去年12月，為了給本月的《財富》雜志撰寫一篇關(guān)于谷歌的報道，我去了印度的幾個地方。到了印度，你很難忽視這里正在飛速發(fā)生的數(shù)字化革命。即便是在偏遠農(nóng)村，也有成千上萬的人拿著剛買不久的智能手機，有生以來第一次登上了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。

印度的數(shù)字革命必將帶來極其深遠的影響——這種影響不僅僅在于互聯(lián)網(wǎng)給印度社會帶來的劇烈變化，同時，它也將對整個科技行業(yè)產(chǎn)生巨大影響。印度是一個擁有１３億多人口的國家，其人口三倍于美國，如此龐大的市場，必定會為谷歌等科技巨頭帶來難得的擴張機遇。

就目前而言，對于在印度角力的大玩家們，賺錢并不是最主要的，而是要找到下一個１０億級的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶群——而其中的大部分就在印度。當(dāng)然，外國科技公司進軍印度的阻礙也有不少，其中也包括政治上的障礙。即將于今年４月面臨艱難選戰(zhàn)的印度總理莫迪已經(jīng)表示，要堅決保護印度的本土科技公司，不能讓它們被谷歌、沃爾瑪和中國的騰訊、阿里巴巴等外國巨頭所吞并。

在新德里，我采訪了印度國家轉(zhuǎn)型研究所的所長阿米塔布·康特。印度國家轉(zhuǎn)型研究所主要負責(zé)制定全國的數(shù)字化戰(zhàn)略。在采訪中，康特談到了對于印度以及對于谷歌等美國科技巨頭來說，當(dāng)前重點要做好哪些事情。

《財富》：數(shù)字化轉(zhuǎn)型對印度經(jīng)濟為何如此重要？

康特：未來30年，如果我們想保持9%或者10%的年增長率，我們不僅需要實物的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，也需要數(shù)字化的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。我們還需要在教育、衛(wèi)生等領(lǐng)域?qū)崿F(xiàn)巨大突破。只有數(shù)字化技術(shù)才能助推印度實現(xiàn)巨大增長，這就要求我們必須構(gòu)建數(shù)字化基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施作為支撐。

印度已經(jīng)建立了超過10億人的生物樣本庫，印度還擁有10億多部移動設(shè)備、10億多個銀行賬戶。利用移動系統(tǒng)和這個龐大的生物樣本庫，印度政府可以將福利撥款直接打入受益人的銀行賬戶?，F(xiàn)在我們的數(shù)字支付都是基于移動的，我們已經(jīng)有128家聯(lián)網(wǎng)銀行，他們都可以通過移動系統(tǒng)進行數(shù)字支付。

這就是印度為什么要廢除紙幣。（注：2016年，莫迪廢除了大部分流通中的紙幣。）

是的，它推動了數(shù)字支付的極限。我們不像美國和中國。在美國，所有數(shù)據(jù)都歸谷歌和Facebook所有；在中國，所有數(shù)據(jù)都歸阿里、騰訊和百度所有。在印度，數(shù)據(jù)歸公共實體所有。比如說每個印度人都有跟“阿達哈爾”（即印度的12位數(shù)字身份證）綁定的生物特征。印度的消費稅也可以通過數(shù)字支付繳納。居民的生物特征數(shù)據(jù)僅歸公共實體所有，而印度目前有99.6%的人都在網(wǎng)上納稅。

目前有多少人交稅？

消費稅的正規(guī)化將使納稅變得更正式，目前的規(guī)模已經(jīng)相當(dāng)可觀了。（注：據(jù)估計只有不到10%的印度人交稅。）我們的所有新方案都是完全數(shù)字化的。我們正在為5億人提供醫(yī)療保險，這個數(shù)字比美國和墨西哥的人口總和還要多。而且它也是無現(xiàn)金式的，全部采用數(shù)字化技術(shù)。數(shù)字化已經(jīng)應(yīng)用到了方方面面，大多數(shù)印度人通過智能手機就能享受這些計劃。

說說你們在如何使用你們建立的10億多人口的生物識別庫。

我們希望做到以數(shù)字化手段教育人，以數(shù)字化手段傳播健康，并利用這些海量數(shù)據(jù)更好地進行數(shù)據(jù)分析，更好地創(chuàng)新，并幫助創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。這樣我們才能確保人民得到最好的教育、最好的醫(yī)療。我們也可以橫向和縱向地追蹤每一個兒童的情況，然后對結(jié)果進行分析，以得出最好的結(jié)果，就像我們跟蹤網(wǎng)約車的動向一樣。我們也可以通過大量數(shù)據(jù)來跟蹤個人的健康狀況。這些只有通過數(shù)字化轉(zhuǎn)型才能實現(xiàn)，而非實體轉(zhuǎn)型。

由于智能手機的使用，銀行交易的成本大大下降了。過去銀行交易需要很長的時間。生物識別技術(shù)使得身份認證變得容易。印度以前是非常低效的，現(xiàn)在政府可以將資金直接轉(zhuǎn)入所有受益人的賬戶。

我們認為，在農(nóng)村地區(qū)，衛(wèi)生和教育將越來越多地通過數(shù)字化網(wǎng)絡(luò)向居民提供。我們最關(guān)注的挑戰(zhàn)，就是建立堅實的寬帶網(wǎng)絡(luò)。我們首先是要建設(shè)光纖網(wǎng)絡(luò)，其次是確保每個人都有手機，尤其是智能手機。在印度，智能手機的成本已經(jīng)下降了。

由于一批新公司的加入，使得智能手機的價格顯著下降。目前在印度生產(chǎn)手機的企業(yè)大約有128家。他們降低了手機的生產(chǎn)成本。這有利于手機的推廣和數(shù)字化革命在印度的傳播。

實物基礎(chǔ)架構(gòu)對印度這樣一個國家顯然也是很重要的，你為什么認為數(shù)字基礎(chǔ)架構(gòu)更重要？

如果你想在各地建實體銀行，讓真正的銀行經(jīng)理去管理，印度得花上幾百年的時間。如果你想建實體學(xué)校，也得花幾百年的時間。唯一在能讓印度在技術(shù)上實現(xiàn)跨越的方法，就是使用數(shù)字化技術(shù)?，F(xiàn)在，即便不通過大型學(xué)校和書本，只通過智能手機，也能教育孩子。比如印度比哈爾邦有一個叫作班卡的落后地區(qū)，那里所有的教育都是通過移動電話完成的。

我們在安德拉邦采訪時，我去了一些村子，我感覺要讓人們真正理解如何正確使用智能手機，可能還需要很多年。但你說的是15年。

從我們的經(jīng)驗看，有些在我們看來對數(shù)字化技術(shù)一竅不通的人，實際上學(xué)習(xí)使用手機的速度要比我們想象的快得多。印度農(nóng)村地區(qū)是很擅長學(xué)習(xí)使用手機的，因為現(xiàn)在印度人人都在用手機。目前印度的智能手機用戶已達4.5億，其他人則使用功能手機。而從功能手機到智能手機的轉(zhuǎn)變將發(fā)生得非常迅速。印度的規(guī)模也將使成本進一步下降。

數(shù)據(jù)本地化對于科技公司來說是一個非常熱門的問題。現(xiàn)在谷歌等大型科技公司也儲存了不少他們在印度收集的數(shù)據(jù)。你認為這個問題對印度有多重要？

這對我們來說也是一個重要的問題。目前印度就此還沒有最終政策，但印度政府已經(jīng)任命了一個委員會，委員會已經(jīng)出具了一份報告，印度信息技術(shù)部正在對其進行審查。在我看來，重要數(shù)據(jù)（比如與健康有關(guān)的數(shù)據(jù)）必須本地化，印度是有能力處理這些數(shù)據(jù)的，印度是一個IT實力很強的國家，印度人的數(shù)據(jù)必須留在印度。這是我們的看法。

外國投資者是否將印度看作一個長期市場？現(xiàn)在他們已經(jīng)投入了幾十億的投資，最終他們能賺回來嗎？

很多公司在印度的投資都是長期而非短期的。像谷歌這樣的公司會長期投資印度，而且他們也會在數(shù)字化方面為印度做很多好事。我相信過了一段時間之后，他們會在印度發(fā)展得非常好。印度市場正在不斷擴大。谷歌面臨的最大挑戰(zhàn)是如何以印度本土語言進行傳播。印度大概有3.5億人的英語市場，其他人都說本地語言。對于Facebook、推特、谷歌等科技公司，他們的一大挑戰(zhàn)就是如何融入本地語言，尤其是印地語。

印度以前的營商環(huán)境很復(fù)雜，過去投資者的日子不太好過。但是在過去四年間，政府采取了一系列措施，為投資者營造了簡單易行的投資環(huán)境。很多規(guī)則、程序和文書手續(xù)都被廢除了。這也是為什么根據(jù)世界銀行的排名，印度的營商指數(shù)上升了65位。另外，印度也讓它的29個邦每年都圍繞營商環(huán)境展開競爭，而且這種競爭是很激烈的。

在吸引非英語人口市場方面，誰做得比較領(lǐng)先？

我認為谷歌是領(lǐng)先的，其次是亞馬遜，現(xiàn)在沃爾瑪也加入進來了。但是谷歌依然遙遙領(lǐng)先，因為它在Internet Saathis項目和女性身上做了大量工作。（注：谷歌與印度塔塔信托合作，向印度廣大農(nóng)村派出女員工，培訓(xùn)當(dāng)?shù)嘏缘幕净ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)技能。）同時谷歌也通過Google Pay做了很多數(shù)字支付機制的推廣工作。它也資助了很多印度的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。

印度有很多優(yōu)秀的工程師和幾百家創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，硅谷在這方面給印度帶來了什么？

硅谷帶來了一個很好的創(chuàng)新生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。硅谷與班加羅爾和海德拉巴的科技公司的關(guān)系，甚至要好于硅谷與華盛頓的關(guān)系。所以說我們已經(jīng)打造了全球第三好的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。而它很大程度上是我們與一些充滿活力的硅谷公司密切合作的成果。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

When I traveled around India in December for this month’s Fortune magazine story on Google, it was hard to miss the head-spinning digital revolution underway in India. Even in the tiniest village, thousands of people had only recently bought their first smartphones and logged on to the Internet for the first time.

The consequences are profound—not only for India, for which the Internet will bring radical transformation, but also for Big Tech. In a country of more than 1.3 billion people—three times the population of the U.S.—India offers tech giants like Google the chance for drastic expansion.

For now, the driving ambition is not making money. It is finding the next billion Internet users—and most of those will be in India. There are hurdles aplenty, including political ones. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces a tough reelection battle in April, has vowed to protect India’s national tech companies from being swallowed whole by the likes of Google, Amazon, and Walmart as well as Chinese titans like Tencent and Alibaba.

In New Delhi, I sat down with Amitabh Kant, CEO of the National Institution for Transforming India, or NITI Aayog, which oversees the country’s digital policies, to ask what is at stake for India, and for U.S. tech giants like Google.

Fortune: Why is this digital transformation so important for the economy for India?

Kant: More than physical infrastructure, we need digital infrastructure if we are to grow at 9% or 10% a year over a three-decade period. We need a quantum jump in education, in health, in several of these areas. It is only digital technology that will enable India to make a big growth. And this will require us to create digital infrastructure as the backbone.

What India has done is that it has created a billion-plus biometric. It has a billion-plus mobile [devices]. It has a billion-plus bank accounts. And the government of India does all of its transfers straight into the beneficiaries’ bank accounts, using the mobile system and using the biometric. All our digital payments is mobile based now. We have 128 banks linked together; all of them are digitally connected for digital payments through the mobile system.

So this is why demonetization was so important. (In 2016, Modi invalidated most of the bank notes in circulation. —Ed.)

Yes, it pushed the limits of digital payments. In India we’ve pushed digitization in government. Unlike in the U.S., where all the data is owned by Google and Facebook, and unlike China, where it is owned by Alibaba and Tencent and Baidu, in India it’s owned by public entities. So you have the Aadhaar [a 12-number digital I.D. issued to each Indian citizen] biometric, which owns data. Now you have the Goods and Services Tax. It is all digital. Biometric data is only with public entities. You also have 99.6% of people in India paying taxes online.

But how many people pay taxes?

The formalization of GST will make it more formal. It’s quite substantial now. (Fewer than 10% of Indians are estimated to pay their taxes. —Ed.) And all of our new schemes are all digital. We’re providing health insurance for up to 500 million people. That is more than the population of the U.S. and Mexico put together. It is all cashless, portable, and it is all digital. You have digital data everywhere. And most of the people access these schemes in India through mobile smartphones.

Tell us how you’re using this billion-plus biometric you have created.

We want to make sure we are able to educate people digitally, that we are able to spread health digitally, and use this vast amount of data to use better data analytics, do innovation, help startups. Then we can ensure that people are able to get best education, the best health. We can track every child longitudinally, latitudinally, learning outcomes, to track the best outcomes, much like we track Uber cars. Or track the health of the individual using a lot of data. And this is possible only with a digital transformation, not a physical transformation.

The cost of bank transactions has fallen radically because of the use of smartphones. It used to take a long time. The use of biometrics has enabled the spread of identification. India used to be very inefficient. Now the government transfers money directly into bank accounts of all the beneficiaries.

Our view is that health and education will increasingly be delivered in rural areas through the digital network. Our challenge is to create a strong broadband and that is what we focused on. Spreading the fiber optic, number one. Number two, ensuring we are ensuring that everybody has a phone and particularly a smartphone. And in India, the cost of smartphones has fallen.

New companies have made the cost of smartphones fall radically. About 128 mobile companies are manufacturing in India. They’ve brought down the cost of manufacturing of mobiles. This will all lead to the spread of the mobile telephone and the spreading of the digital revolution in India.

Why do you see this as more important than rolling out physical infrastructure, which is obviously so important in a country like India?

Because if we were to go around creating physical banks and have physical bank managers it would take India hundreds of years. If you were to create physical schools with infrastructure it would take hundreds of years. The only way to technologically leapfrog is to use digital technology. You can educate children not through books today, and not through large schools, but through mobile telephones. There is one of our backward districts, called Banka in Bihar state, where the entire education is being done on mobile telephony.

When I visited villages, we were in Andhra Pradesh. It felt like it was going to take many years for people to get connected, and to really understand what to do with a smartphone. But you are saying 15 years.

Our experience has been that those who we think are [digitally] illiterate are actually able to use mobile telephony much faster. Rural India is very digitally savvy. Because everyone in India today is using a mobile phone. About 450 million people are using smartphones. Others are using feature phones. The switch-over from feature phone to smartphone will happen very rapidly. The size and scale of India will make the costs fall.

Data localization is a very hot issue for tech companies. How important is it for India, where big tech companies like Google store data they are collecting in the country?

This is an important issue for us. I think the last word on this has not been said. The government has appointed a committee; the committee has given a report. That is being examined by Ministry of Information and Technology. My view is that critical data, for example relating to health, must be localized. India can handle it. India is a very savvy I.T. country. The data of Indians must be kept within India. That is our view.

Do foreign investors look at India as a long-term play? They put billions in now, and eventually they will make it back?

A lot of companies are investing here for the long term, not the short term. My view is that companies like Google are here for the long term they will do a lot of good in digitization. I’m sure over a period of time they’ll do extremely well in India. The Indian market is just growing and expanding. The challenge in Google is to spread in Indian languages. We have a market of about 350 million people in English, but the rest is in local languages. The challenge for all the digital companies—Facebook, Twitter, Google, everyone—is to make a massive push for local languages, particularly Hindi.

India used to be complicated. It used to be tough for investors. But over the last four years, the government has taken a series of measures to make India easy and simple for investors. A number of rules and procedures and paperwork have all been scrapped. That’s why India has jumped up 65 positions in ease of doing business, as ranked by the World Bank. India also makes its [29] states compete every year on the ease of doing business. There is huge competition.

Who’s ahead in trying to appeal to the non-English-speaking Indian market?

I think Google is ahead. Followed by Amazon, and now Walmart will come in. But Google is way ahead because it has done a lot of work with Internet Saathis, with women. (Google, in partnership with India’s Tata Trust, deploys women in villages across India in order to train other women in basic Internet skills. —Ed.) It has done a lot of work pushing the digital payment mechanism, with Google Pay. It supports a lot of our startups.

India is full of great engineers and hundreds of startups at this point. What does Silicon Valley bring to the picture?

Silicon Valley brings a great ecosystem of innovation. There’s a greater connect between Silicon Valley and tech companies in Bangalore and Hyderabad than between Silicon Valley and Washington. So we’ve created the third best ecosystem in the world. And much of that ecosystem is a consequence of our close relationship with some dynamic Silicon Valley companies.