India’s digital economy to be over 20 percent of its total GDP by 2026 : Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Bengaluru, Aug 17 : Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday said India expects its digital economy to be more than 20 per cent of its total GDP by 2026.

At present, India’s digital economy is 11 per cent of the total economy today, he added.

“The digital economy in India has gone up from 4 to 4.5 per cent in 2014 of the total GDP to 11 per cent today, and we expect the digital economy to be over 20 percent of our GDP by 2026,” he told reporters at a press conference after inaugurating G20 DIA Summit here.

This is not just about an abstract conversation about innovation or technology, but it is becoming the centre piece to how global economies and economies of countries like India are being reshaped and redrawn, Chandrasekhar added.

As part of India’s G20 Presidency, G20 Digital Innovation Alliance (G20-DIA) initiative was launched under MeitY Startup Hub. It recognizes and accelerates the growth of startups from all G20 countries and nine invited guest countries in six sectors – Ed-tech, Health-tech, Agri-tech, Fin-tech, Secured Digital Infrastructure, and Circular Economy that are using digital technologies to solve humanity’s most pressing needs.

A total of 174 startups from 29 countries are part of the program. These startups will pitch to a jury of global leaders at the G20-DIA Summit.

The Summit will culminate on August 18 with an awards ceremony in which 30 startups will be honoured in various categories.