'Incredible India': UNGA President Dennis Francis lauds digitalisation, infrastructure investment in India

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis has lauded India’s use of digitalisation that has helped achieve financial inclusion and poverty reduction

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis has lauded India’s use of digitalisation that has helped achieve financial inclusion and poverty reduction, underlining that this gives the country a “comparative advantage” and its lessons can be shared with the global community.

“Let me say first of all that since I've been to India, every time I think of India, I think ‘Incredible India’. And I mean this in all earnest ….And I saw it when I was there. The specific example to which I can refer is India's use of digitalisation,” Mr. Francis, President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, told PTI in an exclusive interview in United Nations.

He referred to the country's tourism tagline of 'Incredible India.' Mr. Francis was in India from January 22-26 this year on an official visit, during which he held a bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi and also travelled to Jaipur and Mumbai.

During the visit, his interactions with government officials, civil society members and think tanks focused on issues such as sustainability, multilateralism, accessibility, and digital public infrastructure.

The UN leader lauded India’s use of digitalisation to alleviate poverty and bring millions of people into the formal economic system “simply through the use of a handset and a digitalisation model.” He underscored that digitalisation is important because it is “productive, it drives cost down, makes economies more efficient, makes things cheaper.” He cited the example of digitalisation helping Indian women, and farmers across the length and breadth of the country and in far-flung places to negotiate their prices, deal with banks and make payments without having to leave their homes, farmlands or areas.

“All of this is helping to make the economy of India much more competitive. So I think this is an area in which India clearly has a comparative advantage and has lessons that can be shared with the international community.” Mr. Francis also pointed out that during his visit to India, he was impressed with the level of investments being made in infrastructure development across the country.

He stressed that infrastructure is one of the areas of economic activity known to boost growth in any economy because it creates huge demands for materials, labour, and inputs and provides jobs.