The US Can Invest in India's Digital Revolution, Says Nirmala Sitharaman

The US now has investment opportunities thanks to India's digital transformation, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday. At a business conference in New Delhi, Sitharaman claimed that "India's Open Network for Digital Commerce has revolutionised the retail and manufacturing industry." According to a Reuters article, she added that this provided economic chances to international corporations.

In five locations, the ONDC, an open technology network built on an open protocol, launched its alpha in April. No matter what other applications a buyer or seller uses, the platform will enable them to connect and conduct business online.

To understand their fulfilment, it has been tested with a closed user group for end-to-end execution. In the upcoming weeks, it's anticipated that there will be more than 30 network participants. On top of this, ONDC intends to begin beta-testing the network with the general public in a few select locations.

Sitharaman promised the investors in April that the government will take care of any potential problems to promote foreign investment in the nation. In his remarks at a roundtable in San Francisco on "Investing in India's Digital Revolution," the minister recommended ongoing dialogue with investors to better understand and address their issues.

In addition, data released on Thursday showed that the value of digital payment transactions made through UPI increased to Rs 10.73 lakh crore in August of this year, a slight increase over the previous month. The value of digital transactions based on UPI in July 2022 was Rs 10.63 lakh crore.

According to data issued by the National Payments Corporation of India, the value of UPI transactions during August this year refers to a total of 6.57 billion (657 crore) transactions, up from 6.28 billion (628 crore) in the preceding month (NPCI). 5.86 billion transactions totaling Rs. 10.14 lakh crore were made in June.

The instant transfer-based IMPS, one of the other data sets on the NCPI framework, recorded transactions of Rs 4.46 lakh crore and 46.69 crore in August. It reached a value of Rs 4.45 lakh crore through a total of 46.08 crore transactions in July.

Transactions through the NETC FASTAG for automatic toll deduction at toll plazas were Rs 4,245 crore in August, up from Rs 4,162 crore the month before. More than 27 crore transactions were involved in August compared to 26.5 crore in July in terms of the total number of transactions.

Aadhaar-based payment (AePS) transactions decreased by almost 10% in August, from Rs 30,199 crore the month before to Rs 27,186 crore. From 11 crore, there were 10.56 crore transactions.