Digital asset economy’s value to India’s GDP will grow at 43.1% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from $5.1 billion in 2021 to $261.8 billion over an 11-year period, resulting in a $1.1 trillion contribution to the country’s economy, according to a report by crypto exchange, CrossTower, and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).
As per the report, digital asset market capitalization was about $1.5 billion in 2013 and the market capitalization is at nearly $3.0 trillion today.
The report, titled “India’s $1.1 trillion Digital Asset Opportunity”, also highlighted that the adoption rate of digital assets—as reflected by accounts opened on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges—is growing nearly twice as fast as that of the Internet. It took the Internet approximately 7.5 years to go from around 100 million users to one billion users. The same growth at cryptocurrency exchanges will take about four years, the report added showed.
Dr Mukesh Aghi, president and chief executive officer of USISPF, said, “India is poised for growth to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Digital assets are expected to have tremendous potential in the next 11 years across countries, due to their rapid adoption. They are expected to help India achieve the GDP of $5 trillion economy.”
The research reports also highlighted the sectors that blockchain technology has the potential to contribute to and transform. First, government-related blockchain projects are estimated to drive close to $0.1 billion of GDP to India in 2021, ramping up to USD 5.1 billion in 2032. Second, digital identity could contribute $8.2 billion to India’s GDP in 2032. Third, payments and remittances projects can contribute nearly $21.7 billion to India’s GDP in 2032, as blockchain drives efficiencies for payments.
As per the report, Web 3.0 can drive $1.1 trillion economic growth for India over these 11 years, but only with the right policies and regulatory framework. The global financial services market is estimated to be over $22 trillion in 2021 and will grow to over $28 trillion by 2025.
Kapil Rathi, co-founder and chief executive officer of CrossTower, said, “Data shows that the citizens of India tend to be natural visionaries and with Web 3.0, India has the opportunity to harness its core resources—its technologically savvy youth—to be a global leader in digital assets and Web 3.0. With the right policies and regulatory framework, India’s regulators can bring safety, combined with hope and prosperity to India.”
From digital art to ticket sales, music, collectibles, luxury items and gaming, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are transforming the way people interact day-to-day. While still nascent, NFTs are projected to emerge into a market of $1 trillion or more, the report noted. (live mint)
