BIZ-AMBANI-ESTONIA

Industrialist Mukesh

Ambani is keen on the e-governance space and has set up a

subsidiary company in Estonia to get a grip on the solutions,

government officials of the Northwestern European nation have

said.

Ambani has formed a subsidiary with the Estonian

government's former chief information officer Taavi Kotka.

The joint venture will be looking for solutions in the

e-governance space, Viljar Lubi, vice-minister for economic

affairs and communications of Estonia, which is a European

Union member, told a group of visiting journalists recently.

He, however, did not elaborate on the exact scope of

the partnership, saying government only plays the role of a

facilitator.

A Reliance Industries spokesperson refused to share

details of the project or plan.

Multiple officials in Estonia, which is among the most

digitised countries in the world, maintained that the role of

private companies has been crucial in developing the digital

infrastructure used by all most all of its citizens.

The country claims of 99 per cent of digital

penetration.

Ambani, the richest Indian who runs the most

profitable domestic company Reliance Industries, took an

e-residency of the European nation in May this year, the

officials said.

An e-residency helps a foreigner access the EU

opportunity by helping him/her form a company, among other

benefits.

"Weve one of the founders of e-residency programmes,

Kotka, who is currently working together with Reliance and

Mukesh Ambani to digitalise India in terms of accessing

digital identity.

"That is why Ambani became an e-resident recently," a

spokesperson for Estonia's e-residency programme said.

An email sent to Reliance Industries spokesperson on

this aspect was also not answered.

Asked if Ambani has visited Estonia, Lubi declined to

comment, but named other Indian industrialists like Infosys

co-founder NR Narayana Murthy as among those who have visited

their country to have a closer look at the work on

digitisation.

Lubi said while digitisation has helped Estonia to get

connected its scattered and very low population basethe

country with a large land mass is home to only 1.4 million

citizens -- it can help India as well because it has a large

population to be reached out to.

There are just about 2,000 Indians who have opted to

become e-residents of Estonia so far, primarily to access the

business opportunity presented by the European Union.

Over half of them are freelancers, who unlike big

companies, cannot afford to set up subsidiaries in any EU

country, the official said.

An e-residency enables a person to work for EU

clientele and is lapped by startups looking for a footing in

the EU.

Lubi said Estonian journey to digitalisation started

right after regaining independence in 1991 from the erstwhile

USSR due to a resource crunch and later it discovered the

efficacy of the same as the world went digital.

At present, nearly all- - 99 per cent to be precise --

government services are digital in this country and an

Estonian gets to know who all have accessed his/her records.

If a citizen observes any activity on her information

being accessed by an unauthorised entity, including any

government department, then she can initiate legal action.

The e-residency initiative was started in 2014 as a

digital identity for foreigners.

Apart from forming a company, an e-resident can access

banking services, payment processing and also gets a digital

signature.

India ranks ninth among the list of countries from

where e-residents are coming in, but the pace of growth is

very fast, e-residency programme's managing director Kaspar

Korjus said.

The country is aiming to increase the number of

e-residents from India to 1 million by 2025, he said, pointing

out that India has over 50 million freelancers who will be

keen on such an initiative.

Korjus further said the increasing digitalisation and

improved relations between the two governments will also help

increase the number of Indians seeking e-residents in his

country.

By 2025, Tallinn is eyeing to have over 25 million

e-residents, he said, and sounded bullish about netting so

much given the rising interest in the programme.

An e-resident has to pay 100 euros monthly fee along

with an enrolment fee of 100 euros for a five-year membership,

he said.

Tallinn is looking at the programme as an initiative

to build its soft power and create "friends of Estonia" who

will be of help in a scenario of any threat the country, which

borders Russia, he said.

The e-residency programme has an annual budget of 4

million euro which it manages to net from the membership fees

now, Korjus said, adding however in the future, the government

may also look at the initiative as a revenue-generating

opportunity as well.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)