India should go digital to boost exports

Digitization is affecting all aspects of the global economy, including international trade and competitiveness. As imports and exports enter the digital realm, a new Economic and Political Weekly study suggests India needs to improve its digital infrastructure to take advantage of these trends.

In the study, Rashmi Banga of UNCTAD assesses India’s digital infrastructure and value addition by digital services using data from the World Input-Output database. The author finds that while India has made significant progress in digital infrastructure, it still lags behind internationally. India’s software developer population was estimated to surpass that of the US and hit 5.2 million in 2018, but contributed only 2% of global software products in 2017.