Road to India@100: Making India the 'Vishwa Tech Guru'

We stand at the cusp of creating a new world for ourselves, enabled by technology that is changing the way we live, work and interact with our surroundings. The advent of technologies like cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) have challenged foundational beliefs that have prevailed for several decades and vastly expanded the realm of possibilities in a short span of time. In this evolutionary journey, India has established itself as the global laboratory for creating tech-powered solutions to some of the most pressing challenges that impact our lives and livelihood. We have undergone a period of immense technological improvement in the last quarter of a century, and India today stands tall as one of the largest digital hubs in the world. We have firmly entered our nation’s golden era—and this is truly proving to be India’s techade.

When I envision India@100, I see India as one of the top economies, home to thriving communities, entrepreneurs and a global anchor for sustainable growth. I see India as a ‘Vishwa Tech Guru’ (the world’s tech expert), championing innovation in India, for India and the world. The next 25 years will usher in a Suvarna Bharat (Golden India) with technology being the sutradhar (a unifying force). The road to 100 for India is a growth highway that is laid on a strong underlying foundation of highly skilled and favourable demographics, technology prowess and entrepreneurial and innovative culture.

Realising this vision will require drastically new ways of thinking, the convergence of technologies like hybrid cloud, AI and quantum, and a much deeper collaboration between government, industry and academia to build a future-ready workforce. The challenge, using a cricket analogy, is we are off to a great start but how we consistently hit the boundaries and run between the wickets will determine whether we lift the trophy. I have no doubt we are great players of slog overs but we will need enough momentum right from the start to win. In my view, we need a ‘Power 10’ formula to get us to the finish line—to be a world leader in technology innovation and future-ready talent.

Exponential policy framework: What will propel India forward with speed and scale is an unmatched focus on policy reforms that keeps pace with the dynamic demands of the global market economy.

Glocal as the winning formula: An open innovation framework will be key to scaling and sustaining growth. Whether for trusted flow of data or a new tech policy, having a glocal mindset will count as we make in India, for India and the world.

Citizen centricity: Historically, countries that focus on development keeping their citizens at the centre are the ones to thrive. Especially for a country with such a strong consumer economy, a lot of work needs to be done to improve social infrastructure.

Digital infrastructure: Currently, India is all set to enter the 5G era. It won’t be long before we catch up with our global counterparts. 5G will not merely boost internet speeds but will also rapidly bring economic progress and boost job creation across urban and emerging markets. Our future endeavour should be to leapfrog in technology adoption, setting new global benchmarks.

Golden demographics: One new way of thinking would be to truly unlock the demographic dividend and diversity of skills available across our nation. A part of this progressive growth is already underway. For instance, tech in India is no longer defined by metros and the next wave of innovation is coming from emerging cities like Ahmedabad, Kochi, Coimbatore and Bhubaneswar, among others.

Tech as ‘sutradhar’: Businesses and citizens today are certainly more resilient to disruptions because of access to technologies like mobile, cloud and automation, as evidenced during the pandemic. India has already led with first of its kind successful innovations like UPI, UIDAI and CoWIN—these are innovations that India can now take to the world.

Over the next few years, we must look at leveraging the flexibility of hybrid cloud combined with the power of AI and the potent problem-solving power of quantum computing. Together these three will open doors to solutions that were unthinkable up until now.

Power of partnerships: To unlock India’s true potential is to create a supportive ecosystem through deeper collaboration between the government, industry and academia. The next phase of creating a ‘Suvarna AatmaNirbharBharat’ requires the right policies, investments in building skills and world-class infrastructure. For a country as big as ours, no single organisation can accomplish that, which puts emphasis on leveraging the power of partnerships between these key pillars of our economic growth.

Tapping diversity and inclusion: India has a unique advantage when it comes to diversity and inclusion. This allows India to be the world’s innovation lab that others can learn from. It’s important we consciously nurture and protect our diverse ethos as our unique differentiator.

Sustainable competitiveness: Global energy demands are shifting towards electrification and renewables. For a country like ours, using fossil fuel alternatives is especially important and will have a two-pronged effect. First it would provide a cleaner environment and, second, make India self-reliant for its energy needs. In addition, encouraging businesses to adopt a circular economy model could build India’s sustainable competitiveness.

Trust and security: As technology becomes ubiquitous, so does cybersecurity concerns. To strengthen people’s trust in technology, we need to implement a robust security architecture using principles of confidential computing to protect their data at all stages—when it is stored, while being transferred and even when being used by an application.

In conclusion, these areas I have highlighted are not utopian or implausible. Most of this is already happening in some form or shape. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize and execute every day to get there. 

The writer is Managing Director of IBM India/South Asia