that was managed in the New Delhi summit is that no one country could claim a win. And, yet the world won.
In this instance though, the sum of the parts was greater than the whole. In other words, the G20 meet held out a promise for a better world, even though some countries had to walk back their pre-summit positions. It was like everyone took one for global good.
Given the exhaustive coverage of the agreement I will skip the details and instead focus on one key takeaway that holds the promise of bridging the inequalities among countries through the power of digital public goods (DPGs).
Not only did the G20 summit unanimously acknowledge the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) framework pioneered by India but they have recommended it as a global template. This is a huge moment for India too.
This is not about a made in India product gaining global acceptance.
Instead, it is the recognition of an intellectual property generated in India. It is about an idea born in India that has got global acceptance.
Technology for Global Good
As a regular reader of this newsletter you must be familiar with the idea of DPGs. At regular intervals I have revisited the theme with a new context.
The remarkable thing about the Indian experience with DPGs is that they have constantly delivered public good at population scale.
Beginning with Aadhaar, launched in 2010, which provided 1.3 Indians with a foundational identity, the gains only gathered momentum thereafter.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) democratised payments and last month topped 10 billion transactions. In fact, India tops the charts (see graphic above) in real time digital payments, accounting for nearly one in two transactions in the world.
Similarly, CoWin democratised the covid-19 jab, delivering 2 billion-plus vaccines seamlessly; OCEN or Open Credit Enablement Network promises to democratise access to credit for the small and medium enterprises (scroll to the end to watch last week’s Capital Calculus episode on StratNews Global); and, Open Network for Digital Commerce or ONDC promises to democratise the business of ecommerce by eliminating entry barriers.
A DPG operates on a simple principle. Each DPG solves for one specific function—like Aadhaar did for identity. These digital blocks are inter-operable. In other words you can mix and match them to innovate for any challenge—like it happened in the case of CoWin.
The key fact to remember is that DPGs are protocols and not platforms—unlike say an Amazon, Facebook and so on. Sharing some of the links in case you want to re-read these episodes.
The episode shared below shares the idea of DPGs.
In another newsletter I detail how India’s DPG is also a strategic asset.
It protects the country in exceptional circumstances. Like an electricity back-up would protect you against an unexpected outage of power.
Give and Take Mantra
To be sure though India’s success in getting global approval for its DPG framework is not just about providing proof of concept. Indeed it was a necessary condition, but not sufficient. This had to be combined with deft salesmanship.
And, the global high table is no regular market place.
Every country is out to maximise its interests. In an interconnected world this means there is never an absolute winner. You win some, lose some. This India probably succeeded because it has reset its global negotiation strategy in some fortuitous circumstances.
For one it had several things going for it. India showed remarkable resilience in the face of the covid-19 pandemic and inflation surge in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and a rapid increase in interest rates by the US Fed. As a result its growth trajectory has stood out like a lighthouse in the global economy—one in which most nations are struggling to stay afloat if not sinking.
Second, political stability—a majority government in its second term—ensured continuity of policy and economic reforms. Normally, a crisis of the nature we witnessed since 2020 would have destabilised a politically unstable government—remember, how India struggled in the 1990s, when coalition governments ruled the roost and the economy was plumbing historic lows.
At the same time, India, now approaches global negotiations with a give and take approach. Previously its economy and national circumstance did not permit the former option.
As a result, inevitably India found itself in a corner—from where the only way out was to walk out of the negotiation.
Not only did this tarnish India’s reputation as a spoiler, rival nations found it easy to game them. Beginning with the setting up of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in the 1980s, the Indian record is consistent—oppose is the first strategy. The walk-outs never prevented a deal; at best they delayed the outcome. Consequently, India got the worst deal possible.
The problem was that the domestic economy just did not have the legs—the Licence Raj combined with rampant public corruption had hobbled it severely. Worse our political leaders lacked self-belief.
So, they took an easy way out. Pandered to populist sentiments and framed these global debates as a fight against global bullies—may have been true, yet this is hardly a winning strategy.
This has changed fundamentally today. A stronger economy and political stability has made India bold at the global high table—coincidentally at a time when the world is witnessing a geopolitical reset.
This New India is willing to take risks. More importantly, its political leadership has aligned domestic communication accordingly.
Tragically, most other political parties continue to operate within the old paradigm. Take for example the fiscally ruinous freebies. The electorate is as much to blame by succumbing to such false promises.
If India is to make the best of its coming out moment—on display in the just concluded G20 summit meeting—then the domestic zero sum game has to end. Remember, what India is witnessing is a once in a lifetime moment for any nation. The electorate and the elected both need to stand up and be counted, if India is not to miss out on the opportunity.
Recommended Viewing/Reading
Sharing the latest post of Capital Calculus on StratNews Global.
India’s journey with Digital Public Goods (DPGs) began with the rollout of the Aadhaar in 2010. It provided foundational identity to 1.3 billion Indians. Since then India has launched several DPGs, each solving for a specific function—like Aadhaar did with identity and UPI did for payments.
The beauty of this was that these DPGs were nothing but digital building blocks that could be mixed and matched to deliver public good at population scale—today over 300 million people use UPI and average 10 billion transactions a month.
Now this success is being brought together to solve for another pain point in the India growth story—access to bank credit for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). For over seven decades every political regime has tried and failed. And, this despite this cohort accounting for a third of the country’s national income and a fifth of total jobs.
Now, we have hope.
Open Credit Enablement Network or OCEN holds out the promise to bridge this gap through digital lending—using DPGs. It proposes to make available unsecured, short-term working capital based on the commercial specs of SMEs and not their ability to raise collateral. It is what I call ‘Aadhaar se Udhaar’.
To understand how this will work we spoke to Sharad Sharma, tech evangelist and co-founder of iSpirt, the Bangalore-based voluntary group that is the spirit and force behind India’s rapidly growing DPG infrastructure.
Do watch this very engaging conversation with Sharad and share your thoughts.
Till we meet again next week, stay safe.
Dear Anil,
Fully agree with you that India is riding high on the success of the G 20 Delhi summit and it seems India has become the voice of the Global South.
The entry of the African Union is in my opinion one of the most significant outcome s of the summit. The announcement of the ambitious economic corridor linking EU , Middle East and India physically by rail and waterways and economically through trade and digital infrastructure will expand trade and markets for many nations.
The event highlights were - the inclusion of the African Union, thereby making India a country that will be more trusted in the continent that will see the maximum development in the 21st century. Some investments have been debt traps many poor countries and the Indian objective of supporting the cause of the global south was achieved by this unanimous decision to admit the African Union. Secondly the diplomatic wording of the situation in Ukraine and the adoption of the resolution, was a masterstroke of Indian diplomatic think tank. Thirdly the huge number of agreements signed and the smooth conduct of fast paced meetings, reflected the planning and ability of the Indian officials to host such large groups and multifaceted activities. Last but not the least, was the natural charisma of PM Modi on display and his ability to engage with so many high profile dignitaries and heads of state at the same time. A unique personality and India is fortunate to have him at the helm of affairs. A grand spectacular event.