Economic Opportunities Presented By NFTS, But A Clear Policy Needs To Be Developed By India

2021 was a year marked by the growing popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFT), and Indian brands too joined the NFT craze. Along with international celebrities, Indian celebrities launched their digital collectibles or joined the NFT bandwagon.

An NFT is a one-of-a-kind digital code stored on a distributed or digital ledger blockchain. Simply put, NFTs are digital representations of ownership recorded on a blockchain. An NFT could represent a valuable digital or physical asset. As the name implies, these are non-fungible, and this property serves as its foundation.

According to market data tracker DappRadar data analytics, NFT sales will reach $25 billion in 2021, fueled by the crypto asset surge and rising interest from celebrities and tech evangelists worldwide.

Given India’s digital success story, the nation is well-placed to emerge as the NFT market leader. India is home to approximately 11 NFT companies, following the United States and Singapore.

India is a major creative player with a burgeoning talent pool and a youthful population. The NFTs offers an enormous chance to take advantage of this possibility and the much-needed scope for artists/creators to highlight their talent to a much wider audience digitally.

Because of their distinguishing characteristics, NFTs can be used as a digital ownership record for authenticating ownership of both digital and physical assets. NFTs can be awarded without monetary considerations, or they can be purchased and sold using cryptocurrencies or even fiat currencies.

NFTs, as well as cryptocurrencies, are based on blockchain technology. While cryptocurrency is exchangeable, meaning that one bitcoin is identical to every other bitcoin (similar to cash in a pocket), NFTs are ‘non-fungible,’ meaning that one piece cannot be swapped for another.

NFTs have a more comprehensive range of applications and provide economic potential. NFTS can be utilized as a fan engagement tool, and institutions with a large fan base can generate newer economic routes in digital and virtual environments such as Metaverse. NFTs may also be utilized for marketing and CSR purposes.

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This allows brands to engage consumers in social impact initiatives while increasing brand CSR initiatives’ transparency. 

Furthermore, software firms have begun to provide businesses with a means to generate and issue NFTs and transform them into potential marketing tools.

South Korea is also using NFTs as academic certificates, with the Hoseo University issuing NFT token degrees and certificates to all 2,830 graduates of this year’s batch. The university anticipates expanding coverage to administrative functions, decreasing academic fraud, and increasing confidence in hiring international students.

NFTs such as digital tickets and digital loyalty programs in sports, movies, and music possess the potential to develop new digital economies over physical, digital, and VR (virtual reality) contexts. In contrast, airlines, hotels, and the hospitality sector that have historically built loyalty and coalition loyalty programs have the potential to scale these programs. The benefits of NFT-based loyalty programs will be extended to the masses as operating costs are reduced.

Many artists worldwide are converting their art to NFTs, including musicians, photographers, digital artists, and painters, to gain control over their audience. Many artisans and artists in India can discover the actual value of their work by converting it into NFTs.

NFTs also promote virtual fashion by allowing NFT owners to personalize their digital orders, allowing customers to personalize their products as one-of-a-kind items. Such innovations in the space will also be a significant source of job creation.

The ownership of an NFT gives the owner control over their work; unless such rights have been transferred, copyright remains primarily with the creator. As a result, a significant amount of copyright and intellectual property is involved.

Web3 is expected to be the Internet’s most significant technological transition in the coming decade. This will be a significant job creation chance for India’s software, digital, and related industries. 

The NFTs will be the commerce backbone of Web3, and policies to support them are essential.

NFTs are more like intellectual property and copyrighted products, and this distinction must be made. As a result, NFTs must be examined and treated differently in taxation, much like intellectual property or copyright. This will create jobs, bring business to India, and harness digital creativity, which will help the government’s Digital India mission.

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