India To Promote Digital Public Infrastructure: Amitabh Kant On G20 Presidency

India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant today said New Delhi will work with countries to promote digital public infrastructure to deepen financial inclusion and improve service delivery.

India will officially assume the G20 presidency from the current chair Indonesia on December 1.

Speaking at the 7th edition of the Global Technology Summit organised by Carnegie India, Kant said India is taking over the presidency of the G20 at a time when the world is going through a lot of turmoil.

There is a geopolitical crisis in Europe, 200 million people have gone below poverty line and 100 million people have lost jobs due to COVID era, he said while speaking on the topic 'India's Digital Way: The Road to G20 and Beyond'.

"There is a huge crisis of global debt. Almost 70 countries in the world are facing a debt crisis. We have the challenge of a global supply chain which is disrupted. You have the challenge of climate action," Amitabh Kant said.

"But every crisis is also an opportunity. And to my mind, this is a huge opportunity for India," he said.

"At G20 we will all work with countries and in partnership with them towards promoting digital public infrastructure so that we can deepen financial inclusion, we can improve efficiency of service delivery, we can lead to better women's growth, we can solve challenges of the world by leveraging technology," Kant said.

He further said India's tech-enabled digital public infrastructure model driven by dynamic entrepreneurs is the very best in the world.

"Now we must work with countries across the world to help drive digital inclusion at an unprecedented global space because we believe in one earth one family one future," he said.

The G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, the US and the European Union.

Participating in the panel discussion, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said India can use the G20 platform in bringing about a harmony around the world.

"We will never be able to probably agree on all the issues but there are larger issues at stake. People will be really facing poverty and hunger across the globe. We need to fix situation there," he said.