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Blockchain Technology

TABLE 8.2

SWOT Analysis of the Blockchain in India by NISG

Blockchain – Where does India Stand? A SWOT

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

• Large technology workforce that has been the

knowledge backbone of the world can quickly

reskill for leadership.

• Lack of regulatory clarity stifling the plans of

decision makers on investment programs to boost

blockchain adaption.

• Strong identity management system across the

country in the form of Unique Identification

Authority of India (UIDAI) and Aadhar.

• Lack of government support for blockchain

projects as a key user of the technology has

delayed the takeoff.

• Strong IT consulting and implementation

partners like National Institute of Standards and

Technology (NIST), National Informatics

Centre (NIC) and e-governance practices

adopted.

• Negligible investments in blockchain by private

sector due to lack of understanding of the potential

benefits and government’s stand.

• Use cases across multiple domains for PoCs.

• Very few production-level applications in country.

• Access to global technology leaders and

platforms as potential technology partners and

customers offers a captive opportunity.

• Investment climate not conducive to innovation as

India’s venture capital is mostly focused on

growth-oriented projects and not for incubating.

• Education.

• Curriculum.

• Ability to adopt integrated strategies across

multiple disruptive technology domains.

• Very poor awareness among decision maker

community in public and private sector.

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

• Opportunity to be the blockchain development

backbone of the world by reskilling the

developer population in advance.

• Large pool of IoT devices susceptible to

cyberattacks can derail the automation

programmes and Industry 4.0 plans.

• Potentially largest pool of IoT devices

generating monetizable data, as India sports one

of the highest citizen bases and telecom

penetrations.

• Differences between different entities that are

expected to collaborate may create roadblocks and

deadlocks.

• Large opportunity for data monetization by

creating a market place for anonymized data

through blockchain can lead to unlocking of the

value both in the country and abroad.

• The high potential of data-triggered prosperity can

lead to excessive attention from cyber attackers.

Poor compliance on cybersecurity best practices

can spur a collapse of connectivity.

• Increasing transparency in banking system to

eliminate Non Performing Asset (NPA) burden.

Transparent processes for procurement and loan

process management can help with humongous

savings.

• The transparency-threatened lobbyist who has

been used to exploiting inefficiencies in weak

systems can apply roadblocks to blockchain

programmes.

• Improving transparency in benefit programmes

can enable the schemes to maximize positive

impact on citizens.

• Improper connectivity of distant places and

underdeveloped areas can restrict the benefits of

technology depending on Internet connectivity.

• Crashing expenses of elections and offering

instantaneous election results.

• Lack of digitization and legacy backlogs can

create inertia to shift to advanced technologies.

Source: Shivendu, S., National Strategy on Blockchain, 2019. Retrieved 20 January 2020 from www​.

nisg​.org​/blockchain.