Blockchain is one of the powerful innovations that has an immense potential to impact the Indian economy by streamlining process, enhancing efficiency, and offering privacy protection. It has an aptitude of revolutionizing interactions among citizens, businesses, and governments, in a manner that was unfathomable a decade ago. India has welcomed a range of novel technologies, such as IoT and AI; however, Blockchain is unique in its foundational nature. As compared to other technologies that capable of delivering new services, Blockchain has the capability to revamp existing processes to unlock new sources of efficiency. 

With the rising investment, India is transforming into digital nation with adoption of internet services in the sectors of automotive, healthcare and manufacturing. With service sector being the major contributor to the country’s economy, software services are playing the crucial role in growth of service sector. According to IBEF (India Brand Equity Foundation), India’s IT industry is growing exponentially with growth rate of 30% annually. This growth rate is supposed to encourage the adoption of Blockchain technology. India has not moved so far in the Blockchain technology however, with this rapid growth of IT industry, potential has been surfaced for the investors.

The governmental bodies in India face certain challenges given the scale, complexity, and diversity of processes involved for delivery of varied public services. Here, Blockchain has a potential of addressing these issues related to improving governance. In January 2020, the policy think tank for the Government of India, NITI Aayog, published a report stating the Indian Blockchain strategy. The report outlined areas where Blockchain can assist the country, which includes the improving contract management and procurement, quality control across supply chains, and decentralization of authority in decision making. NITI Aayog has pursued proof-of-concept (PoC) in four areas in an attempt to evaluate the potential of Blockchain in delivering improved efficiency and better understand possible hurdles in implementation. These include-

• ‘Track and trace’ of drugs in the pharmaceutical supply chain 
• Transfer of land records
• Claim verification and approval in the disbursement of fertilizer subsidy 
• Verification of university certificates 

In 2018, NITI Aayog, in partnership with Intel and PwC, embarked on a pilot project with an aim to optimize the fertilizer subsidy supply chain by integrating Blockchain. The ultimate aim of the project was to rationalize the fertilizer subsidy supply chain by representing a transparent and tamper-proof ledger. This can effectively track and trace the overall fertilizer movement across the value chain along with the plan of reducing the turnaround time for subsidy activation by integrating the transaction records such as invoices and claims.

From an implementation standpoint, a Blockchain technology stack requires integration with a certain kind of identity platform and an incentive mechanism. India has a developed and a proven success of UPI and Aadhaar, thus has a potential inherent benefits of Blockchain across a commercial scale, while on the other hand, several nations are struggling to find a proxy for identity and need to ensure legitimacy of crypto assets. Therefore, a huge potential can be stated for Blockchain technology in India in the coming years.

Initiatives/Framework by the Government of India

The technology arm of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) led two PoCs – enhanced information for payments and domestic trade finance letter of credit– by including financial institutions and technology firms such as IBM and Infosys. Moreover, general insurance companies thrived on a pilot to better track health insurance policies through Blockchain technology. In India, Andhra Pradesh is the first state that has introduced Blockchain across few platforms, such as land records Other states such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, and Rajasthan are following the lead.

The Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Blockchain technology functions as interoperable, coordinated Blockchain ecosystem in India. The CoE centre is designated to advance Blockchain platforms, technologies, assets, and systems to implementation Blockchain technology across the country. This CoEBCT is developed as a platform that will focus on the introduction of innovative new solutions of Blockchain as a gateway to test projects undertaken by NIC at central and state level. NIC CoE team will collaborate with global experts to lead development and implementation of innovative Blockchain solutions from POCs to production. 

COVID-19 pandemic and Blockchain?

YoSync, a startup incubated at IIITB-IMACX Studios, and BelfricsBT, a global Blockchain start-up, together signed a research collaboration in agreement with IIIT Bangalore in July 2020. This is for the development of India’s first-of-a-kind COVID-19 Blockchain platform, BelYo. The project led by these companies and institute has been granted a fund from the Mphasis F1 Foundation as a part of a programme to tackle the COVID-19 spread in India. BelYo uses the BelfricsBT Belrium Blockchain platform to convert all the clinical and vaccination data of citizens related to COVID-19 into digital assets that can be retrieved by any contact tracing apps such as Aarogya Setu via APIs (application programming interface). Using these APIs, an individual can scan and retrieve data as color-coded results through a QR code, making the process 100% contactless and seamless at any point of entry during and post the COVID-19 crisis.

Global Blockchain Industry

Blockchain technology is a tool with potential applications for organizations, enabling secure transactions without the need for a central authority. Starting in 2009, with Bitcoin leveraging Blockchain technology, there has been an increasing number of Blockchain technology-based solutions till date. The first applications were electronic cash systems with the distribution of a global ledger containing all transactions. The transactions comprise a secured cryptographic hash, which is then signed and verified using asymmetric-key pairs. The technology efficiently and securely records a transaction history, in a way that, if any changes are made in the past transaction, a recalculation of all subsequent blocks of transactions will take place. The use of Blockchain technology is still in its early stages globally; however, it is built on widely understood and sound cryptographic principles.

The global Blockchain forum is an international initiative of the Chamber of Digital Commerce. The group works with the world’s leading Blockchain policy experts to develop industry best practices and  shape global regulatory interoperability. The global partners of the forum include-

• Australia: Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association
• Japan: Japan Blockchain Association
• UK: United Kingdom Digital Currency Association
• Singapore: Association of Cryptocurrency Enterprises and Startups Singapore (ACCESS)
• US: Chamber of Digital Commerce

Blockchain technology has emerged as transparent and safe mode for financial services with the aid of its encrypted transactions. North American banks are running pilot projects to test feasibility of Blockchain-based platforms. Digital currencies are encouraged from both demand side and supply side as well. Number of digital currencies are being developed by the software companies offering these services such as Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash and few others. Private banks are exploring opportunities in the form of digital currencies to offer services to their clients. After Bitcoin, Ethereum shares the highest market cap. Security is the key factor which is encouraging customers to make transactions through cryptocurrency. Despite positive nodes, many countries have banned the use of cryptocurrency and some are reluctant to implement protocol for its application.