Widespread Tech Adoption Bodes Well for India’s Digitally Connected Future
From public consumption to business applications, digital solutions are becoming the focal point of the day-to-day home and work life in India. Over the last few years, the nation’s digital consumer market has rapidly become one of the largest and fastest growing, boasting more internet users than anywhere in the world bar China. Although the digital revolution was already well underway across the subcontinent, the publication of ‘Digital India: Technology to transform a connected nation’ in early 2019 highlights just how far India has come on the digital technologies front in such a short space of time.
Making the casual use of technology commonplace was an important first step, one made possible by widespread smartphone adoption and low data costs, with the next major leap being digitisation in all businesses and sectors. The population is increasingly connected but, as noted by website Asia House, digital adoption among Indian businesses remains uneven across all sectors. The current and future size of the market hasn’t been missed by local industries either, with sectors like IT becoming more and more focussed on Indian consumption as opposed to potential overseas business.
So, how has India rather suddenly aligned itself as a leading nation for technology adoption, and what does this mean for Indian businesses as we move forward into a more connected and digitised future?
Public adoption and application has been pivotal
Perhaps the most integral device to the surge in digital technologies adoption in India has been the smartphone. These convenient, well-connected, and powerful tools have very quickly become widespread across the vast country. Figures from 2017 indicated that the number of smartphone users was expected to climb by 84 percent to 859 million users by 2022 – and yet that may prove to be an underestimate in a nation of over 1.35 billion people. The tremendous rate of adoption has invited businesses from overseas to look to India as a viable market, with local companies now needing to consider the mobile platform as a critical method of connecting to users.
As has proven to be the case in any country where video games aren’t overly common but smartphone use has seen a stark rise, the public of India has quickly taken to the many gaming entertainment options suddenly opened to them via mobile devices. One of the most influential factors behind this is the age of the populace. Around 50 percent is under 25 years old, while 65 percent is under 35 years old. This makes the market ripe for digital product adoption, with younger demographics generally having more disposable income and an affinity for tech trends.
This is why tech-driven platforms for entertainment have been able to win over India so quickly. PUBG Mobile is the most obvious example of a digital offering reaping the benefits of a connected and tech-savvy Indian market. However, the spread goes much further than just one mobile app game. The sheer volume of Indian users looking for online-based entertainment has brought gambling platform reviewers like Asia Bet into the fold, with them grading sites based on their welcome bonuses, range of live casino games, and offering to the specific Indian market. Furthermore, the convenience of smartphones is also being explored beyond entertainment, with aspects like digital payments picking up momentum. In this field, Paytm and PhonePe are currently dominant in the country, with more and more brands, including Google Pay, increasingly investing resources into the Indian market.
Digital expansion in Indian business
India has proven to be willing and able to adopt and use the latest technologies quickly. The digital landscape has been built for consumers seeking to capitalise on the opportunities offered by accessible technology like smartphones, with the focus now able to extend outwards to local businesses.
As India seeks to further the use of digital technologies, businesses are now able to focus on what they can do to better their appeal to the vast and open-minded local market. This doesn’t just mean bringing in tech companies from overseas to build solutions for Indian businesses, however, as the rise in the availability of digital technology has and will continue to lead to local innovations. For example, Startup of the Year 2017 winner A-Team India aims to disrupt the IT industry with shrewd new tech solutions, such as their time-saving toolkits.
Several technologies are earmarked as increasing in adoption in the near future across the enterprise scene in India. Perhaps the most likely to make waves as adoption increases are voice-over-IP technologies, with widespread internet connectivity and a willingness to embrace digital communications paving the way for VoIP to become very popular in business circles. From there, video and voice communications will grow as go-to methods of communicating with people off-site and from other businesses.
Indian customers and Indian businesses are all looking to new-world technologies moving forward, while the casual adoption of key digital technologies is making the transition on the business front much more natural and forthcoming.