In 2021, Researchers from UQ's Digital Cultures & Societies Hub, Centre for Policy Futures, and School of Communication and Arts brought together leading figures of India’s Fintech in conversation with Australian scholars focusing their research on digital transactions in India and the wider international significance of India’s digital agenda.
Organised by: Dr Allison Fish, UQ Centre for Policy Futures, A/Prof Adrian Athique, UQ School of Communication and Arts, and A/Prof Pradip Thomas, UQ School of Communication and Arts
Watch the video presentations or read the Policy Takeaways of each presentation and session below.
The Asian region as a whole is passing through a period of unprecedented social, economic and political change, and digital platforms operate at the centre of these processes. In India, the evolution of digital architecture is seen as the primary means for ensuring that its development yields equitable benefits, sustainable growth and financial inclusion. This vision has led to the launching of Digital India, "a flagship programme to transform India into a digitally empowered society," in 2015. A program that was soon followed by the Demonetization of India's economy in 2016. Since then, the Fintech and Big Tech sectors, together with the government's own initiatives, have impelled the evolution of digital infrastructures across a range of applications, processes and services. India’s transaction architecture has further expanded to new domains including; e-commerce, personal finance, micro credit, welfare system, social media apps, and scientific research. Through Digital India, the government has also come with its own sovereign vision to create an infrastructure network capable of diminishing the influence of international Big Tech locally. Despite the clear advantages anticipated by the program, the realities proposed by a complex society, the size of the country and the government’s current capabilities, will see the initiative facing many challenges to achieve its objective.
Digital Transactions in India: Platforms, Markets & Users
In 2021, Researchers from UQ's Digital Cultures and Societies Hub, Centre for Policy Futures, and School of Communication and Arts brought together leading figures of India’s Fintech in conversation with Australian scholars focusing their research on digital transactions in India and the wider international significance of India’s digital agenda.
Organised by: Dr Allison Fish, UQ Centre for Policy Futures, A/Prof Adrian Athique, UQ School of Communication and Arts, and A/Prof Pradip Thomas, UQ School of Communication and Arts
Watch the video presentations or read the Policy Takeaways of each presentation and session below.
The Asian region as a whole is passing through a period of unprecedented social, economic and political change, and digital platforms operate at the centre of these processes. In India, the evolution of digital architecture is seen as the primary means for ensuring that its development yields equitable benefits, sustainable growth and financial inclusion. This vision has led to the launching of Digital India, "a flagship programme to transform India into a digitally empowered society," in 2015. A program that was soon followed by the Demonetization of India's economy in 2016. Since then, the Fintech and Big Tech sectors, together with the government's own initiatives, have impelled the evolution of digital infrastructures across a range of applications, processes and services. India’s transaction architecture has further expanded to new domains including; e-commerce, personal finance, micro credit, welfare system, social media apps, and scientific research. Through Digital India, the government has also come with its own sovereign vision to create an infrastructure network capable of diminishing the influence of international Big Tech locally. Despite the clear advantages anticipated by the program, the realities proposed by a complex society, the size of the country and the government’s current capabilities, will see the initiative facing many challenges to achieve its objective.