India has begun to create its own tech

Modern India has a poor track record as a technology creator. While the information technology sector grew in India, the country could not boast of being a tech producer. In recent years, however, India has begun to innovate and create technologies for addressing the country’s unique challenges.

The fourth industrial revolution democratised access to many emerging technologies. Indian innovators seized this opportunity to create solutions which could help domestic businesses to improve their products and services rapidly. Artificial intelligence, internet of things, drones, virtual and augmented reality and automation brought efficiency and transparency to businesses. The charge of the digital brigade has allowed India to claim success as a tech creator. 

The number of tech patents in India have seen a steady rise. Industry body Nasscom says that Indian companies have filed 138,000 tech patents in India and over 9,500 patents in the US during 2015-2021. More than 60 per cent of these patents were filed by Indian companies and start-ups, while 17 per cent of the tech patents were filed by individual inventors/academia research outfits. These patented technologies have been deployed in sectors such as finance, health and logistics. Reports suggest that India already has 127 patents for 6G technology which will underpin Web 3 and metaverse technologies. 

Apart from high-tech products, India has been able to deploy low-tech solutions at an unprecedented scale. In his new book, Made in India: 75 Years of Business and Enterprise, G20 Sherpa and former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has chronicled the steady rise of technology creation and consumption in India. Much of it has been made possible by public-private collaboration and the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile trinity. New models have allowed last-mile delivery of products and services.

While the private sector has innovated for consumers, government-backed projects brought welfare schemes and financial inclusion for citizens. Space-tech is a rising field where young startups are collaborating to develop new types of satellites. While agritech solutions are seeing increasing global investments, IoT is helping logistics and manufacturing. A NITI Aayog report says that the digital-platform-based gig economy will offer a livelihood to 23.5 million workers by 2029-30, from just 7.7 million today.

Kant’s book offers an impressive insight into how the government decided to accelerate the adoption of technology for various welfare schemes. As the secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion, and later as CEO of NITI Aayog, Kant helped increase the use of technology in the central and state governments. “Data will be central to our growth aspirations. India will have to go from a data-rich country to a data-intelligent country,” says Kant. “These datasets along with a steadily expanding digital footprint will be key to developing AI/ML solutions across the economy.”

Technology will also improve governance. “To build strong accountability around outcomes, India needs to build a stronger data architecture. This would entail strengthening administrative data systems. The state can leverage data for deeper insights into policy making,” he says. Kant says that technologies such as AI, blockchain, 3D manufacturing, AR/VR and quantum computing “can open up new possibilities for the government to deliver services to its citizens in entirely new and more effective ways.” Many such technologies are already being deployed by state and central governments. Kant accepts that India lags in spending on research and development. He argues that the private sector has to work with government and deepen its commitment to R&D. 

There is still a long way to go. The start-up experience has shown that a new product or service can make an impact once it is accepted by 200-300 million people. India’s decade of creating and using technology will be decided by its ability to improve the lives of over a billion citizens.