Connectivity is the backbone of Digital India as it is critical for banking, e-commerce, e-learning, IoT and beyond
When we talk about technology and Make in India, I begin to wonder how technology can enrich the lives of the masses and have a nationwide impact. Here are few areas which need innovation and are crucial to the Make in India initiative of the government.
Internet Connectivity – Digital India
Bharatnet, Google Wifi, 4G – Internet connectivity is the electricity of the 21st century
India’s internet user base is still small compared to other developed nations. We have massive work to do in terms of rural broadband connectivity. Several telecom players including Airtel, BSNl and Reliance Jio have managed to cover the entire country using the cellular spectrum. While this is a great for calls and low speed internet access, what we need is affordable fast internet access in the order of several tens of Megabits per second which is suitable for video, banking, e-learning and more.
The government had announced BharatNet as part of the Digital India initiative which is an ambitious plan to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats using optical fibre delivering a minimum speed of 100 Mbps at each gram panchayat. Over the course of the next decade, most users will be logging on to the internet for the first time and their mobile phone will be their first or only connected device, hence connectivity becomes really critical.
Google has partnered with RailTel to offer free WiFi at 400 railway stations across India in the next two years. The service is already live in 19 stations and the speeds are much faster than the average internet access speed across the country. The service is free for a limited duration and chargeable beyond that.
State owned BSNl has plans to roll out 2500 WiFi hotspots across the country and 53 such hotspots are already live across 11 cities.
Google plans to provide internet in rural areas through Project loon which is a network of floating connected balloons. This is a project which could be successful in India as last mile connectivity is always the largest problem. AirJaldi, which is one of Microsoft’s Affordable Access Initiative grant winners from India, aims to provide internet connectivity to rural India at rates lesser than of 3G or 4G and runs nine networks in five Indian states.
Connectivity is the backbone of Digital India as it is critical for banking, e-commerce, e-learning, IoT and beyond.
Electric Vehicles
Future of transportation is all electric
Pollution is a major issue plaguing India and we need to move to renewable energy and reduce dependency on fossil fuels in order to reduce harmful emissions. We need to accelerate development of electric vehicles and establish a charging network for the same. The government aims at having about 6-7 million electric or hybrid vehicles in India by the year 2020 as part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan.
Mahindra has launched e-Verito which is India’s first all-electric sedan starting at Rs 9.5 lakh with a range of 100 km on a single charge with a top speed of 85 km per hour. The company has plans to set up charging stations in select cities in which it plans to sell the car. The company had previously launched another electric car under the e2o brand.
Seeing India’s huge dependence on two-wheelers, Ather Energy is working on launching S340 which is India’s first smart electric scooter. The vehicle would be manufactured in India and offer a range of 60 km with a top speed of 72 km per hour.
American auto-maker Tesla, which produces some of the world’s most popular electric cars, has plans to launch its Model 3 in India. Nissan leaf and Chevrolet Volt from General Motors are some of the most popular electric cars in the world and it would be great to have them on Indian roads. We need to invite global auto makers to manufacture electric vehicles in India and at the same time encourage local players and startups to develop solutions for addressing our needs. There is a big need for a country wide electric charging network without which electric vehicles cannot see large scale adoption.
Healthcare
Technology adoption in the healthcare industry is slow but that needs to change.
Healthcare is one of the largest sectors in India and the need of the hour is providing efficient and affordable healthcare even in remote parts of the country. We need innovations in the medical diagnostic space to develop affordable instruments for diagnosing major diseases and provide care to patients even when they are in the comfort of their home or office. Smartphones today have great imaging and processing capabilities and can act as an interface between patient and the doctor.
Bangalore-based Cooey has developed a Smart Glucometer priced at about Rs 3,000 which can test your blood sugar in just under 10 seconds by plugging in to the 3.5mm audio jack on your phone. Janacare is another startup trying to solve India’s diabetes problem with Aina — mobile blood monitoring system which again uses just a mobile phone and an application and turns a phone into a mobile lab which can test glucose, lipid profile and more. They aim to develop tools to prevent heart failure and chronic kidney disease in the future.
A major cause of death from injuries is due to life-threatening bleeding and Axio is on a mission to stop that by developing India’s first emergency haemostatic dressing — Axiostat. The product is used by trauma care providers and is one of the world’s most affordable mechanisms to stop bleeding.
Goqii aims to add new dimension to wearables by trying a fitness tracker to a coaching system. The team of coaches constantly work with the users of the Goqii band to monitor their health and fitness and provide constant motivation and fitness tips. The company plans to integrate even doctors within its system in the coming months.
Consumer Electronic Device Market & Internet of Things
Indians have a huge appetite for electronic devices especially mobile phones and televisions and most of the demand is fulfilled by imports. There is a huge potential for locally manufactured devices across the consumer electronic segment. India has great talent pool in this space and this area is largely untapped.
This sector involves manufacturing and a large design element too. While the manufacturing still happens abroad, a lot of product companies are setting up design houses in India to tap India’s R&D talent pool. Apple is setting up the world’s first iOS app design and development accelerator in Bengaluru. Top Chinese device makers including Xiaomi, Huawei have an R&D presence in India. Samsung has a strong presence with centres in three cities across the country. The newest entrant leECo is planning to set up a R&D centre in India later this year.
Companies like Qualcomm are fostering innovation in the design space with initiatives like the Design in India Challenge. It identified exceptional startups in various categories such as smartphones, tablets and Internet of everything (IoT) products for healthcare, education, banking, automotive, wearables and smart cities. Some of the shortlisted companies include Green Robot Machinery which brings robots to the agriculture space, Carnot, which prevents vehicle theft, and Treepie Computing, which promises high performance computing at low cost.
The writer is currently Editor-in-Chief of FoneArena.com, a leading technology portal