Transformation of India as connected nation through digital technology: Siddharth Mehta

Siddharth Mehta, Religare, former director shared a strong intuition about India where he says that India is one of the largest and fastest growing digital marketplaces because to its more than 500 million internet users. Additionally, there is a chance that by 2025, the nation will be "fully linked."

The customer, small company, government, workforce, farmers, and other groups all benefit economically from this digital transition by creating huge opportunities.

Adding to his concern about the progress of India in digitalization Siddharth Mehta, former director of Religare says, Digital transformation in India is rapidly growing its pace very few sectors are sluggish in adapting it. However, in the upcoming years, many industries can experience a proliferation of innovative digital business models.

Digital communication services, electronics manufacturing, and IT and business process management (IT-BPM) are predicted to grow from $355 billion to $435 billion by 2025.

During the same time span, industries including agriculture, education, energy, financial services, healthcare, logistics, and retail may potentially add $10 billion to $150 billion to the global economy.

Between 60 and 65 million employments will be created by this economic tsunami, however some existing functions may be lost and redeployment may be required.

Businesses must create new ways to interact with consumers in order to thrive in a connected society, whether they are in precision agriculture or digital logistics management.

One of the greatest internet user populations worldwide is found in India. India is digitizing faster than many developed and emerging countries, with more than 40% (560 million people) of the population having an internet subscription as of September last year.

In 2018, more than 12.3 billion applications were downloaded by Indians. China is the only other country on earth to surpass that total. Additionally, the average Indian user logs on for up to 17 hours each week, which is greater than either Chinese or American users. 

The quick growth has been facilitated by government policies. With coverage close to 80%, the government's Jan-Dhan Yojana mass financial inclusion initiative increased the number of mobile phone accounts by 332 million and nearly quadrupled the proportion of Indian adults who had a digital financial account.

Online usage is becoming more widely available thanks to private-sector innovation. Programs like Reliance Jio's, which bundle inexpensive devices with mobile service subscriptions, have spurred innovation and increased price competition in the industry.

This has helped down data prices by more than 95% since 2013; the price of 1 GB dropped from 9.8% of monthly GDP per capita in 2013 (about $12.45) to 0.37% in 2017. Between 2014 and 2017, the average fixed-line download speed tripled. Due to this, monthly mobile data use per user has increased by 152% yearly. These rates are more than twice as high as those in China and the US.