In the eighth edition of the ‘Government Data Roundup’, we cover the Basic Road Statistics of India, India Innovation Index 2021, Digital Banks – A Proposal for Licensing & Regulatory Regime for India, Discussion Paper on Climate Risk and Sustainable Finance, among others. Factly’s eighth edition of the Fortnightly Government Data Roundup covers the second half of the month of July 2022. Reports were released by NITI Aayog, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Publications Division of MIB released 3 books about Former Presidents of India and Flooring of Rashtrapati Bhavan On 24 July 2022, the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur released three books published by the Directorate of Publications Division. The three books are, Moods, Moments, and Memories – Former Presidents of India (1950-2017), A Visual History, First Citizen – Pictorial Record of President Ram Nath Kovind’s Term, and Interpreting Geometries – Flooring of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The first book contains a pictorial history including rare photographs of Presidents’ lives of all the Presidents of India from Dr. Rajendra Prasad to Pranab Mukherjee. The second book is dedicated to India’s former President Ram Nath Kovind. It also contains rare photographs from his village and his school days and traces his journey to become India’s 14 President. The third book is a pictorial volume that contains the historic & one-of-a-kind flooring of Rashtrapati Bhavan shown with its unique, repetitive motifs and designs & use of rare stones. These books can be purchased online. Apart from this, important reports were also released by NITI Aayog, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). India Innovation Index – 2021 Brief about the report The third edition of the India Innovation Index was released by NITI Aayog on 21 July 2022. The report is prepared by NITI Aayog and the Institute for Competitiveness. The Index is a comprehensive tool for the evaluation and development of the country’s innovation ecosystem. It ranks the states and the union territories on their innovation performance to build healthy competition amongst them. The first and second editions of the Index were launched in October 2019 and January 2021 respectively. The 2021 report is set against the backdrop of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The scope of innovation analysis has been highlighted in this report by drawing on the framework of the Global Innovation Index. The number of indicators considered for the index in the 2021 report has increased to 66 from 36 in the 2020 report. The indicators are distributed across 16 sub-pillars, which, in turn, form seven key pillars. Five ‘Enabler’ pillars measure the inputs, and two ‘Performance’ pillars measure the output. Key Highlights Significance The report examines innovation capacities and ecosystems in the country at state level and highlights the recent factors and catalysts that promoted the crisis-driven innovation in India during the pandemic. The 2021 report comes with a special section containing detailed analysis of the drivers of innovation, by evaluating the improvement in the indicators. That is, states can compare the change in their ranking and factors that influenced it against the India Innovation Index 2020. The findings and recommendations of the report also supposed to help the states identify and work on the challenges so as to improve their overall innovation ecosystem. Digital Banks – A Proposal for Licensing & Regulatory Regime for India Brief about the report The report which has been prepared by NITI Aayog based on inter-ministerial consultations, makes a case, and offers a template and roadmap for a Digital bank licensing and regulatory framework in India. It focuses on avoiding any regulatory or policy arbitrage and offers a level playing field to incumbents as well as competitors. Last year, NITI Aayog had released a discussion paper on the subject for wider stakeholder consultations. Comments received from 24 organizations were examined and have been addressed in the final report. Key Highlights Significance In the past few years, there has been a significant shift in using internet and technology in the banking sector. Financial inclusion has improved with the advent of UPI, DBT, etc. However, the success on the payments front has not yet reached the credit needs of its micro, small and medium businesses. The current credit gap and the business and policy constraints reveal a need for leveraging technology effectively to cater to these needs and bring the under-served groups further within the formal financial fold.