India: Government Policy Commission Calls Blockchain ‘The New Trust Paradigm’

NITI Aayog — the Indian government’s Policy Commission has submitted a national blockchain strategy describing the emerging technology as “the new trust paradigm.” The government think tank is the latest state authority in the country to call for greater utilization of decentralized ledger technology (DLT) within India.

NITI Aayog Argues Blockchain Necessity

According to its strategy plan document, stakeholders like the government, regulators, and entrepreneurs need to be alive to the utility of blockchain technology. However, the government think tank says blockchain-focused efforts should move away from hype towards tangible utility.

As part of the report, NITI Aayog revealed that it had pursued proof of concept (POC) for blockchain utilization in four use cases namely pharmaceutical supply chain, certificate authentication, land registry, and verification of claims for fertilizer subsidy.

These pilot projects mirror many of the current blockchain-based use cases being pursued by governments and tech establishments around the world. Arguing for the advantage of blockchain over other alternatives, the report states:

“The features of blockchain make it favorable in processes requiring decentralized access, auditability, security, disintermediation, and programmability. While alternatives such as distributed databases, or centralized databases with distributed API access may also solve specific issues in processes at a lower cost, blockchain has the potential to solve these problems simultaneously.”

According to NITI Aayog, blockchain also thrives as a means or eliminating the need for trusted intermediaries. As part of the report, the government policy think tank, declared that greater blockchain adoption could reduce the cost of governance while creating opportunities for multi-stakeholder participation in various sectors of the economy.

India Continues to Favor Blockchain Over Crypto

The NITI Aayog strategy document is the latest blockchain-focused policy statement in India in 2020 alone. As previously reported by BTCManager, the country’s National Institute for Smart Governance (NSIG) published a communique calling for concise DLT strategy as well as the introduction of clear cut regulations for the industry.

Earlier in January 2020, the country’s Telecom and IT Minister called for greater blockchain adoption as a way of boosting India’s primary education. Despite the growing blockchain enthusiasm in the country, authorities are still dampening cryptocurrencies with the Reserve Bank of India recently arguing against claims of crypto utility in India.

Back in April 2019, the Reserve Bank of India unveiled a regulatory sandbox for fintech startups including blockchain firms but omitted crypto-related businesses.