MUMBAI — India has become the world’s cheapest data market as the cost of mobile data has fallen sharply over the past decade while broadband access has expanded to more than 1.02 billion people, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said Thursday.
Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest, Scindia said broadband access has increased from about 60 million people 10 years ago to more than 1.02 billion today, while data costs have dropped from Rs 287 per GB to Rs 9 per GB.
“We started putting the 5G network in place in 2022, and over the next 26 months we have 5G network capability across 99.9 per cent of districts of India, covering 85 per cent of our population with a capex cost of Rs 4,500 crore,” Scindia said.
“As we connect each of India’s villages, they become a member of this global Fintech Fest,” he added.
Scindia also highlighted the growth of India’s digital infrastructure, saying Aadhaar now covers more than 1.44 billion identities, while the number of Jan Dhan accounts has risen to 600 million. Affordable smartphones and DigiLocker, which houses 9 billion documents, have also made financial services more accessible, he said.
According to Scindia, 84 percent of digital transactions in India now take place through UPI, while the country accounts for 49 percent of digital transactions worldwide.
“This technology has gone to 9 countries, and we look at taking it to the next 20 countries,” he said.
“A strong lesson for the globe is to learn from the success of this model: Innovation scales when infrastructure is open, inclusion scales when infrastructure is affordable, and trust scales when infrastructure is secure,” Scindia said.
India is also the world’s second-largest telecom market, with 1.33 billion mobile phones, including nearly 520 million in rural areas, he said.
“These statistics portray a case of economic mobility,” Scindia remarked.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, also speaking at the event, said India’s fintech ecosystem “ranks large globally” and has attracted $2.4 billion in funding.
“India has the opportunity of becoming a trusted partner in shaping the architecture of global finance. RBI is committed to supporting the industry in building a connected global system,” Malhotra said. (Source: IANS)
