Today, India is on the threshold of enormous socio-economic transformation, typified by rapid growth. The government of India has made a quantum leap in its digital metamorphosis, by partnering with private players to create connected solutions that enhance social, environmental, and economic values for its citizens.
India is among the top three global economies in terms of the number of digital consumers and the progress the country has made towards being digitally competitive. Poised to become a country with a billion digital users by 2030, India will create more value by nurturing new and emerging digital ecosystems in key sectors such as education, financial services, manufacturing, energy, urban development, and healthcare.
Progressive government policies are an impetus for technological and infrastructural development, The government’s inclusive e-Governance and Digital India initiatives have triggered a process of optimal accountability and accessibility by bringing multiple essential services closer to millions of people, empowering them, and improving their quality of life.
Transforming the citizen lifecycle through Connected Citizen Ecosystem solutions, including e-Governance across domains such as e-Education, e-Healthcare, agriculture, and more, is a priority. It is a conducive environment for businesses to come forward and partner with the government to power good and co-create connected solutions. Social innovation business solutions that blend advanced OT (operational technology) and IT (information technology) will usher in a new era of advancement. As NITI Aayog states in its vision document, ‘Strategy for India @75’, sector-specific technology and innovations will be critical drivers of economic growth, citizen welfare, and governance enhancement. A deeper look at some key sectors provide insight into how social business solutions using advanced technologies are introducing incremental value:
Cash and Digital – An economy in transit: While cash will remain the favored mode of transactions, particularly in semi-urban and rural India, digital payments are fast gaining preference. This ostensibly started with the government’s demonetization initiative, to the subsequent introduction of UPI and other payment solutions. Backed by OT and IT, Artificial Intelligence, and advanced Data Analytics, India’s payment infrastructure is progressing steadily.
In February 2021, the RBI issued new guidelines for digital payment security controls. These rules will have implications for not only regulated banks but also third-party payment applications such as Google Pay, WhatsApp Pay, and PhonePe, on how they interact with their banking partners and store customer data.
With increasing digital financial literacy, improved security, and more ATMs reaching semi-urban and rural areas, Indians across the entire socio-economic spectrum will have multiple options to choose from.
Technology poised to transform education: Delivery of education is a sector where the government is ushering through unprecedented changes. Technology is being utilized to facilitate real-time tracking of student’s holistic development, so that necessary support can be initiated whenever needed.
The government is leveraging rapid digitalization to achieve the transformation in the education system, supporting the structured knowledge base for children, from an early age. According to recent estimates, India has the largest population in the age group of 5-24 years with over 250 million school-going students, who will need to integrate into the future workforce. Enterprises have partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation to support the Skill India Mission and with Niti Aayog to support the Atal Innovation Mission, thus empowering young India, for a better tomorrow.
Under the New Education Policy 2020 (NEP), the Indian government aims to bridge social gaps in participation, access, and learning outcomes in education, with a target of 100 percent Gross Enrolment Ratio (GEER) or zero school dropouts, by 2030. Given the emergence of digital technologies, this policy recommends key initiatives like conducting pilot studies for online education, furthering digital infrastructure, developing online teaching platforms and tools, in addition to addressing the digital divide via virtual labs, and providing training and incentives for teachers.
Social innovation will drive the new era in manufacturing: India is already embracing emerging technologies in manufacturing. Social innovation that fuses OT with IT, is bound to further revolutionize the sector, through the application of advanced technologies, including those associated with the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and AI. The Indian government recently approved a 12,195 crore[3], Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom gear manufacturing in India. A move that will position the nation as a global powerhouse to produce such equipment, ahead of 5G rollouts. The PLI scheme operational from April 1, 2021 is expected to bring investments of over Rs 3,000 crore.
Towards greener, safer, and smarter living: By 2050 India’s population is expected to grow to 1.7 billion, adding 900 million people to cities. This implies that urban infrastructure needs to grow by 400% to keep pace with demand. The government’s thrust on Digital India and Make in India initiatives are moving the predominantly agrarian economy into an IT-based industrial and commercial one. The country needs to build sustainable urban infrastructure that promotes greener, safer, and smarter living.
In a recent budget speech, the Finance Minister indicated that in order to boost urban infrastructure, MetroLite and Metro, New technologies will be deployed to provide metro rail systems in tier two cities and the peripheral areas of tier-one cities, while bringing in cost efficiencies. This would ensure last mile connectivity for millions of people travelling through these modes of transportation.
To enable safer and comfortable inter-city travel, we require advanced solutions for railway rolling stock design and manufacture, operations management, monitoring and control, information services, and maintenance. This is in addition to road and airport management and control. Additionally, EV (electric vehicle) technologies will help realize a more environmentally sustainable mode of transportation.
Preserving precious resources, creating sustainable solutions: Climate change with unpredictable rainfall has led to inequitable distribution of water in the country. Considering that 67% of Indians live in rural areas with agriculture being their primary earning mode and with low awareness on how to utilize water optimally, it is critical that technologies for efficient water management and supply systems are brought into play for long-term sustainability.
We need sustainable energy solutions that generate cleaner power from low-polluting recyclable resources. Natural gas is a low polluting urban utility but there is a critical need for an efficient gas distribution network to meet the demands of expanding domestic, commercial, and industrial sectors.
Businesses need to promote the essential criteria of availability, affordability, reliability, and quality of electricity supply, which are fundamental pillars for successfully achieving the Power for All initiative envisioned by the Government.
Future tech, building bridges between the real and virtual world: IoT has accelerated co-creation between companies and helped create new value. However, to fully leverage the vast potential of IoT, data processing must go beyond cyberspace. New and innovative services in the world will depend on our ability to combine data with physical operations. Robotics will take center stage moving forward, as it becomes a bridge between the two spheres. Through Social Innovation, by integrating robots with IoT platforms, and using technologies in social infrastructures, we can introduce new efficiencies.
Interestingly, the central cabinet recently announced multiple initiatives including the setting up of 10 biotech URJIT (University Research Joint Industry Translational) clusters to synergize resources between research labs and industries, forming umbrella structures in nine cities for better coordination among R&D institutions and focusing on identified national priority thrust areas, under the National Research Foundation (NRF).
As enterprises and the government join hands for long-term, social sustainability we anticipate evolutionary and forward-looking solutions being introduced, constructed on the principles of Information, Interaction, Transaction, and Transformation. Technology will evolve and the use cases that we can derive for them are perhaps yet unthought of. It will underpin most solutions that are designed for a connected citizen lifecycle ecosystem.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
