Need to think of data as infrastructure: CEA

New Delhi: Data should be thought of as infrastructure that must be invested upon like highways and airports, Chief Economic Advisor K V Subramanian said on Tuesday. Addressing a virtual event here, Subramanian said it is not just ease of doing business, but also ease of living that has to be enhanced using data.

"We need to think of data as a public good... data should be thought of as infrastructure that must be invested upon, much like highways, airports etc," he said.

"Large scale data has to be extracted without violating any privacy laws. Data must provide a 360 degree view of an individual," he added.


Subramanian further said data can be used in areas like agriculture, manufacturing, behavioural economics and MSME sector for improving productivity.

" I am extremely bullish on the startup economy for enabling ease of living," he said, adding that India has the second largest startup ecosystem in the world.

Subramanian pointed out that there is ample amount of data, especially administrative data, for use by startups.