Improving Internet Access for Growth and Development in India

Brookings India hosted a panel to discuss the improvement of internet access for growth and development in India.

Key Issues

• India lacks the proper infrastructure to deliver high quality internet access to majority of the population. Poor infrastructure acts as an impediment to knowledge transfer.
• Prohibitive taxation regimes, censorship, lack of local digital content, and flawed regulations resulting in no ease of doing business all act as barriers to access.
• Skills-biased technological change can be a barrier to development. Introducing new technologies without enabling people to use them can result in a digital divide.
• There is a need to operationalise the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) in order to achieve higher speeds in both urban and rural areas.
• There is a need to create policies which ensure that workers are equipped with the right skills to meet the demand of the tech-oriented labour market. Technology can also be used for labour market matching.