THE INTERNET COMES TO INDIA 130 05VOL27 ISSUE09 SEPTEMBER 2020

VOICESDATAConnecting the Digital World CyberMedia

THE ACHILLES HEEL OF

MOBILE-FIRST NATIONAs a large and fast-growing mobile economy India ranks #1on the target list of fraudsters. It is also the second-largest

victim of mobile ad frauds globally

MONEY LOST22.6% of global mobile media spend waswasted in 2019 due to mobile ad fraud

PLATFORMS AT RISKAndroid apps have a fraud rate of 30%,2.5 times higher than 12% rate of iOS

SIZE MATTERS20% of large apps have 30% fraud. comparedto 13% among medium-sized apps

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SUNDAR RAMASWAMY

REBOOTINGINDIAN ECONOMYIndia needs to frame policies that safeguard theunfettered yet secured growth of the internet, thebackbone for all the new technologies

he internet is 25 years old today. Its adventcoincided with the 1991 reorientation of the Indianeconomy towards a more capitalistic free-market

model. With the two events running parallel, there issufficient empirical evidence to correlate rebooting ofthe Indian economy with the steady increase in internetusage and the attendant economic benefits.

The internet-connected and continues to connect peo-ple and businesses, foster innovation, and unleash entre-preneurship spirit. At no time its economic upside has

been more apparent than the COVID-19 crisis, which inone swoop also reinforced another stark reality: the inter-net may be an engine of economic growth, but the accessto the engine is still controlled by the traditional powerstructures of our society.

While access to the internet may have created a newgeneration of haves and have-nots, challenges are alsobeing posed from within by the very stakeholders whobenefit from it the most — internet service providers thatthreaten net neutrality, governrnents that are keen to

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[INTERNET IN INDIA] GYEARS

Widening footprint of Al and automationsolutions are the future drivers ofthe internet-led business, but they bringwith it concomitant social challenges.

conduct surveillance programmes, and individuals whoendanger the security of internet users.

The widening footprints of artificial intelligence (Al)and automation solutions are the future drivers of the in-

ternet-led business, but they bring with it concomitantchallenges at a social level.

Citizen empowerment and socio-economic growthWhile Twitter and Facebook will vouch for the powerof the internet to give a voice that can empower theindividuals, the benefits of internet usage are slowlypercolating to various social areas like education, healthcare, and rural development. The internet's contributionto citizens has been its ability to bridge poor physical andinstitutional infrastructure, especially in the access togovernment-driven public utilities.

Leveraging the internet, the government has powered

the Digital India initiatives. It has provided financial inclu-

sion for all citizens through the Jandhan-Aadhaar-MobiIe

initiative, reduced leakages in benefits through the Direct

Benefit Transfer scheme and enabled safe and instan-taneous financial transactions through the Unified Pay-ments Interface.

For many organizations, their Digital Transformationjourney has just begun. New technologies in the areas ofAl, big data, internet-of-things (IOT) combined with SGmobile technology have the potential to transform everysector that touches a citizen's life. The economic effectsthat these technologies would bring include job creation,primarily driven by e-commerce; the Gig economy cur-rently generates more than 50% employment.

The job market will also be impacted by new servicesand industries on the back of applying new technologiesto disrupt the old way of doing business (mobile apprevenue -$200 million in 2019), business innovation le-veraging the power of technologies in driving efficiencyacross the business (IOT sensors and Al powering pro-

ductivity enhancements) and smart workforce aided byautomation and Al technologies like chatbots that pro-vide customer service support.

Managing the automation disruptionAutomation is key to a successful implementationof Digital Transformation at the organization level.By automating manual, effort-intensive, repetitiveand standardized tasks, organizations are deliveringworld-class customer service, breaking down internalorganization silos, improving security and compliance,becoming more agile while continuing to drive downcosts. Al and other new technologies will lead to deeper,faster, broader, and yet more disruptive automation.

While automation is expected to boost economicgrowth, create new high-skilled jobs, and improve liv-ing standards. it may also present serious challenges forworkers and communities. This will include existing jobdisplacements, disruptions to local economies, changingskill requirements, and rising inequality if the fundamen-tal issue of access is not addressed at the earliest.

Businesses would need to invest in education, train-ing, and enhanced social safety net, along with a socialcontract for workers that provide workplace benefits andprotections. At the same time, individuals in the work-place will need to get used to engaging with bots' as apart of their everyday activities and develop new skillsthat will be the demand for the new automation age.

But for all of this to come together, the governmentneeds to frame policies that safeguard the unfettered yet

secured growth of the internet — as it continues to be the

backbone of all new technologies.. &

The author Sundar Ramaswamy is Senior Vice Presidentand Head of Digital Process Automation COE at

Happiest Minds Technologies

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