Web3, the $1 trillion opportunity: Namaste Web3 Delhi Chapter

The first panel at the event discussed all things Web3; including its potential, the problems related to it, as well as what the future holds for Web3 in India

By Shashank Bhardwaj

Published: Mar 15, 2023 06:38:08 PM IST

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The Delhi chapter of Namaste Web3 – a Web3 education initiative of CoinDCX – concluded on a high note on Saturday, March 11. The event brought together over 250+ participants, including policymakers, industry experts, Web3 entrepreneurs, Web3 professionals, Web2 professionals as well as students. The discussion and conversations echoed around the need to enhance policy cooperation and mobilising all stakeholders to leverage the $1.1 trillion opportunity that the Web3 industry presents to the Indian economy.

The first panel discussion of the event on the topic, “Web3: The $1 Trillion Opportunity,” comprised panellists such as Anna Roy, Sr. Adviser, NITI Aayog; Prashanth Swaminathan, Partner, Woodstock Fund; Srinath Sridharan, Author, Policy Researcher & Corporate Advisor; and Ajeet Khurana, Founder, Reflexical Pte Ltd.

“Numbers have their own place, but as a policy maker I am more focused on the potential of the underlying technology of Web3. Awareness and knowledge about Web3 is important,” said Anna Roy, highlighting the need to raise better awareness about Web3 among the general public. “Web3 can help us overcome our information asymmetry, and access barriers. It can help us address governance,” she added.

Prashanth Swaminathan pointed out that a lot of Web3 companies from India have moved out owing to a lack of regulatory clarity on Web3 in India. And as such, it is the need of the hour.

“I think Web3 could be 15% of India’s GDP by 2032. Today, no industry dominates India the way Web3 would do in future,” said Srinath Sridharan. However, there’s a lot of policy education that needs to be done to get rid of the popular notion today that Web3 is equal to crypto, he further emphasised.

“I love the fact that we’re talking about an enabling ecosystem,” said Ajeet Khurana, who joined through a video call all the way from Dubai. According to Ajeet, the first step should be to move out of the way and let the Web3 industry do what it wants to do. “Web3 promises to give more employment to the non-tech people as well as there’s a huge human and community dimension to Web3,” he added.

One of the key takeaways from the Namaste Web3 event in Delhi was the need for policy education and clarity on Web3 in India. The panellists emphasised that Web3 has the potential to contribute significantly to India's economy and can overcome information asymmetry and access barriers, but there is a popular notion that Web3 is only about crypto that needs to be addressed. The event highlighted the importance of creating an enabling ecosystem for the Web3 industry and allowing it to flourish.

You can watch the entire discussion here.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash