TECHNOLOGY IS A GREAT LEVELLER
As the world watches India’s meteoric rise as a global business leader, the country’s top industrialist eyes what’s on the horizon: the unstoppable march of disruptive technology that can transform life, business and the global economy in ways we never im
TECHNOLOGY HAS DRIVEN human civilisation for thousands of years. What is technology? It is the tool and techniques humans invent using scientific knowledge to do better things. Technology enables productivity and higher value creation and master economic growth, all of which lead to prosperity and empowerment for society as a whole. Each technological revolution rewrites the rules of the game. It creates the opportunities for the early adopters to leap into positions of global leadership, power and influence. The world has seen a number of technological revolutions, but through it all India remained on the fringes. Particularly in infrastructure and manufacturing, we lost out on the multiple advancement opportunities. Today, the world is at the beginning of another industrial revolution—the convergence of the physical, digital and biological sciences that will enable humanity to reimagine, reinvent and re-engineer all aspects of life. Mobile internet, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, robotics, nano-technology and genomics are the foundational technologies of this revolution. Billions of people and sensors generate a tsunami of real-time data that can be processed by powerful algorithms and
YOUNG INDIA PROTECTING DATA
software in the cloud to generate magical user experiences, solve critical problems of society and realise new avenues of value creation. In the next 20 years, human civilisation will use exponential technologies to collectively achieve more than what we have achieved in the last 300 years. We are at the dawn of a new era of humanity and this is the opportunity India must seize. The amazing thing about technology is that it is a great leveller, it recognises no caste, creed or religion. This is the basis of my conviction that India can be a leader in this new revolution. I have four reasons for this. First, India is a young nation with 63 per cent of the population under 35. At Jio, I have seen the pace at which youth adopt technology. From a global ranking of 154 in broadband mobile penetration in 2014, India will be among the top three by 2029. Second, the lack of digital and historical technology infrastructure is actually a boon in disguise. Not having any legacy technology base means we can skip multiple generations of technology and directly embrace the next generation, and in one fell swoop get ahead with the most advanced nations of the world.
Third, India is well on its way to connecting all its citizens to the global internet. By the end of 2017, Jio’s network will be present in almost all cities, towns and villages and cover 99 per cent of the population. We have the digital circulatory system in place to carry data, the digital oxygen, to each and every citizen. Fourth, India is a huge and open market, and unlike other large economies that are busy building walls, it is fortunate to have a leadership that believes in connecting our nation to the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s digital India vision, which talks about digital highways, e-governance, e-education, e-healthcare, digitally linking Indian farmers to global markets has created a digital operating system for India.
However, there are challenges as well. First is the creation of 15 million new jobs every year. India has only 30 million jobs in the organised sector, but the unorganised sector provides about 440 million opportunities. About 70 per cent of the job growth in 2005-12 came from small and medium enterprises. Imagine how much more muscle they could provide to India’s economy if they are made more productive and profitable. Technology has a big role to play in this. Through the Jio initiative, we have created 90,000 direct jobs, but more important, we have created 50,000 sustainable jobs through the larger Jio ecosystem in the past two-and-a-half years. Second is financial inclusion. In the coming years, based on your Aadhaar identity and big data analysis of your profile, it will be possible to get a loan on your mobile in a few minutes. Digital enablement has laid the groundwork for making available low value, high volume credit. The third is education. India can overcome challenges by digitally delivering high quality education to schools, colleges and universities in the country. Jio is providing broadband connectivity to all 58,000 colleges and aims to connect 1.9 million schools across India.
The other opportunity is in providing affordable housing. Today, innovation in new material, 3D manufacturing techniques and modular construction methods allow us to build cost effective mass smart housing. Healthcare is another area where India can be a global leader on the back of digital technology, while in agriculture, India has the opportunity to create wealth and new knowledge, livelihood opportunities in rural areas by encouraging adoption of technologies, water conservation, soil management, precision farming. If you combine technology tools with real-time information, a second green revolution—a digital green revolution—is possible. As we enter the digital age, we must remember that information is power and information in digital form can travel across the globe in the fraction of a second at negligible cost. If the benefits of the Indian technology revolution are to be captured by India and Indians, we need safeguards to ensure that most of the information generated in India remains within our borders. Keeping Indian data on shore will ensure talent, technology knowhow and investment will flow into India rather than out of India and will create more jobs in India.
The purpose of technology is to solve unsolved problems of society and to provide equal opportunities for the man on the street. We have to combine global technology with Indian street smartness, an unbeatable combination. In 30 years, India will celebrate its 100th year of Independence. In these 30 years, we can and must aspire to grow from a $2.5 trillion economy to a $40 trillion one. Most importantly, we have to do this in an inclusive, equitable and ecologically sustainable manner. India today is exciting and challenging, but India tomorrow will be fulfilling and game-changing.