UPI-like model for cybersecurity on cards; ‘smart’ digital regulation soon, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

The government is working on a framework of digital regulations which would at once promote innovation in the fast-growing sector and prevent any harm to citizens from its unbridled power, Union minister of railways, electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday.

Speaking at the FE CFO Awards here, the minister said India would find a niche in digital regulation, with a “smart framework” that would comprise horizontal laws, such as the one for data protection, which apply to all sectors, and vertical legislation, wherever required to address sector-specific issues. “It is important to create a good balance between innovation and regulation,” he stressed.

The minister added that the government would also look to bring a UPI-like framework for cybersecurity, which will help resource-scarce MSMEs and other entities to get the requisite resources to secure their systems.

The proposed digital framework, he said, is being formulated keeping in view the harms of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), which is creating issues like deepfakes, content moderation activities and cybersecurity breaches. “The institutions, which have been built over centuries are getting negatively impacted by social media, deepfakes, and AI-generated data, which is absolutely out of sync with reality. So, a lot more needs to be done on that front,” Vaishnaw said.

The minister said India is in a position to set the path for the most appropriate digital regulation after necessary consultations, given its talent pool, brain power, innovative zeal and proliferation of startups.

The minister’s comments came while the government is working on a Digital India Act that tends to cover intermediaries and also look at guardrails around various new-age technologies. Lately, the government has followed an advisory model in this respect by asking AI companies to not indulge in user-harm activities, misinformation, deepfakes, etc, through their technologies.

Vaishnaw said multiple set of norms might be required for regulating content. “It will be a nuanced approach which starts from self-regulation for certain activities, and a reasonable level of regulation for some activities, and for a very few select activities, it has to be a big hammer that has to be put,” the minister said.

There has recently been an increasing incidence of cybersecurity issues in the country. Apart from the UPI-like structure for cybersecurity, the government is also looking at bringing stricter punishments for cyber crimes.

Speaking on the medium-term prospects of the Indian economy, the minister said real GDP growth of 6-8% looked feasible over the next four-five years, with “moderate” inflation of 4-6%.

He strongly defended the Narendra Modi government’s deliberate choice of investment-led strategy to rebuild the economy from the pandemic-induced lows, saying this is what helped the country remain the fastest-growing major economy in recent years. “Had we paid heed to the advice to print money and (use it) for consumption boost, it could have given us a sugar high. But in that process, we could have suffered the side effects (of the artificial booster) like high inflation as the rich countries have,” he said.

Referring to the surge in the Centre’s budgetary capex from Rs 3.4 lakh crore in FY20 to a budgeted Rs 11.2 lakh crore in the current fiscal, he said India’s economic structure was capable of producing an investment multiplier of 3.6. “As much as 60% of the (multiplier benefits) goes to MSMEs,” he said.