ION Can Be Game Changer for Indonesia's Push Toward 8% Growth: Indian Envoy

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id -- India's ambassador to Indonesia says the Indonesia Open Network, introduced on Thursday, Feb 5, 2026 in Jakarta during the Indonesia Economic Forum 2026, could become a key lever to help the country break out of its long running 5% growth path and move toward 8% growth through more inclusive digital markets.

The Indonesia Open Network, or ION, is not a standalone app or marketplace but a form of Digital Public Infrastructure that provides shared protocols and standards for digital trade, allowing buyer apps, seller apps, and logistics providers to interoperate across platforms.

Built as a foundational digital layer for e commerce, ION decouples discovery, ordering, payments, and fulfillment so users on one application can transact with sellers on another, similar to how QRIS enables interoperable payments, lowering entry barriers for MSMEs and reducing dependence on closed platforms.

"We are at a critical point where Indonesia must move from traditional growth of around 5% toward 8%. We need leverage, and personally I believe that ION can be one of the game changers for Indonesia," Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Sandeep Chakravorty said at the Indonesia Economic Forum 2026 event in Jakarta.

The largest economy in Southeast Asia grew 5.11% in 2025, up from 5.03% a year earlier, marking its fastest annual expansion since 2022. The pace, however, still fell short of the government’s 5.2% target and remained far below President Prabowo’s 8% growth ambition.

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He stressed that without open and sufficiently large markets, businesses, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises, would struggle to generate wealth and economic surplus. "Without markets, and if you are only selling within your own neighborhood, you will never create wealth. You will not be able to generate additional surplus," Sandeep said.

He said this remained a core challenge for many Indonesian MSMEs, particularly those operating in remote regions that were productive but disconnected from wider markets. Sandeep said the experience of India's Open Network for Digital Commerce and the curtain raising of ION in Indonesia addressed this problem by opening market access beyond closed platform ecosystems and enabling direct interaction between sellers and consumers.

He placed ION within a broader global and bilateral context, noting that the concept of open networks had gained traction in international forums including the G20, BRICS, and the United Nations. According to him, the development of ION was not only significant for India Indonesia relations but also for Indonesia's long term economic trajectory.

Amid rapid advances in artificial intelligence that have fueled concerns over exclusion, Sandeep said inclusive digital networks offered a counter narrative by ensuring digital transformation benefited a broad base of economic actors. "When the narrative of concern around AI becomes stronger, the narrative of inclusive networks reassures people that someone is thinking about their interests," he said.

Sandeep also highlighted strong backing from the Indonesian government, reflected in the presence of the MSME minister, the vice minister of communications and digital, and active participation from the business community through Apindo. He said such cross stakeholder support was critical to ensure ION moved beyond concept and delivered tangible economic impact.

ION, he added, was a concrete outcome of the shared vision articulated by President Prabowo Subianto and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their state visit in January, which emphasized cooperation in digital public infrastructure, B2B digital partnerships, capacity building, and cybersecurity.

"ION is the translation of policy intent into real economic outcomes for MSMEs and communities," Sandeep said. He stressed that the initiative went beyond government to government cooperation and was designed as a people to people economic construct, using open architecture to remove barriers between buyers and sellers.

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India's experience in promoting Digital Public Infrastructure globally was also cited as a reference, including recognition of open and interoperable standards in the G20 New Delhi Leaders Declaration 2023 and the Rio Declaration 2024. Indonesia, he said, had embraced similar principles after joining BRICS, recognizing DPI as a catalyst for financial inclusion, good governance, innovation, and a counterweight to monopolistic practices.

Sandeep rejected the view that MSMEs were only a feature of developing economies, pointing to Germany where small and medium enterprises dominated business activity, employment, GDP contribution, and exports. He said this demonstrated the strategic importance of MSMEs and underscored why countries like Indonesia and India must strengthen the sector.

Sandeep said he was optimistic that as MSMEs joined ION, Indonesia would see more vibrant economic activity and a realistic opportunity to accelerate growth toward 8%. "India may have been the first to launch an open architecture for digital commerce, but I am confident that ION will be the fastest adopter," he said.