India is geared to play the key role in tech and innovation

India is one of the fastest-growing tech and telecom markets, and is poised to play a key role in the global economy and future of technology and innovation, as per Verizon Business Group. With the growing middle class, "almost unrivaled talent pool", commitment to research and development, and innovation has made India one of the world's strongest digital economies. 2020 demonstrated the ability of cyber adversaries to leverage dramatic changes happening in our daily lives as new opportunities for attacks at an unprecedented scale. Going into 2021 and beyond, we will face another significant shift with the rise of new intelligent edges, which is about more than just end-users and devices remotely connecting to the network.

Targeting these emerging edges will not only create new attack vectors, but groups of compromised devices could work in concert to target victims at 5G speeds. To get out ahead of this coming reality, all edges must be part of a larger, integrated, and automated security fabric platform that operates across the core network, multi-cloud environments, branch offices, and remote workers. On the 5G landscape, the impact of next-generation technology on the economy and businesses would be truly transformational for the country. Going forward, 5G network within a facility will bring data transit speed to many times less than the blink of an eye - eventually less than 10 milliseconds end-to-end response time. The possibilities are truly endless, which is why many countries are going all out to deploy this technology.

A recent report from Motilal Oswal Financial Services has pegged investments in key components of 5G network on mid or low-band spectrum with pan-India coverage at about Rs 1.3 to 2.3 lakh crore. Not to be surprised, the 5G consumer market is going to be worth 31 trillion USD by 2030 globally.

India does not have 5G services currently, and the government is yet to allocate spectrum to telecom operators for running field trials. While telecom service providers and the industry are closely watching the space with keen interest, given the endless possibilities that 5G offers, about 40 percent of the revenue projections are attributed to consumer spending on enhanced video, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and cloud gaming over 5G networks. This is the first time that Ericsson has presented a revenue forecast for the 5G consumer market, which remains the core business of communications service providers. The report highlighted the role of use case development, tariff innovation, and quality 5G coverage and ecosystem partnerships to unlock the true potential of this market.

The role of Government in boosting the economy seems commendable, the recent decision to provide a further boost to the electronics manufacturing sector in India to support the labour intensive sectors by offering production-linked incentives (PLIs) of a little under Rs 1.5 lakh crore to the 10 sectors of the economy, will provide a much needed fillip to the Indian manufacturing sector. This initiative will create more opportunities for Indian and global electronic companies to set up operations within the country, increase manufacturing capabilities, boost production and generate employment. This scheme will make Indian manufacturers competitive globally, attract foreign investment and create a roadmap to use cutting-edge technology and enhance exports and make India a primary leader in the global supply.