While we are still in the nascent stages of adoption, we believe the IoT opportunity for Industrials could amount to $2 trillion by 2020. The IoT has the potential to impact everything from new product opportunities, to shop floor optimization, to factory worker efficiency gains that will power top-line and bottom-line gains.” — Goldman Sachs, in its report The Internet of Things: The Next Mega-Trend
A smart refrigerator that reminds you to restock your pantry, and orders the everyday necessities from your nearby supermarket. A smart wearable for the elderly, which keeps them on track for their doctor’s appointments, refills their medications and pays heed to their vital health statistics.
The above examples may just be the most basic devices that can explain the functioning of IoT best. But the scope of this hugely connected technology lies way beyond these simple devices. Imagine all kinds of devices that can be powered by such smart functionalities—medical devices, motion-detecting security devices, GPS-based location systems, utility meters, toll meters, smoke detectors, and embedded systems! According to Gartner Inc, about 6.4 billion devices are already connected to the cloud of IoT. In the next four years, this number is expected to rise to 20.8 billion, and the market value of the IoT economy to 1.7 trillion dollars.
Why is IoT important for India?
The beauty of IoT is not that there will be enhanced connectivity. The real essence of this phenomenon lies in what we can use such connectivity for. From better civic facilities to proper transportation management, waste management, health service providers, road safety measures, agricultural management and power consumption, the possible outcomes are many.
There have been many examples of businesses and governments worldwide having turned their games around with an innovative inclusion of IoT to their arsenals. Take BMW, for instance. They reduced auto-warranty costs by 5 percent and reduced scrap rate of defective vehicles by 80 percent by only implementing predictive maintenance and quality control IoT. With smart IoT fixtures, Oslo city reduced their energy costs by 62 percent.
Such changes can be brought about in India, too. Given that we are the fastest growing IT market in the world and are expected to grow to a figure of at least $85 billion by 2019, India has the capability to embrace this wave of IoT. However, such an expansion would call for secure connections, reliable bandwidth and scalable technologies. The question is—are we ready for that?
The Indian government has been surprisingly proactive in this sphere, and has unveiled a plan of building 100 smart cities around the country and allocating over Rs 7000 crore to this project in last year’s budget. Understanding that the scope of IoT extends over key sectors like retail, IT, oil and gas, manufacturing, disaster management and healthcare among many others, the government has formed a Centre of Excellence on IoT with NASSCOM to help nurture and grow this ecosystem. These are positive steps towards turning India into a global digital powerhouse that Indian entrepreneurs and businesses dream of.
What is the role of IT in India in the IoT wave?
In my opinion, the three sectors that will drive this IoT wave are the government, the industry and the IT or tech startup sector. The Economic Times predicted recently that 43 per cent of the IT budgets of firms will now be pumped into IoT projects and solutions by 2020.
Using IoT technologies, the Indian IT sector is changing the way in which businesses create value for their customers. With IoT, businesses can boost their operations, reduce costs and enhance the experience they provide customers with. They can become leaders and change agents of industry transformation, update their institutional expertise and work towards sustainable growth. I am thrilled that the IT sector is at the forefront of such a revolutionary transformation.
What are the challenges India needs to tackle to take advantage of the IoT wave?
According to India Internet of Things Market Forecast & opportunities, 2020, the IoT market in India is projected to grow at a compound average growth rate of over 28% till 2020. As tech solutions providers, I think it is our responsibility to educate our clients on the benefits of IoT and help them deal with their fears over security and privacy concerns.
Currently, the rate of IoT adoption in India is limited to few verticals like FMCG, healthcare and energy, among others, for a variety of reasons. Unreliable internet connectivity tops the list of challenges, closely followed by limiting prices of IoT devices, lack of global vendors and an unsuitable or underdeveloped infrastructure to support the huge amounts of data and traffic expected to flow through these smart grids. If we can join our efforts to deal with these challenges, India will soon be able to reap the benefits of the IoT revolution.
So, back to the question we began with: Is India ready to jump on the IoT bandwagon? Given its software prowess, India has the ability to lead this digital revolution worldwide. All that is required is the creation of a healthy ecosystem of the government, industry, start-ups and academia to drive this change.
It is time to put our seat belts on!
