As many as 40 countries have shown interest in adopting Indian Digital Public Infrastructure during the G20 Digital Economy Ministers’ Meeting held in Bengaluru. Union Minister for Railways, Communication, Electronics, and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said that 40 member countries and invitees agreed on concepts and applications of Digital Public Infrastructure, Cyber security, and digital skilling. These were among the three areas of priority recommended under India’s G20 presidency.
Calling it a big achievement for India, Vaishnaw also added that these countries also praised India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) used to do inter-bank peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant transactions.
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The minister also informed the press about the measures taken by India to contain cyber fraud.
“Three IT tools introduced last May have helped cancel 5.5 million SIM cards used for cyber frauds, along with deactivation of 40,000 point of sale units and 45,000 Whatsapp accounts,” he said.
The two-day G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meet began on Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to members and invitees. The prime minister said that there can’t be a better place than Bengaluru to discuss the digital economy and praised India’s efforts in digitalization, which began with the Digital India scheme in 2015.
The prime minister said that it was India’s unshakeable belief in innovation which powered the country’s digital transformation over the last nine years.
“India’s Digital Public Infrastructure offers scalable, secure, and inclusive solutions for global challenges”, PM Modi said, adding “From ancient traditions to the latest technologies, India has something for everyone.”
He also suggested that farmers and small businesses should get the benefit of using digital technology and stressed the need to develop a framework for the safe and responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).