Digital Revolution in India
The world is changing. If what experts around the world are saying is true, we are in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution. Commonly referred to as Industry 4.0, this revolution is the transformation of manufacturing, production, banking, energy, and many other value creation processes to a digital medium aka digital revolution. The Internet, Robotics and AI are some of the wheels driving this change.
Industry 4.0 is set to change not just the industrial sector but also individual lifestyles dramatically. The ways, in which we live, engage with art, communicate, conduct monetary transactions, eat, commute, access healthcare, and much more. The onset of this digitization is already being felt by many if not all and at the heart of this revolution, is India.
Watch our short interview of ex-Infosys director, Padma Shree Mohan Das Pai and his take on India’s Digital Revolution:
There are numerous reasons why India is at the crux of the Digital Revolution. Let’s have a look at some of them:
Internet Penetration and Usage: Key to Digital Revolution in India
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, as of December 2019, there were 718.74 million Internet subscribers in India. This makes India the second-largest digital market in the world, second only to China. In a span of just three years (2014-2017) the number of Internet users in India doubled!
This rise in Internet usage is as a result of the dropping costs of smartphones and Internet data. Additionally, the public and private sectors are fluidly collaborating to catalyze India’s digital revolution.
Digitization of the Public Sector
The Indian government’s flagship Digital India Program that was launched in 2015 has started various ambitious projects and has had far-reaching effects. Schemes like BharatNet has connected 129,000 gram panchayats, India’s formalized, rural self-governing bodies, with optic fiber Internet. Aadhaar, the world’s largest biometric ID system (referred to as, “the most sophisticated ID program in the world” by the former chief economist of the World Bank) has registered 1.26 billion people. This ID can be linked to digitally open bank accounts and acquire SIM cards.
Young Digital India
India is also one of the youngest populations in the world, with a median age of only 28 as compared to 38 in the USA and China. This favorable demographic dividend in conjunction with highly skilled individuals means young India is primed for a digital revolution.
Globally, India ranked second in-app downloads, with a whopping 19 billion downloads in 2019. To complement this, India has a booming start-up culture. In 2019 alone, 1300 tech start-ups were born in India implying the inception of 3 or 4 technology start-ups daily!
Rapid Digital Innovations in the Private Sector
The use of apps is booming in rural as well as urban India, be it booking bus, train, air tickets, taxi services, ordering food or groceries, shopping, fitness, entertainment, logistics, creativity, events, enterprise collaboration, etc. Indians are one of the front-runners in developing and using these apps. The public sector is not to be left behind; the Government of India in April 2016 launched the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). UPI is a service that allows instant transfer of funds between two banks on a mobile platform. Between its inception in April 2016 and September 2019, UPI facilitated the transfer of US$240 billion.
This ubiquitous digital service is changing the way India conducts its business. From the biggest marketplaces online to the smallest shops in remote villages, digital payments have become a norm.
Diversified Potential
Apart from the US$180 billion IT industry- a more conventional idea of Industry 4.0, agriculture, education, and healthcare are other avenues in which digitization has massive potential in India. From e-profiling soil health to cloud-based distance learning, digital consultations for patients in remote villages to blended learning techniques over the Internet.
Read about the pros and cons of increased digitization in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis
India is a fertile ground for the roots of the digital revolution to grow. The Internet and digitization have already created drastic changes in the world, but perhaps even bigger changes lie further in the future. India is keenly transforming itself to take center-stage in Industry 4.0 and give rise to a dynamic and digitally diverse economy.
To learn more about this magnificent country, head on over to Mastering India. Our learning hub offers a blended technique of learning. We combine online courses, events, and sensory experiences. Our goal is to build awareness about India and help learners unlock the massive opportunities that reside within.
- Published in Blogs
National Technology Day: One step for IT company policy, a giant leap for overall benefits
Author: Shruti Rao
As the whole world is getting used to life in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic some of the biggest information technology companies made a welcome announcement. In the last week of April 2020 companies like Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and TCS announced that they will have 75-90% of their staff working from home permanently. This was followed by Facebook announcing that it would let its employees work from home for one year and Google announcing its employees will be allowed to work from home until the end of 2020.
Watch: The First Indian $100 Bn Company is a Software Giant
Different parts of the world have responded to the work from home option with their own set of challenges. For example, a study conducted by an Argentinian based public policy think-tank surveyed 250 firms in Argentina and found 93% of them had switched to teleworking. Another study by Baldwin, R and B Weder di Mauro on ‘Economics in the time of COVID-19’ revealed that while 96% of top executives in Japan understood the necessity for work from home only 31% managed to adopt teleworking because there are no clear rules of teleworking in Japan as yet.
It is presumed that workers in developed countries would be able to adopt a teleworking lifestyle more easily than in a developing nation due to infrastructure and other technological advancements and the culture that puts emphasis on work-life balance. So where does India fall with tech giants such as Infosys, TCS, etc adopting the same policy?
On this National Technology Day, let us have a look at the pros and cons of how the digital transformation of the information communication technology companies in India will affect the workforce and the economy.
Starting with the positives, the work from home policy has many benefits not only for the workforce but also on the environmental issues that India faces:
1. Work-Life Balance:
Right off the bat, it is pertinent to address India’s work culture, which often gets a bad reputation with the long-work hours and terrible commuting times. A study by MoveInSync says that Indians on average spend a minimum of 2 hours in traffic every day to commute to and from work, this makes up for 7% of their day. In the past, there have been calls for including the commute time into the work hours as well. By working from home, it will not only ensure that employees will have that extra hour to spend on their families, and health, giving them an overall sense of well-being.
2. More Women in the Workforce
A lot of women for a long time now have had to quit the workforce to tend to families. This has curtailed their career progression. So women who are looking to re-join will have more flexible options. JobsForHer, a job search portal catering to women, saw more companies open up roles that were not previously open to women in the month of March 2020 as compared to the pre-COVID times. The work from home policy would be a step in the right direction to close the gender gap at the workplace
3. Environmental Benefits:
As mentioned above, millions of workers commute for 2 hours on average to and from work daily. A work from home policy could benefit the environment as well, as it would reduce the amount of toxic pollution being let out every day by vehicles, reduce the sound pollution and also help metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore with terrible traffic woes to ease their traffic during rush hour. It would also improve the health of workers as they would not be inhaling toxic fumes during this traffic any more.
4. Boost in 5G adoption at home
India is at the cusp of adopting 5G technology, a work from home policy may lead to a surge in demand for home connections for this technology. Manish Vyas, CEO, Network, Tech Mahindra shared recently that telecom companies will have to look for a product mix that will fulfill the growing digitization needs in India. This would be a boost to the telecom industry.
5. Minimizing fixed costs
From a business point of view, it would certainly reduce some of the fixed costs such as rents, utilities, maintenance, etc, for businesses should they cut back on the number of employees who need to come into work. This would help companies manage their finances in the post-COVID economy.
Watch: Digital Revolution in India
While the benefits seem too good to be true, the Indian economy also will come with its own set of challenges as this policy is adopted:
1. A decrease in employment opportunities for staff
A lot of manpower is required to maintain traditional offices and therefore generates a lot of employment. If businesses start shutting down large offices and move to smaller spaces, India will need to have a plan B for critical staff that is employed to keep the offices smoothly functioning every day.
2. Real Estate Sector
A majority of income in real estate is generated from the commercial real estate sector. With companies cutting back on office space the commercial real estate sector will have to find innovative ways to keep up in the race. Most employees like working from home, but most of them also like coming into work. The real estate market will have to innovate and find flexible solutions for companies to cater to the new trends in the workplace
2. Impact on the Telecommunication sector
While it is exciting to think about the adoption of the upcoming 5G technology, it would be important to also think about the burden that might fall on the telecommunication industry in India. Quality of service would be very important to deliver if the workplace shifts to home. The existing infrastructure in India for the information communication technology in India is inadequate and will have to be revamped to ensure a smooth transition from a traditional workplace to working from home.
Theoretically speaking, the pros seem to definitely outweigh the cons. However, only time passes by will we know how the effectiveness of this new policy being adopted by the information technology companies. However, until then it is exciting to think of the upcoming possibilities at a personal, professional, and environmental front.
Mastering India focuses on blending various methods of learning (blended learning) through its online courses, events, and travel-based experiences. We give you an insight into the rich culture and heritage of the world’s biggest democracy – India. At Mastering India we are driven towards building awareness around India and help you understand the growth opportunities in this country.
- Published in Blogs