Why should India become the digital champion of BRICS nations?

BRICS has now 10 countries as its members cumulatively representing 42% of world population and 37% of the global GDP.  With India’s stature magnified multi-fold on the global arena in recent years, BRICS should be one of the global platforms to explore India driving the digital agenda of these nations.

The BRICS of the past is not what it means today.  It has now 10 countries and it is increasingly encouraging several African and South American countries to soft join several of its initiatives.  Countries like Venezuela, Chad, Chile, Costa Rica, Belarus and Comoros are seen attending some of the events organised by BRICS and some of them may soon be joining BRICS formally. 

Within the existing members, other than Russia and China, the digital equity is not as strong as of India.  India has a greater competitive advantage than Russia and China in the digital sector. The digital sector of India has been witnessing an even growth on both hardware and software sides in the recent years. At the same time, the software side of India has global acceptance and is open relative to that of countries like Russia and China which has several barriers including that of being a closed system, language barriers and most importantly the trust factor.

India’s ambition of becoming the digital public infrastructure provider as well as exporting electronics to several global markets can be very well served through BRICS platform.  The member countries are ideal for India to collaborate and partner with, promoting her digital equity.

Brazil, we are all already aware of the importance it carries in terms of the market opportunity.  South Africa is also an equally big opportunity.  Both the countries also act as hubs in their respective continents from which several other markets can be served.  Outside the main 5 members, the growing business as well as diplomatic ties of India with Saudi Arabia and Iran are hidden from none.  This also throws up a very big opportunity for India to expand the digital equity across very large markets.  The other members like Egypt, Ethiopia and UAE also enjoy very cordial ties with India for several years now.  In many ways UAE is an economic, cultural and social extension of India.

After the G20 Presidency of 2023, India has already set in very strong global presence and there has been a spike in interest and intent in serious business and other strategic ties among several countries. The launch of GDPIR is a great initiative firmly bonding ties on the digital front and actively promoting further collaboration and ties in the sector.

Through BRICS, India can not only promote the digital applications like UPI, which is by the way already operational in some of the member nations like UAE.  India can also become a preferred supplier of electronics to these countries boosting the exports out of the country increasing the relevance and impact of the PLI scheme.  India can create a value-added electronics exports offering to these nations that looks at an integrated view of a solution rather than hardware and software as isolated sub-systems.

Today, nations need a digital solution for their citizens, business, and governance. India has the unique ability to offer this solutioning rather than dumping hardware and software in a territory which then needs to find out solution architects to derive value out of it. For example, in enterprise software we already have Zoho and now Frappe gaining strong traction in many of these countries.  Along with hardware partners like Lava, India can offer a turnkey digital solution to the enterprises including SMEs and startups in these countries.  Similarly, there are a lot of startups in India currently developing AI solutions including chatbots, etc.  These are the solutions that could be made readily available to the SMEs and startups in other BRICS countries, if not the enterprises, who may have other vendors to choose from. India is a bright spot among BRICS nations to drive the digital transformation of these economies.  With a diverse and rich demographic dividend of India along with ability to handle cross-cultural relations very effectively and the adaptability to immerse in several cultures naturally, India has all the important ingredients ready to become the digital champion of BRICS nations.