National Technology Day: Seven Tech Trends That Will Shape India’s Future

As the country marks the 25th year of National Technology Day, technology continues to be the brand identity and the main driver of today’s digital-first India. With a strong pool of skilled professionals and an economy driven by digital, the country is poised to play a big role in the global technology revolution.

What lies ahead for India is an opportunity to become a truly global leader in the space and stamp its presence across top trends, shaping the future of technology.

India’s AI segment is slated to grow at a CAGR of 18% by 2025, as per a report by TeamLease Services Ltd. Investments in AI are witnessing a growth rate of around 30%, and their contribution to the country’s GDP is expected to reach around $500 billion by 2025.

AI is revolutionising every walk of life.

Whether it is AI-powered virtual assistants on phones, chatbots providing real-time service, data insights for streamlining digital enterprise operations, or AI-driven machines powering industrial automation, the technology is expected to be omnipresent in the coming years. One of the most disruptive tech trends, AI will see growing applications in spheres such as education, e-commerce, data security, travel and tourism, robotics, lifestyle, healthcare, gaming, media, and more.

The next-generation wireless technology, launched last year and expected to cut across geographies in India by 2024, brings with it a host of benefits for users. 5G enhances mobile broadband and fixed wireless access, offers lightning-fast data speeds and low latency, improves network reliability, and greatly enhances the user experience. 5G, in association with AI, enables a smarter world, with the potential to connect everything from humans to devices, machinery, and objects virtually.

Use cases in the 5G-connected future are tremendous: factories of the future; expansion of AI, IoT, and edge computing; immersive experiences in entertainment, gaming, and VR; doctor-patient interactions in healthcare that go far beyond video conferencing; virtual carts in retail; and communication between vehicles in logistics and shipping, to name just a few.

Imagine a world where the lines between reality and imagination are blurred. Extended reality, the umbrella term encompassing virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality, has incredible potential for immersive learning technologies and experiences. Not surprisingly, India's spending on such technologies is rising.

These technologies bring the physical and virtual worlds as close as they can get, creating a digital twin and making it possible for humans to interact with it. Technologies like VR and AR will not just allow mesmerising experiences for users via smart glasses or devices. Their applications will also increase in the problem-solving domain for enterprises and brands, from smarter shopfloors and warehouses to allowing remote collaborations in a hybrid and work-from-anywhere world, interactive learning and training modules, time-critical communications between cross-functional, cross-geographical teams, helping take design decisions, and creating immersive virtual demos, presentations, events, and exhibitions.

Businesses in India are steadily realising the benefits of robotic process automation, ranging from seamless processes, higher productivity, and human error minimisation to cost and time savings and increased RoI. The IDC APJ Automation Survey 2022 says that 84% of Indian businesses will increase their RPA initiatives or deploy enterprise-wide RPA by 2025.

RPA uses software bots to execute standardised processes, enabling applications across functions and sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, retail, banking, fintech, insurance, telecom, and healthcare. These sectors are witnessing a definitive transformation and a shift towards hyper-automation, with repetitive, cumbersome tasks assigned to bots and humans in more supervisory roles.

Quantum computing is poised to be at the centre of India’s "techade." The multidisciplinary field uses quantum mechanics to process information and solve complex tasks and problems that cannot be resolved by traditional computing. Quantum computing is expected to help a range of sectors, including material sciences, defence, chemical engineering, drug research and development, financial portfolio optimisation, and quantum machine learning.

According to market researcher Precedence Research, the global quantum computing market is expected to reach $125 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 36.89%. India is already taking a quantum leap forward. The central government is sponsoring around 92% of about 100 current projects and planning investments worth Rs 8,000 crore for research advancements in quantum information and meteorology, quantum communications, and quantum applications and materials. Rightly so, a recent study by NASSCOM-Avasant was called "The Quantum Revolution in India". 

An ongoing evolution of the web, Web 3.0 is the third generation of the world wide web (www). It is envisioned as a decentralised, interactive, and open-source web experience driven by user-generated content. While Web 1.0 was essentially for reading (information) and Web 2.0 about reading and writing content, Web 3.0 takes it up a notch to "read-write-execute" domains.

Using technologies such as AI and machine learning, the open internet concept will usher in community-driven networks where users can create, share, connect, and enjoy open access to applications, content, and multimedia on the web. It will also help entrepreneurs and start-ups come up with decentralised, innovative business models using decentralised technologies like decentralised finance, blockchain, and metaverses without centralised control by an authority.

Making optimal use of technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), AI and machine learning, robotics and automation, and big data insights and exchange, Industry 4.0 aims to revolutionise manufacturing as we know it. The objective is for smart factories to undertake smart manufacturing by deploying smart technologies.

Industry 4.0 creates a collaborative value chain across everything from supply chain and logistics to production and delivery using smart, connected networks. For manufacturers, the upside is huge: from reduced costs to higher efficiencies to improved safety, and more importantly, a world of new possibilities.