‘Digitisation of the economy, a threat to security and privacy’

At a time when the Indian government has been going gung ho over digital payments in a bid to move towards a “cashless” economy, Supachai Panitchpakdi, former Secretary General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Thailand, feels that digitisation of the economy could be a threat to security and privacy.

According to Panitchpakdi digital companies were taking control over global economy. The platform provided by digital companies was not merely limited to commerce but has expanded to areas such as logistics, finance, payments among others.

“Digital companies have now expanded to cover a large part of the economy without any governance. Digital companies are taking over control over global economy, which is a concern,” he said at the Horasis Asia Meeting, co hosted by West Bengal government and Indian Chamber of Commerce.

He further expressed concern over the “proliferation of Chinese companies” in the “digital space” in Asia and South East Asia in particular. “They are buying up production, trading units, inventories and others in Asia, particularly in South East Asia,” he said.

Advocating the need to bring in greater governance and monitoring on digital companies, he said, regulatory guidelines need to be put in place to ensure that it does not lead to threat to security and privacy.

Asian countries, Panitchpakdi said, have been going for “cash less” economy or “less cash” economy thereby promoting easy consumption. “Too much focus on consumption could lead to disruption.”

When asked about thrust on digital economy being given by the Indian government, he said, “I think India needs more saving than consumption. Cash-less society must make people understand that consumptions have to be well planned.”

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