India has seen a sharp rise in blockchain and cryptocurrency jobs this year in competition with other Industry 4.0 fields, particularly artificial intelligence (AI).

Since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2009, crypto and blockchain technology has been steadily gaining momentum in the industry. Although the pace of growth has been slow due to India not currently allowing cryptocurrency trading and its government resolving to strengthen laws against Bitcoin, the number of crypto- and blockchain-related job postings actually increased by 290% in 2017.

Moreover, distributed ledger technology (DLT) has been projected to potentially hit around US$5 billion across all sectors in India within the next five years.

As reported by OpenGov Asia, the Indian government last year launched its own blockchain initiative, known as IndiaChain, which was developed by the National Institution for Transforming India. Through the project, the government planned to more quickly enforce contracts, while preventing fraud and ensuring efficient disbursement of subsidies for the agricultural sector.

It also linked the IndiaChain initiative with IndiaStack, its identification database for the Aadhar initiative. The technology has assisted the government in reducing attempts at tax evasion by tracking taxes throughout the country via a unified and secure network.

The government more recently trialed a blockchain-backed marketplace for domestic coffee growers that helps them connect directly to buyers, thereby reducing their reliance on intermediaries.

Elsewhere in Asia, blockchain has been extensively implemented in the Philippine banking sector, with several banks investing heavily in the technology as part of efforts to boost operational efficiency and transparency through the elimination of manual processes and the reduction of transaction time for customers.

Source: opengovasia.com