With the second largest Internet user base in the world and with Internet services embedded in numerous government initiatives, the centrality of the Internet to India’s development is well accepted. However, there has been relatively little discussion on the importance of Internet openness for enabling and sustaining such gains. This project seeks to develop the first framework for a clearer understanding of the economic value of an open Internet for India. It will also assess the role of a multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance towards enabling a free, open and secure internet. The study will attempt to value India’s Internet economy by identifying various components in India’s internet value chain, assessing the dependence of these components on Internet openness. This will involve the mapping of stakeholder perspectives on the importance of openness to the development of India’s Internet economy as well as exploring the relationship between openness and governance models through comparisons with a relatively ‘closed’ Internet. Research findings will be disseminated to inform policy making, public debates and future research.
