- Tuesday, March 04, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has praised India on his official blog GatesNotes over its “amazing ability to manufacture lots of safe, effective, and affordable vaccines, some of them supported by the Gates Foundation” and said they saved millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic besides preventing other diseases across the globe.
Gates’s words came after he met prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday (3) and spoke with the latter about the “innovative work” which is being carried out in India in the health sector and other issues such as climate change, India’s G20 presidency and others.
Sharing other highlights of the meeting, the 67-year-old entrepreneur wrote in his blog that besides producing lifesaving tools, India also does well in delivering them as the country’s public health system has provided over 2.2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines through Co-Win, an open source platform which helped people in scheduling billions of vaccine appointments and gave digital certificates to those who got the shot.
“Prime minister Modi believes that Co-WIN is a model for the world, and I agree,” Gates added.
He also praised the south Asian nation for embracing digital payments during the pandemic.
At least 300 million people, including 200 million women, received emergency digital payments, Gates added.
“This was only possible because India has made financial inclusion a priority, investing in a digital ID system (called Aadhaar) and creating innovative platforms for digital banking. It’s a reminder that financial inclusion is a fantastic investment,” he said.
The American investor also lauded India’s Gati Shakti programme as a “great example of how digital technology can help governments work better”.
“It digitally connects 16 ministries, including rail and roads, so they can integrate their plans for infrastructure projects and accelerate the work of Indian scientists and engineers,” he said.
Speaking on India’s G20 presidency, Gates said it was an excellent opportunity to highlight how innovations developed in the country can come to the world’s benefit, and to help other nations adopt them.
In conclusion, Gates said that he felt “more optimistic than ever about the progress that India is making in health, development, and climate”.
He said the country is showing what is possible when investment is done in innovation. He hoped India would continue with its progress and share its innovations with the entire world.
