How a 1.5-Billion-Person Economy Learns to Dance in Real Time
As a child, I had a small savings account. Going to the bank was intimidating. The teller's window was higher than i could comfortably reach, and I had to stretch to make my little transaction. But that was Banking. You went to the bank, stood at the counter and saved your money. Why complain. Today, a child can do the same thing from the palm of a hand. That small change says much more than it first appears to. The counter has disappeared. The ledger has become a digital record. A transaction that once required a visit to a branch can now happen almost anywhere, almost instantly. And banking is only one part of the story. The way we buy, sell, pay, travel, farm, trade, access services and move goods has changed with it. Millions of transactions that once left a paper trail now leave behind data. The economy has begun to move to a different rhythm. India once planned development in five-year movements. That made sense when informatio...