VIJAY SHEKHAR SHARMA: HOW POLICIES CAN TRANSFORM SRI LANKA | AT HYDEPARK WITH INDEEWARI

Well, I think I truly feel privileged that I've been there at the right time and right place. Our honorable prime minister's Startup India and Digital India initiatives also took off when our company was being built. So in a way, we coincided with the mission and purpose of our prime minister's vision of digitizing the whole country, and we were able to do one of the most important parts, if you will, in payments, where small shops, stores, or any other person in the country can take payment using a mobile phone. And today, as we call it, UPI, and this is the pride of India. And I feel privileged that we were able to contribute to it.

Yes, I think, thank you again. The biggest differentiation has been innovating on QR code technology. Before Paytm, the primary technology of making payments used to be using cards. You go with a card to a shop, but shopkeepers had to invest in an expensive card machine, monthly rental, costly payments every time. And we just removed all three of them. We made settlement next day. We made cost zero. And there was a paper QR, or if you wanted, you could take a sound box which was very small, which you wanted to take as an optional choice. So the merchant was able to receive, let's say, 100 rupees. It would go 100 in the pocket, and it will not cost, and it'll be instant.

Well, we built a business model. Paytm's business model is based on cross-sell and upsell. For example, every merchant can take this payment for free. If you want, you can take a premium service for which you can take a subscription, and we could cross-sell financial services like credit. And access to credit also is one of the most important economic missions, where giving small businesses credit gives the growth to the economy from the bottom of the pyramid. So we feel privileged that financial inclusion itself has a lot of yields and commercial benefits, not just the revolution that you were talking about.

You said it, absolutely the statement that my board members asked me when I started, that why are you doing this, you could do something else in technology and so on. And my belief was that the young demography of India, just like I see in Sri Lanka, and the access to the smartphone becoming ubiquitous, it will inevitably happen. I mean, I was banking on Indian acceptance and modularity. Just like today I can say that Sri Lanka's acceptability and modularity will be phenomenal.

So we created an agent-led system also for those people who do not have access to smartphones. For example, you can go to a shop and you can use a biometric. So you can go to a shop, use biometric, take the cash and give the cash. So the idea was it was not just for the people who have smartphones, it was also for the people who do not have a smartphone or a phone. All three tiers. So we were able to take care of that. But over the period, smartphone penetration really became what it is today.

I think card-based systems exist, so it coexists. It served the underserved or unserved, and for the people like you and me who would have, let's say, had a standard bank account, it became another method. So many of our payments, once you start making mobile-based payments, the habit moves from card to the mobile. So you didn't technically wipe off something. You just added a more convenient feature, and most people who use the card still use the card, but they use more Paytm or mobile payments.

Well, I must say that our honorable president's vision of making Sri Lanka a digital country, a digital native, and then I met the deputy minister of digital economy, and the more I understand, the amount of commitment that the government from the top has about digitizing the economy is very inspiring. I came to see and experience it firsthand. My intention was, should we commit to it or not? I myself come to the country and see where we have to invest. And I must tell you this, there is no doubt about it. Sri Lanka is a phenomenal, phenomenal economy which is coming out of a crisis. They're coming out, they're tackling it so well, and the digital commitment is inspiring. And I wish that we can help Sri Lanka. We can help Sri Lanka by giving technology access to capabilities what they want. And at the same point in time, I would say invest or do anything. Right now, seeing what I saw, I committed my personal one million dollars to the startup ecosystem here, by whichever way the government or ICTA looks at it, they can invest Indian money into Sri Lankan startups.

Most probably, I would seek what is the best method. It could very well be an extension of the fund of funds which is announced, where I think it is a fifty-million-dollar fund of funds. It could become fifty-one million. So it goes to everybody to invest.

You already called it out. There is no doubt about it that there is technology which is becoming mainstream, and technology which has an obligation to be learned. I mean, everybody has to learn this technology. Everybody has to learn AI. Everybody has to digitize the economy. Sri Lanka's economy has one extra advantage over many others in Southeast Asia: you have a very, very well-educated population. You have a very large GDP per capita, which means you're not solving for many other problems that other economies, including many other economies, have to face. Now, that makes it a model location where how can technology help the nation to grow and grow the economy dramatically is an example of Sri Lanka. So I do believe that we could help contribute towards the local economy growth and digital growth. The digital economy is going to take off. It's sort of given. If you see India, if you see other Southeast Asian countries, South Asian countries, it's given that technology is going to inevitably become mainstream. Paytm is now looking at where can we expand to in the next three to five years. Sri Lanka seems great.

I think the very fact that our honorable prime minister wanted startups to win, and he called out a mission called the Startup India mission. I mean, we used to face the problem of talent. For example, the best of technology or management institutes would prefer a global company first, then a large Indian conglomerate, and so on. As a young startup, we used to get literally the last person in the food value chain of talent. But I think the way the government pursued championing of startups, championing of the digital economy, we sort of began the line from this side, that we got the right to get the first talent. We got the right to be treated as first citizens in our country. And I think that is where the commitment of the government shows up and showed up. And I'm sure here, when our honorable president and his ministry and cabinet clearly is talking about this, I'm sure they would make startups the champion of the economy of Sri Lanka.

Beautiful. I fundamentally believe that India's technology talent have created a lot of solutions that are made for South Asian economies, that are made for us. They're not made in a different part of the world where the adaptability is so minimalistic. Rather, we are embracing the diversity, we are embracing the challenging situations that companies and individuals face here. So our solutions that are made in India are made for South Asian economies. And I can say that I don't think we are so capitalist that we would not want to extend that benefit to everybody else. Rather, we would want to be more inclusive in technology and offer this to countries and neighbors nearby. So Indian technology can join the Southeast Asian companies and South Asian countries together, so that we can reap the benefit of something that has been developed and built in India. And I also believe that especially Sri Lanka, which is something we call our age-old, in mythological times also we were brothers and sisters. So I would rather say that Sri Lanka should take benefit of what we have invested in, capital invested in, technology that we built, the scale, the complexities that we have handled, the scale we've handled, and the features that we've been able to deliver are so relevant to this market. And it'll be a privilege to help any startup company, businesses, banks to take that advantage. I have one approach here. I don't want us to come out as a challenger to the current companies that are there. When Sri Lanka will innovate, Sri Lanka will win. And to innovate, help them innovate, help them build, we would like to contribute from capital, from technology and know-how, and training. So I believe that as India, we can play a very value-added and value-accruing role towards the Sri Lankan economy, where we can help them learn, teach, and extend technology, and even invest where there is an opportunity. And that means that Sri Lanka will become significantly self-reliant and on their own, and we will be the cheerleaders of that.

There's no doubt about it that when you talk upfront, you may misunderstand or misconstrue or misinterpret what the opportunity of trust and working together is. I have only one thing to say: that in the longer arc, it will be proven that India is not only the best partner but the best friend to keep.

Yeah, I think the biggest one that anybody, and I think Sri Lanka will learn how to overcome that, would be that many investors feel uncomfortable to invest in that economy, especially in the early days. And these are more or less their experience with local government and local bureaucracy. So one experience that I can tell you is that government should make very conducive investor environments. And it does not mean tax-free; it rather means that you can bring capital, it will be protected, you can take the capital back, because the investor is also managing capital for somebody else. So that, I think, is the foremost important element. And one of the solutions that I understand is that if government could work with local VCs and allow them to raise money from outside, and then they become the champion of it, that way the local venture capitalists would be able to invest, local businesses will be able to invest, and external people can put money in a fund of funds kind of structure. So the most important thing is for government to not reject or push back the capital that comes here, because otherwise it'll take many years for the capital to come back.

Stability. You use the word policy consistency, policy stability, and ability to trust that there will be a long-term political to commercial stability of the policies that you're talking about. So the biggest statement I would say is stable policies, and that shouldn't change because some changes happen in government. At the same point in time, support for investment, like tax regimes or compliance regimes that are supporting them, those expectations every investor would expect.

Yeah, I think we also at one point of time had many of these kind of questions in our country. And I'm very proud that our regulator and government took a very upfront stand when the digitization was going on, that you have to reside and keep data explicitly within the shores of the country. And then any external access has to be permitted, acknowledged, permitted, and there has to be a log maintained so that what can go out or not go out is barred or permitted with clear consent. And I think I'm very happy to say this: that India has maintained that data sovereignty very well. And there is something to learn for Sri Lanka. Number one, don't let any data go out of Sri Lanka. First of all, there is no way, it just doesn't go, so that you do not control what happens afterwards. And at the same point in time, if it has to be accessed, then you allow access in a safe, trusted environment from outside, but not take the data outside. So allow access, not take the data, and clear monitored borders will be the way forward.

Data regulations, data laws. And so as soon as the digitization grows, data regulation and data laws show up. India has created data protection, privacy protection, data privacy laws, and these are very good to learn from. And I think Europe also created, US also created. So once the digital economy moves forward, there will be local data laws, and especially in regulated environments like payments, banking, insurance, etc., that we're talking about, those can be regulatory guidance day one.

I cannot say it enough, and enough number of times. It starts from our prime minister and his commitment to make us startups. Not just like backdoor kids or somebody who is just in one corner of the economy, but he brought us in the forefront. He brought us in the front, and he celebrated all the challenges and the opportunities that different startups face. I would say that it is very interesting for me to say, the Indian prime minister has been always visible with as many number of businesses, as many number of startups. Earlier, the startups didn't even have a seat at the table. So it starts from the top, the message goes to all the bureaucracy and so on, and then the policies. The important thing is you have to listen to investors, you have to listen to these companies. For example, I was listening to the chatter today about certain tax advantages, certain lesser compliance and regulations. It's important to hear these people. It's important to hear the investor. It's important to hear the startup. It's important to create that conducive environment, like what you're asking. It's an opportunity. If you do it, there are benefits that that economy and all common citizens will reap. If you don't, then I don't think the world will be knocking at one's door again. It'll take a lot of time for it to happen.

So let me give you an example. If an aircraft can be autopiloted, that does not mean there will not be pilots; rather, that will mean there will be more aircrafts, and as a number of pilots can serve even more number of aircrafts. So let's look at it from that lens. AI enhances productivity. It will make every individual Sri Lankan, every individual citizen, to be able to do more than what they were earlier able to do. It's like also saying, when ATMs came, did the bank branch finish? Or did the availability of cash become ubiquitous? Rather, the second, it became ubiquitous. And similarly, when smartphones came, email came, does it mean the postman disappeared? Maybe yes, but does it mean the efficacy and efficiency did not increase? Obviously, earlier you were waiting for one week to get postal mail, now you don't. Well, yes, that is right, that some things with new change of technology always change, but what it changes to is way more productive and useful than where it is coming from. I don't have to say this: that AI, while we will look at it as if it may reduce the jobs, it may reduce the job which is anyways not an efficient job, but at the same point, it'll create a way more productive environment and jobs that we all will enjoy the fruits of. Just think about the smartphone. Do you remember there used to be PCOs where you used to go to make STD calls and you used to do the trunk call and a printout would come for the bill? What happened to those? Did we bother about those when smartphones came? It is just like that. I think the future of AI and the future with AI is way better than the future without AI. So while we will definitely be bothered about and skeptical of what jobs it could take, rather it'll make a better economy, it'll make a more productive economy. As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, twenty-three million people, one Sri Lankan can do more jobs and more export of resources, skills, and services than ever before. So instead of seeing it as a challenge, I see it as an opportunity that your educated population with AI can become, just think of it, a nurse here can look after a person sitting in Europe because the AI sensor would have sensed and the bot would have taken local action, and it would have popped up here, and somebody would have taken the final action. Isn't it more business and more economy opening up?

I totally, fundamentally believe the opportunity is in collaboration and coming together. And we've seen in the world geopolitics how small little organizations can become very powerful organizations because they are together. And I do believe that AI as a technology, and technology sharing and capability extension between each other, can not only bring these economies together, these economics together, will be able to weather the global geopolitics better together. I would say better together for the whole world geopolitics.