In what is seen as a big win for the Blockchain Technology, the state governments of two southern Indian states - Andhra Pradesh & Telangana have announced that they will be keen to adopt Blockchain technology in managing various aspects of governance in their respective states.
Cyber crime has got a renewed and worldwide attention in the recent past due to recent Ransomware attacks and this prompted the two progressive looking Telugu-speaking Indian states, which have been at the forefront of adopting latest technology, to announce that they are willing to move government data on to the Blockchain technology betting on the secure and distributed nature of blockchain. While Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state governments have already serious plans to move government records to Blockchain and also use the technology in aiding E-Governance, many other business-friendly Indian states like Gujarat, Maharastra & Karnataka have also begun exploring and evaluating the new technology. The initial use of this Technology will be in Hyderabad city where the Telangana govt will be using it to track Land records and also a pilot will be planned in the Civil Supplies Department.
Recently the Central Government of India's Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance in India has formed an inter-disciplinary committee to examine the framework on virtual currencies. The government also reached out to the general public and the corporates by initiating a discussion on its forum MyGov to seek public opinion on virtual currencies. It is clearly evident that despite some initial reservations, the Indian government is keen on understanding how Bitcoin works and is willing to deploy resources to build necessary frameworks in understanding and managing the Blockchain technology.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's central bank also has been conducting various evaluations on the Blockchain technology and in a research report released in Jan 2017, mentioned that Blockchain Tech can bring cost savings, efficiency, and transparency to the banking industry. Large private banks and other corporates have already made significant progress in adopting the technology in India.
This favourable view of the Indian governments and the industry signal the opening of one of the world's largest markets to the Blockchain Industry. Its going to be an exciting space to watch.