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How big is the present market of digital signature?
Though this facility was introduced in India almost eight years ago, it is
only in the last three years that it has started getting traction in the market.
In all these years, it has attracted around 1 mn users, but with the increased
adoption of the product in government departments, it is expected to add another
mn in just a couple of years time. In fact, riding on the UID wave, digital
signature can easily cross the bn mark by 2010.
What are the factors inhibiting the acceptance of this technology?
There has been great advancement in the country in terms of Internet
penetration, but when it comes to Internet banking, it is still in the nascent
stage. I believe, even today, 90% of the banks would not have proper online
banking facility in place, which is a big hindrance in the acceptance of this
technology. Therefore, the banks need to not only gear up on that front, but
also adopt a proactive approach by streamlining their transactions with this
service.
As far as the digital signature is concerned, business model is the
second-most and biggest factor (affecting its popularity). At present, the
incidence of cost involved in operation and management of digital signature
falls on the individual, making it a priced affair. We need to change this
entire business model by shifting this entire cost incurred in the operation,
from individuals to the beneficiaries.
In Europe, for example, the bank (beneficiary) pays for the cost incurred in
the entire operation and does not shift the burden of cost on the customers. Our
banking system is yet to evolve to that level and till that happens, the end
customers will have no way than pay for the cost by themselves.
This is a very important factor and the government should rope in with
policies or any other method to change the business model. Because then everyone
one would like to graduate to that level of online security, which comes for
almost zero cost.
Last year, 3i Infotech rolled out its product offering for digital
signature called eMudra. Can you tell us something about it?
We launched eMudhra Digital Signatures in November last year. It has been
granted license by the Controller of Certifying Authorities, Department of
Information Technology in the Ministry of Communications & Information
Technology, Government of India, for offering digital signatures to retail
consumers.
These are powered by public key infrastructure (PKI) technology, widely
recognized as the best practice for ensuring digital accountability for
electronic transactions. It can be used for online banking, credit card or loan
application (origination), other instructions like ECS mandate, online trading,
online trading origination, insurance origination/claims, e-commerce, e-tender,
e-procurement and e-governance.
Akanksha Prasad/CIOL
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in
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