Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations are currently underway.
E-commerce is expected to be an important issue of discussion.
What is the role of digital intelligence in this?
E-commerce continues to be a misnomer in the discussions.
What is actually under discussion is placing limitations on digital policymaking by any country in the name of promoting e-commerce.
Unlike other issues, there is lack of understanding with regards to the real nature of the digital issues involved and the relevant policy requirements.
There is no single thing as “data” or its global flows to negotiate about.
Instead, there are different kinds of digital services such as banking, retailing, the defence forces, public services, health and education services, etc.
Instead of seeing it as a global flow of data, one must see it as a global flow of intelligence.
So there should be negotiations about digital services in global trade talks.
What is the future of digital intelligence?
Digital intelligence is going to be by far the single most important economic resource.
e.g Artificial Intelligence (AI) is recently named as a new factor of production, along with capital and labour.
Countries will be forced to negotiate economically with other countries that supply most of their AI software.
Such economic arrangements would reshape today’s geopolitical alliances.
There is a possibility of every sector getting organised around a very few centres of sectoral digital intelligence resulting in global consolidation in every sector.
What is the way forward?
India is still lethargic about the current transformations in the IT sector that are taking place along with unprecedented job losses.
India should track the inflow and outflow of digital intelligence and apprehend the changes in trends.
Following this India must device a digital industrialisation strategy that ensures that the immense value arising from digitally-induced efficiencies in every sector is retained within India to its advantage.
This requires an independent digital policy by India to ensure its place in the global platform in future.
India should keep these developments in mind in negotiations with countries pushing for predatory global digital business.
