From India to Digital India

The IT services and ITeS employed more than 4 million professionals during FY21.

The plan for the upcoming 5G telecom services, agri-drones, blockchain and more in Budget 2022-23 proves that we are moving from India to "Digital" India. 

Here are five crucial points that verify we are moving towards becoming a digital-savvy nation:

The Pandemic Shock and The IT Sector

Before the Covid19 pandemic, NASSCOM released a report, which stated that the IT industry was expected to grow at 6% to 7%.

This estimate has now increased to around 15% to 20%.

Thus, the IT sector seems to have benefited from the momentum of digital adaptation during the pandemic.

Moreso, enterprises moved to cloud computing, digital gatherings and online payment mechanisms more than ever before during the pandemic period.

Even now, as the world seems to ease up with the pandemic, the IT sector is emerging as a significant contributor providing more than 50% to India’s services exports.

The Rise of Digital Payments

In 2020, India registered more than 25.5 billion real-time payment transactions, which is the highest globally.

Digitalisation has taken pace in the Indian payments sector, with several new fintech players entering the market. In fact, the overall digital transaction space has witnessed widespread growth (rural and urban) over the past few years.

For instance, in 2016-17, the total number of digital transactions in India stood at 1004 crore. This figure has grown five-fold till 2020-21 and has risen to 5,554 crores.

At present, around 250 banks in India are live UPI (Unified Payment Interface) members and more than 50 UPI apps are leading the digital payments space.

Indian IT Sector and The World

In January 2022, six Indian IT companies were listed in the top 25 most valuable global IT services brands.

These were TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Tech Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro Infotech.

Moreover, the current Union Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has emphasised the importance of the Indian IT industry for raising Indian services exports to $1 trillion.

Thus, it is evident that Indian IT firms are keeping pace with their global peers.

Employment Generation

The Covid19 pandemic situation has increased the need for using technology, and it has also increased the workforce requirement for IT professionals. As per NASSCOM's report, the revenue of the Indian IT-BPM (Information Technology-Business Process Management) sector grew around 2.2% YOY during 2020-21 and added more than 1.30 lakh employees.

Going Digital To Make Things Easier

More than the given numerical proof of growth in India’s digital sp ace, it is pretty evident that we are adopting more digital services post-pandemic.

But why are we starting to use digital mediums?

We are moving towards them because they can provide the convenience that can save our time and money. Technology keeps advancing itself to facilitate ease of use for the users. Therefore, there being no end to our need for convenience, there can be no end to digital advancement.

The above-stated points attest that India is moving swiftly towards the dream of ‘Digital India’ with pandemic-safe industry growth, keeping pace with global IT peers, employment generation and rise in convenience and usage.

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