Technology – Catalyst in driving growth of the Indian industries

Recent developments in the political environment has brought about positive changes in the market and across industries. The industrial corridors are all geared up and ready to be a part of the emerging India. The world is going digital and even India has realised the important of technology adoption. 


 Indian companies have identified that new and innovative technologies can help drive performance and productivity. Emerging technologies like SMAC (Social, Mobility, Analytics, Cloud), robotics, automation, wearables (like Google glasses), big data, etc. are the concepts which are gradually finding acceptance among the Indian organisations. According to NASSCOM, the estimated market growth driven by SMAC is expected to be 30% (US$1 trillion) by 2020. These concepts are meant to redefine the paradigm of technology.  SMAC technologies with its capabilities allow users to gain real-time insights and thereby make right decisions influencing their businesses.

Technology driving growth

In a CII Industry IT Summit held in April 2015, it was asserted that technology adoption is the key to drive profitability and competitiveness. In addition to other essential factors that drive growth, technology will play a significant role. In fact it wouldn’t be wrong to say that technology is the catalyst in growth across Indian industries. Implementation of pioneering technologies, enables organisations to automate the processes. This further facilitates increase in productivity and efficiency of the manpower and processes.

In a country like India, where human resource is available in plenty and supply often exceeds than the demand, would automation be the ideal thing to implement? Wouldn’t it adversely affect the manpower? Well, the key is to create a balance between the two – automated technologies and manpower. On one hand, automation should be implemented for better returns; on the other, manpower should be upgraded and up skilled, again for improved results. Human and technologies working together in perfect balance, one can only imagine the possibilities from here!

Technology for SMEs and Startups

Yes, technology is playing a major role in every sector. Implementation of technology is aimed at redefining the rules of industries and amplifying the productivity of the individual, company, sector and the country on the whole. The key is to get these technologies to penetrate to the deeper level and enable the SMEs to benefit from it.

India is a hot bed for start-ups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). With 1.3 million SMEs, this sector provides employment to about 40 percent of country’s workforce. Like BPM sector, SME is a major provider of employment. Adoption of technology like cloud, analytics and automation among others, will help leverage the productivity and performance, which in turn will boast India’s economy growth.

The advent of affordable technologies like cloud computing and mobile has made technology more accessible and easy to use. Now, even a shop owner sitting in a tier 2 or 3 city can access the world (of information) with the help of his handheld device (tablet, mobile, etc.). He can connect with his target audience in any part of world and sell his products online, receive payment through several payment gateways. One can only imagine the possibilities from here!

In this age of mobile wallet and smart card payments, it is not very surprising that a Bangalore based eatery initiated a ‘tap and pay’ mode of payment. However, this first eatery joint, which embraced the Near Field Communications (NFC)-powered tap-and-pay service, now has increased chances of serving more customers, due to the simplification of payment process. That’s technology put to another good use!

Technology for differently abled

There’s no end to the growth of technology. One moment it appears that here we are witnessing the epitome of what state-of-the-art technology can be, the next moment, we have another breath taking invention being brought to existence. When somebody realises the need to bring technology to use to overcome challenges and explore opportunities, a new invention takes place.

Who would have thought it is because of technology that even differently abled people would be able to be a part of the ‘normal’ people?

We are aware that Bill Gates foundation has been helping in the computer education for the blind since years. More forms of technology and applications have been created to help those differently abled but skilled individuals. The list is long. Tap to text to help autistics, vOICe to help the (partially) blind see and Text-to-speech software for spastically disabled has worked wonders. Such apps and solutions allow the disabled individuals to overcome their physical and mental challenges, pursue their dreams and become a motivation for others. More than anything else, live a normal and happy life.

So what makes it important to highlight the achievements in this section? As on 2011 census, about 2.68 crore (1.5 crore males and 1.18 crore females) were tagged under the category of disabled.  The disability is majorly categorised under movement disability, hearing impaired, visually impaired and mentally challenged.  It is essential to understand that this major chunk of people are not a liability for the society. If properly trained and their skills upgraded, they can not only be employed, but also create opportunities for others. One can only imagine the ways to explore.

Technology as a catalyst

India is an emerging market and one of the major consumers of IT and ITes. However, it is only a paradox that most of the technology products are only consumed and not created here. Well, interestingly industries are realising and moving towards manufacturing of the technology products. Plans have been discussed to set up manufacturing belts in and around southern India (Hubli- Dharwad belts, etc.), which will bring in need for more employment creation. The idea here is not just to generate employment, but also to create skilled talent pool, which can help us build a competitive edge over other competing countries.

With channelized IT adoption, we can not only unlock the hidden potential but also revive industries, creating value by transformation and leverage India’s position as service provider to solutions and strategy provider.