The economic value of digital trade in India, including exports, has the potential of growing 14 times to $512 billion from $35 billion by 2030 if cross-border data flows and storage are fully facilitated, as per a research carried out by the All India Management Association and the Hinrich Foundation.

To maximise the positive impact of digital trade, issues such as undue red tape on digital enterprises, restricting cross-border data flows, and providing imbalanced copyright and intermediate liability regulations, need to be addressed, said the report titled ‘The Data Opportunity: The promise of digital trade’. “There is the opportunity for India to play a leading role, not only at home, but also abroad in pushing for facilitative digital trade rules in its various bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations,” it said.

Good regulatory frameworks are essential to address issues such as privacy and cybersecurity, but many countries are adopting digital trade rules that could undermine the digital trade opportunity for India, it cautioned.

The export value of virtual goods and services enabled by the digital economy, such as e-commerce, account for $58 billion today, making it India’s second largest export sector. To maintain and even enhance this strong performance, India’s strategy must be supported by greater cross-border data exchanges, processing and storage, it said.

In such a scenario, it is estimated that India’s digital exports could grow by 238 per cent from today’s levels to touch $197 billion.