UNGA president Dennis Francis praises India for lifting 800 million people out of poverty in last five years by ensuring use of smartphones

"Digitalisation provides the basis for rapid development (of a country). Take, for example, the case of India. India has been able to lift 800 million people out of poverty over the past five to six years simply by the use of smartphones," Francis said at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on the topic of 'Accelerating progress towards Zero Hunger for the current and future generations' as quoted by India Today.

Highlighting the penetration of the internet in India as a major factor, he said: "Rural farmers in India who never had a relationship with the banking system, are now able to transact all their businesses on their smartphone."

"They pay their bills and receive payments for orders. There is a high level of internet penetration in India as almost everyone has a cellphone," he said.

He said the situation is not the same in many section of Global South.

"There has to be some effort and initiatives to address this inequality as an initial step in negotiating the global framework for digitalisation," he said.