IMAI to build Blockchain Committee in India

• Toshendra Kumar Sharma
• January 05, 2023

Since the time the world got to know about Blockchain, we have seen almost all the nations showing interest in this technology. In competitive times like today, if a nation wants to stand on a global platform and want to compete in the global market, it is important that it must have a strong technological bent. The Blockchain is the latest revolution which is driving the world crazy but in a positive way. Almost all the nations are working towards using this technology or developing solutions which are driven by Blockchain. Whether it is China, the UK or the United States, every nation is trying to explore the use of Blockchain.

India is a growing economy, but if we compare our efforts as compared to other nations, then Blockchain is still a nascent technology that seems to be in a budding stage. Although, there are developments happening in this domain and India is trying to use Blockchain but the pace of the same seems to be too slow.

Why Blockchain?

You might be wondering why there is so much buzz about Blockchain when the current technology that we are using is already working fine. Well, the answer to this is that technological developments are working fine but there are bottlenecks which need to be removed. Some of the common issues that Blockchain can resolve include the following:

• Lack of Transparency
• Third party involvement
• Digital data security
• Cost-effectiveness
• Time consumption

These are the five major issues that we have in the current technology that is limiting its application and paving the way for the development of new technology, and that’s where Blockchain comes into the picture.

The Blockchain is the distributed ledger technology where all the data exchange and transaction takes place between two parties. There is no involvement of the third party and every information gets stored in the ledger in chronological order. Since every information in the ledger is time-stamped, it becomes very easy to trace any information. This brings us to the multi-faceted application of this technology. Blockchain finds usage in real estate, shipping industry, healthcare, banking sector and other industries.

In India, we are witnessing a  wind of change in technology. States like Andhra Pradesh have come up with a provision to use Blockchain in real estate. Let us see what else is happening in the field of Blockchain in India.

IMAI to decipher use cases of Blockchain technology

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has formed a Blockchain community which will be working towards promoting the use of Blockchain, generate awareness about this technology and also generate new avenues of the job. It will form a committee that will be identifying the opportunities and challenges of Blockchain. This committee will be working in close association with the government, big names in the industry and startups to help in boosting Blockchain application.

This committee will be headed by Tina Singh who is Chief Digital Officer, Mahindra Finance and co-chaired by Prasanna Lohar, Head – Innovation and Architecture, DCB Bank Limited.

Coming to the growth of the Blockchain sector in India, then there were 127 Blockchain and cryptocurrency startups in April 2018. Out of these 31 are working in the area of smart contracts while 43 are cryptocurrency companies and 15 are cryptocurrency exchanges. The number seems to be low and we need a boost so that Blockchain application can grow in India.

Crypto Slowly Expanding in India

Another aspect that the Government of India should be eyeing at should be cryptocurrency. We already know that the government has banned cryptocurrency but as per the reports, in August, the RBI had formulated a task force that will be investigating the use case of Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and cryptocurrency.

There are reports that India might soon get its first crypto ATM, Unocoin. The machines will be installed in malls and shopping complex. It will not accept debit cared of a credit card. One can access the ATM if and only if they are Unocoin customers.

Well, we cannot say that there is nothing that is happening in the field of Blockchain but at the same time, we cannot deny the fact that development is happening at a slow pace. With IMAI initiative to form a committee that will be exploring use cases of Blockchain, we are expecting the creation of a favorable ecosystem for the growth of Blockchain.

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