At present, India accounts for only about two per cent of the space economy, much behind the major players – USA and China…reports Asian Lite News
The number of new startups in the space sector more than doubled in 2021 to 47 as compared to the previous year numbers, said India’s Economic Survey that was released on Monday.
According to the Economic Survey, the number of new startups in the space sector registered in 2021 was 47 up from 21 in 2020 and 11 in 2019.
With recent policy initiatives and private sector participation, the Indian space sector is expected to capture a larger share of the global space economy, which was close to US$ 447 billion in 2020.
At present, India accounts for only about two per cent of the space economy, much behind the major players – USA and China, the Survey said.
According to the Survey, across the globe, the trend of space activities is in a state of transition — from being primarily driven by government, the sector has been witnessing increasing private sector participation not only in the traditional vendor role but also in taking up end-to-end space activities.
With this in mind, the government undertook reforms in space sector in 2020 whereby:
– the public sector NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) would own the operational rockets and satellites of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO);
– The NSIL shall act as aggregator of user requirements and obtain commitments;
– setting up Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), the regulator and promoter of private players in the space sector;
– The IN-SPACe will also allow the private sector to use the facilities of the Department of Space/ISRO for a fee.
The interim IN-SPACe board has received close to 40 proposals from large industries, MSMEs, startups and academia covering broad range of activities in space domain — cutting across both upstream (launch vehicle/satellite manufacturing) as well as downstream (Earth Observation applications, communications, and others), the Survey notes.
According to the Economic Survey, five private satellites have been tested at ISRO facilities, four student satellites were launched aboard the PSLV C-51 rocket.
The national registration mechanism for space objects has been implemented, with five satellites registered.
A total of six MoUs have been signed with private/academic entities for sharing technical expertise and facilities, the Survey said.
Vidit Aatrey, Founder and CEO of homegrown social commerce platform Meesho, said that a singular focus on augmenting offline MSMEs with online distribution could be a game-changing economic transformation opportunity…reports Nishant Arora
To further aid small businesses and empower entrepreneurs, the Union Budget 2022-23 should introduce additional startup-friendly policies and tax relaxations to enable spending on innovation, ease-of-doing business and reducing compliance costs, a slew of homegrown startups said.
New reforms, policy assistance and support mechanisms for establishing a focused approach in solving unmet financial needs through technology will significantly benefit the economy, they stressed.
“We’ve seen a substantial spike in the adoption of digital payments in the last one year. I’m hoping that in the upcoming Budget, the government will think of alternatives to the Zero MDR (merchant discount rate) policy, as that will help promote e-payments and drive significant digital adoption among businesses,” said Harshil Mathur, CEO and Co-founder, Razorpay.
In last year’s Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced Rs 1,500 crore to further accelerate digital payments’ growth in the country.
Mathur said that it would also be desirable for the government to increase contribution to the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS).
“Hassle-free loan disbursements, automation of tax and compliance, paper-less approvals, and incentives to adopt digital banking practices will also be welcome changes that can support the growth of MSMEs,” he added.
To incentivise startups, the government had last year extended the eligibility for claiming tax holidays for startups by a year to March 31, 2022.
It also extended the capital gains exemption for investment in startups by a year to March 31, 2022, to boost funding.
The country has also seen numerous startups incentivising their employees in the past year with buying back ESOPs.
“Deferring tax payments when exercising the option, plus waiving tax for some ESOP receipts, will also be a laudable change in the new budget,” said Mathur.
According to Ravish Naresh, CEO and Co-founder, Khatabook, they are hoping for a progressive Budget, especially aimed at promoting homegrown startups focused on problem-solving for India.
“New reforms, policy assistance, and support mechanisms for establishing a focused approach in solving unmet financial needs through technology will significantly benefit the economy,” Naresh told.
“In addition, the government’s continued focus on enhancing digital infrastructure in the country will ensure progress towards equality in digital access in FY22-23,” he added.
In the last year’s Budget, the government had said it will facilitate setting up of a world-class fintech hub in Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) city.
The government also proposed a portal to collect relevant information on gig workers to help formulate social security schemes for them.
Vidit Aatrey, Founder and CEO of homegrown social commerce platform Meesho, said that a singular focus on augmenting offline MSMEs with online distribution could be a game-changing economic transformation opportunity.
“We would like to see the government focus on policies that will create a level playing field for offline and online sellers with less than Rs 40 lakh turnover,” Aatrey told.
“Simplifying GST compliance requirements for online sellers will also enable millions of small businesses to leverage the potential of e-commerce and contribute to India’s growing digital economy,” he added.
In addition to this, the startups hope that the government incentivises capital formation in the area of logistics and cold chains through policies and infrastructure development.
Akash Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, Zypp Electric, said that they are optimistic that the government will announce new initiatives to encourage local EV manufacturing, facilitate easy finance and create an innovative EV ecosystem.
“We urge the government to reduce GST on EV purchases and rentals from 5 per cent to 2 per cent. A reduced GST would allow consumers to smoothly shift to EV,” Gupta told.
Indian startups raised a record $24.1 billion in 2021, a two-fold increase over pre-Covid levels, while $6 billion were raised via public markets with 11 startup IPOs, a Nasscom-Zinnov report said last week.
The Indian tech startup base continues to witness steady growth, adding over 2,250 startups in 2021, which is 600 more than 2020.
In last year’s Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced Rs 1,500 crore to further accelerate digital payments’ growth in the country….writes Nishant Arora
To further aid small businesses and empower entrepreneurs, the Union Budget 2022-23 should introduce additional startup-friendly policies and tax relaxations to enable spending on innovation, ease-of-doing business and reducing compliance costs, a slew of homegrown startups said.
New reforms, policy assistance and support mechanisms for establishing a focused approach in solving unmet financial needs through technology will significantly benefit the economy, they stressed.
“We’ve seen a substantial spike in the adoption of digital payments in the last one year. I’m hoping that in the upcoming Budget, the government will think of alternatives to the Zero MDR (merchant discount rate) policy, as that will help promote e-payments and drive significant digital adoption among businesses,” said Harshil Mathur, CEO and Co-founder, Razorpay.
In last year’s Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced Rs 1,500 crore to further accelerate digital payments’ growth in the country.
Telugu NRIs to Invest In Indian Startups
Mathur said that it would also be desirable for the government to increase contribution to the Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS).
“Hassle-free loan disbursements, automation of tax and compliance, paper-less approvals, and incentives to adopt digital banking practices will also be welcome changes that can support the growth of MSMEs,” he added.
To incentivise startups, the government had last year extended the eligibility for claiming tax holidays for startups by a year to March 31, 2022.
It also extended the capital gains exemption for investment in startups by a year to March 31, 2022, to boost funding.
The country has also seen numerous startups incentivising their employees in the past year with buying back ESOPs.
“Deferring tax payments when exercising the option, plus waiving tax for some ESOP receipts, will also be a laudable change in the new budget,” said Mathur.
According to Ravish Naresh, CEO and Co-founder, Khatabook, they are hoping for a progressive Budget, especially aimed at promoting homegrown startups focused on problem-solving for India.
“New reforms, policy assistance, and support mechanisms for establishing a focused approach in solving unmet financial needs through technology will significantly benefit the economy,” Naresh told IANS.
“In addition, the government’s continued focus on enhancing digital infrastructure in the country will ensure progress towards equality in digital access in FY22-23,” he added.
In the last year’s Budget, the government had said it will facilitate setting up of a world-class fintech hub in Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) city.
The government also proposed a portal to collect relevant information on gig workers to help formulate social security schemes for them.
Vidit Aatrey, Founder and CEO of homegrown social commerce platform Meesho, said that a singular focus on augmenting offline MSMEs with online distribution could be a game-changing economic transformation opportunity.
“We would like to see the government focus on policies that will create a level playing field for offline and online sellers with less than Rs 40 lakh turnover,” Aatrey told IANS.
“Simplifying GST compliance requirements for online sellers will also enable millions of small businesses to leverage the potential of e-commerce and contribute to India’s growing digital economy,” he added.
In addition to this, the startups hope that the government incentivises capital formation in the area of logistics and cold chains through policies and infrastructure development.
Akash Gupta, Co-founder and CEO, Zypp Electric, said that they are optimistic that the government will announce new initiatives to encourage local EV manufacturing, facilitate easy finance and create an innovative EV ecosystem.
“We urge the government to reduce GST on EV purchases and rentals from 5 per cent to 2 per cent. A reduced GST would allow consumers to smoothly shift to EV,” Gupta told IANS.
Indian startups raised a record $24.1 billion in 2021, a two-fold increase over pre-Covid levels, while $6 billion were raised via public markets with 11 startup IPOs, a Nasscom-Zinnov report said last week.
The Indian tech startup base continues to witness steady growth, adding over 2,250 startups in 2021, which is 600 more than 2020.
UAE, Turkey sign new agreements during Erdogan’s upcoming visit (WAM)
The UAE and Turkey are expected to sign new agreements and “renew previous commitments” during the anticipated visit of the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to the UAE in February, a senior Turkish official said…reports Asian Lite News
“Our President’s visit to the UAE is currently confirmed and the preparations are ongoing. This is going to be a testament to the improved ties between our countries,” Mustafa Sentop, Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, told the Emirates News Agency (WAM) in an exclusive interview on Friday.
“We believe that the leaders of Turkey and the UAE standing next to each other will deliver an important message on its own The objective is to further strengthen the bilateral relations. There are mutual efforts to conclude new agreements and to renew previous commitments to cover a wider range in our current cooperation,” he added, without specifying the potential agreements to be signed.
The Speaker of the Turkish Parliament had met on Thursday with Saqr Ghobash, his Emirati counterpart, the Speaker of the Federal National Council (FNC), in Abu Dhabi. They discussed developing parliamentary relations between the two countries.
Sentop’s visit comes two months after His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, had met with Erdogan in Ankara.
During the visit, the UAE announced setting up a US$10 billion investment fund in Turkey.
“Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed’s visit to Turkey was an important step in carrying forward our relationship to a new level. Cooperation agreements were signed on important matters,” Sentop said.
“Our goal is to [strengthen] the cooperation between Turkey and the UAE in the fields of climate change, energy, water and food security, in addition to health, agriculture, logistics, infrastructure, finance and tourism. I believe that both parties are ready to set new targets for further investments and cooperation.
UAE, Turkey sign new agreements during Erdogan’s upcoming visit (WAM)
“Turkey attaches great importance to the cooperation with the UAE. We believe that strengthening our relations will not only contribute to our mutual interests, but also to the prosperity and stability of our region. I believe that our counterparts in the UAE share the same view in terms of contributing together to the regional stability and peace.”
The UAE is Turkey’s top trading partner among the GCC countries; the bilateral trade between the two countries in 2020 had reached US$8 billion. The Turkish official said the trade in the first 10 months of 2021 had amounted to US$6.4 billion.
“The UAE is also an important investor in Turkey and ranks second among the GCC countries,” he explained, adding that the country has “significant investments” in tourism, banking as well as ports and retail.
In an interview with Bloomberg last week, UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, said his country is looking to double or triple its trade volume with Turkey by capitalising on its logistical ties with the rest of the world.
Sentop believes that the current volume of bilateral trade is “still far from reflecting our potential.”
However, he revealed that, “to date,” Turkish contractors have undertaken 141 projects worth US$13 billion in the UAE, adding, “Our companies have been investing in and are part of the UAE market for over 10 years. Turkish investments [in the UAE] amount to US$720 million.”
“In the coming years, we wish to increase our investment share in the UAE in the fields of logistics, finance, renewable energy and infrastructure.”
The latest agreement between the two countries was signed on Wednesday, 19th January 2022. The Turkish and Emirati central banks had agreed a nearly US$5 billion swap deal in local currencies.
“We believe that [with] the visit of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, to Turkey, as well as the visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the UAE, which is planned in February, the positive momentum in the relations between our countries will be elevated and there will be further development to our economic relations,” the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament affirmed.
“With the agreements reached during these visits, I believe that mutual investments between our countries will enhance rapidly in the coming period.” (WAM)
India also emerged as the third largest startup ecosystem in the world in 2021, after the US and China, according to Hurun Research Institute…reports Nishant Arora
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to celebrate January 16 as the National Startup Day, the meteoric rise of desi entrepreneurs in the past couple of years, which made global headlines, has received a tremendous boost.
Fresh data reveals that India produced 46 unicorns (companies with over $1 billion valuation) in 2021 alone, which raised a whopping $42 billion, up from $11.5 billion in 2020.
According to a latest report by Orios Venture Partners, the country now has 90 unicorns — from ShareChat to Cred and from Meesho to upGrad — with new ones across the spectrum joining the coveted unicorn club faster than ever.
India also emerged as the third largest startup ecosystem in the world in 2021, after the US and China, according to Hurun Research Institute.
India’s unicorns are currently worth more than $170 billion, and counting.
Modi said that like small businesses, which are the spine of India’s economy, startups are turning out to be the game changers.
According to Satish Shukla, Co-founder of automation and robotics firm Addverb Technologies, the Indian startup ecosystem has come a very long way and has matured a lot.
“We can see startups getting listed on the Indian bourses amid a slew of accessible VC/PE funds for the Indian startups. Several talented people are coming back to India to start on their own or work with startups, thereby reversing the brain-drain process,” Shukla told IANS.
Right from the inception of ‘Startup India’ in 2016, a slew of measures has been taken by the government like pushing for digital mode of payments, 100 per cent tax rebate on profit for a period of 3 years for eligible startups, waiver of norms for PSUs to promote procurement by startups and also encouraging PSUs to fund and nurture relevant startups.
“This has created good-quality jobs for people and has also encouraged a lot of young people to take up the plunge. There is still a long way to go for India and we need not only unicorns but decacorns in the near future that will solve the problems of 21st century India,” Shukla emphasised.
Telugu NRIs to Invest In Indian Startups
India has seen four ‘decacorns’ (companies with a valuation of $10 billion and above) to date — Flipkart, Paytm, Byju’s and OYO.
According to K.R. Sekar, Partner, Deloitte India, the demand and customer base for India is huge and an improved network and better telecom policy will further pave the way for the growth of startups.
Amid the strong buzz, very few Indian unicorns have touched $100 million in revenue and there will be immense pressure on these companies to perform.
“In my opinion, by 2030, 40 per cent of Nifty 50 would be young dynamic technology startups, displacing conventional companies,” said Ritesh Malik, doctor-turned-entrepreneur, investor, storyteller and philanthropist.
“Modi’s focus on building India into the world’s most dynamic and inclusive startup ecosystem is applaud-worthy. His consistent focus on creating job creators vs job seekers is the need of the hour for our nation,” he told IANS.
Ravish Naresh, CEO and Co-founder of fintech startup Khatabook, said that the new initiative by the government is an excellent acknowledgment of the contribution the startup ecosystem is providing to global markets with India-first products.
“The startups from India are attracting great investments because they are the breeding ground of new-age innovations focused on empowering the people in emerging markets with the right digital solutions, impacting the lives of millions,” Naresh told IANS.
Currently, India has the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, with nearly 60,000 startups.
“While India is already a talent powerhouse, this move will further encourage millions to innovate and find solutions to business and societal challenges, thus making the country a global leader,” Mayank Kumar, Co-founder and MD, upGrad, told IANS.
Niraj Singh, Founder and CEO of used-car retailing platform Spinny, added: “The Indian startup business landscape is far more open and accessible, as compared to some of the biggest economies. We believe that the Indian startup environment will continue to grow at a rapid pace with more new-age businesses coming and shaping the economy”.
The latest funding round was joined by existing investors QED and partners of DST Global, among others…reports Asian Lite News
Fintech platform Refyne on Wednesday said it has raised $82 million in its Series B funding led by Tiger Global.
The platform enables employees to withdraw their earned salary in real time before the payment is due, thus reducing debt traps by providing instant access to earned salary.
The Earned Wage Access (EWA) solution provider said the since its inception (December 2020), it has raised a total of $106 million.
Earned Wage Access provides access to a portion of their accrued (but unpaid) salary any time before payday.
EWA is not a loan, therefore does not involve borrowing on the part of the employee and carries no cost to the employer.
“We built Refyne on the notion that everyone should be able to manage their personal finances without the threat of falling into debt traps due to liquidity shortfalls between pay cycles,” said Chitresh Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder, Refyne.
The latest funding round was joined by existing investors QED and partners of DST Global, among others.
The company has partnered with more than 150 organizations, catering to over 700,000 employees. It expects to reach more than 3 million employees in 12 months.
In less than a year, Refyne’s transacting user base has grown 68x and the platform recorded 165x increase in the number of transactions over the period, underscoring the liquidity gap being addressed by EWA.
The Series B funding will propel Refyne’s position as an innovative product in India’s fiercely competitive fintech space that is simplifying personal finance for the masses on a mega scale.
The funds will be used for product development, expansion of the team, and to ramp up various business functions, said the company.
“We believe Refyne will be the preferred partner for large employers that want to offer Earned Wage Access,” said Alex Cook, Partner, Tiger Global.
Refyne’s partner companies include Practo, TeamLease, CARS24, Tenon, Shadowfax, Rebel Foods, Acko, BlackBuck, Arti Group, Cafe Coffee Day, among several others.
Emerging as a global innovation hub, India is now boasting the world’s third-largest start-up ecosystem. DPIIT has recognised more than 60,000 start-ups as on date…reports Asian Lite News
Union Minister of commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal on Monday inaugurated the first Startup India Innovation Week here to bring together the country’s key start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, funding entities, banks, policymakers, etc., under one platform to celebrate entrepreneurship and promote innovation.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is organising the first-ever Startup India Innovation Week from January10-16. This virtual week-long innovation celebration aims to commemorate the 75th year of India’s Independence ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and is designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship across India.
Goyal said his ministry is now at a position to recognize at least four start-ups in an hour, and the government has recognised more than 60,000 start-ups so far. Inspiring the young entrepreneurs, innovators, incubators, funding entities, Goyal said, “We all should take failures as stepping stones to success and should focus on three goals — strengthening Make-In-India, innovation and mentoring the young talents.”
Sharing data about the participation of startups from the Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, Goyal urged the established startups to come forward to mentor them and help them to flourish their innovative ideas.
Emerging as a global innovation hub, India is now boasting the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. DPIIT has recognised more than 60,000 startups as on date.
Indian startups representing 55 industries, spread across 633 districts with at least one startup from every State and UT of the country have created over six lakh jobs since 2016. 45 per cent of the startups are from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, and 45 per cent of them are represented by women entrepreneurs. Startups have the potential to accelerate India’s integration into global value chains and create global impact, said the Ministry of commerce & Industry.
Leading tech-enabled industries such as IT, FinTech, BFSI, and crypto will continue to flourish with talent demand spikes…reports Asian Lite News.
The need for skilling and upskilling reached a new high amid the pandemic and in 2022, big data analytics, along with AI/ML, are forecast to be most in-demand skills in India, a new report showed on Monday.
With rapid tech adoption across industries and entirely tech-enabled sectors such as IT and BFSI, the role of AI and Machine learning will only continue to grow in 2022, with a significant increase in the demand for related roles, according to online recruiting platform Monster.
Industry reports suggest that AI/machine learning investments in India will continue to grow at a CAGR of 33.49 per cent till 2023.
To enhance customer engagement, more and more organisations are adopting chat bots which are forecast to empower approximately 45 per cent of organisations’ customer support services by 2022.
“The future of work is location-agnostic and hybrid, with increased skilling initiatives being undertaken by both employers and employees,” said Sekhar Garisa, CEO, Monster.com, a Quess company.
Leading tech-enabled industries such as IT, FinTech, BFSI, and crypto will continue to flourish with talent demand spikes.
“It is also interesting to note that employee flexibility would be critical towards retaining talent in the future, and the Great Shuffle is a reinforcement of how the huge demand in the jobs market is opening the door for employees to select a career of their choice,” Garisa added.
The Indian fintech market is expanding rapidly, and is estimated to become the third largest market in the world by 2025.
According to the annual trends report, Indian IT has continued to hire through the course of the pandemic, and will exhibit similar trends in 2022.
“It is encouraging to note that the IT industry is forecast to grow 7 per cent in the current year, and likely to see a gross employee addition of around 450,000 in the second half of FY22,” said the report.
The top skills organisations are on the lookout for are data science, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, Blockchain and machine learning.
“The demand for sales professionals is estimated to increase especially in industries such as fintech, retail, e-commerce and social commerce,” the findings showed.
cloud computing
With a number of employees preferring remote working and staying in their hometowns, more and more organisations are considering setting up smaller offices in tier 2 cities or utilising co-working spaces to provide employees with better resources and access to technology.
This would, in turn, lead to an increased demand to hire across tier 2 cities in the coming months.
“Hiring for freshers has picked up over the last three months of the year, and is estimated to increase considerably in 2022. The continuing emergence of startups will further contribute to the demand for entry level professionals across industries,” the report noted.
However, the Left Front that has wrested many seats from the Congress and UDF in the recent bypoll is hoping that it would wrest Trikkakara from the Congress as well…reports Asian Lite News.
Kerala, which faced back-to-back floods, landslides, Covid, Nipah virus, and Ockhi cyclone since 2018, is having high hopes from 2022 as several projects are lined up and youngsters in large numbers are entering into start-up ventures.
After Congress leader and sitting legislator P.T. Thomas passed away on December 22, 2021, battling cancer at CMC Vellore, Trikkakara assembly seat is lying vacant.
The first major challenge for the political class will be an election on this Congress turf. The election has to be held before June 2022 and many senior Congress leaders are eyeing the seat. Uma, wife of Thomas is also a probable candidate for the election.
P T Thomas
However, the Left Front that has wrested many seats from the Congress and UDF in the recent bypoll is hoping that it would wrest Trikkakara from the Congress as well.
Given the huge mass participation at the funeral of Thomas, Congress has high hopes of retaining the seat while Left Front led by CPI (Marxist) is hoping that in the absence of Thomas, it has a chance to win the seat.
Another major political development in the offing in Kerala is end of the Rajya Sabha term of senior Congress leader and former defence minister A.K. Antony.
Antony’s term will come to an end in April 2022 and given the present strength in the assembly, of the three vacancies, LDF can win two and UDF one seat. While Antony has openly said in several interactions that he will not seek re-election and will settle in Kerala.
Political analyst Roy Mathew, while speaking to IANS said: “You can’t predict what is in the mind of a leader like A.K. Antony who can spring a surprise by seeking a re-election and if he throws his hat in the ring, that means he is the candidate and we can’t rule out that possibility.”
Tourism in Kerala is expected to get a boost under the leadership of Minister for Tourism Mohammed Riyas, who is also the son-in-law of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Riyas, who is in-charge of PWD, has thrown open the rooms of PWD rest houses to the general public at a nominal rate, thus earning revenue.
Riyas has already issued a new project ‘Caravan Tourism which is expected to grab a special place in the global tourism map like the house boat tourism that had brought laurels to the state.
The state is also planning film tourism by promoting certain spots that had become popular after being depicted in Bollywood movies like Athirapally waterfalls, Bekal fort, Kovalam lighthouse, Munnar, and other destinations. In effect, Kerala is trying to piggy-ride on the popularity of movies to lure domestic tourists in large numbers through the season.
The FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in Qatar from November 21 to December 18 and the soccer-crazy population of the state has already booked tickets to see a live performance of legends like Leonel Messy, Napier, and other greats of the football world.
With a huge expatriate population of Malayalees in the Middle East, this World Cup would probably be the first with a predominant Keralite population in the galleries.
The major controversy plaguing the state is the Semi High-speed rail or K-rail that has become a bone of contention between the ruling class and the opposition with the BJP that is ruling the Central government also opposing the project.
With a proposal of more than 1,00,000 crore project, the naysayers are of the opinion that this project would be a white elephant meant only to make fast bucks by the ruling class.
The greens also opposed the project, saying that it would lead to more destruction of wetlands and boring of hills will lead to a further imbalance of the fragile ecosystem of the state. They have advanced apprehensions that this would lead to landslips in the future.
The flagship project of Vizhinjam International Container Transshipment Terminal will not be commissioned in 2022 as the Adani ports have requested the state government for more time and will be commissioned in early 2023 while almost all the remaining work will be completed by 2022. The first international vessel is expected to reach the transhipment project on March 23, 2023.
The first All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is likely to commence construction at Kinalur in Kozhikode and the Wayanad Government Medical college is also expected to kickstart construction in 2022 in the hill district of Kerala with a predominantly tribal population and lacking health infrastructure.
Information Technology has been a driving force for the highly educated state since the mid-1990s and the state is planning more technoparks in both the government and private sectors to increase production.
Interestingly, pandemic period also witnessed huge growth in the IT sector while all the other sectors had taken a back seat and this exactly is the reason why the government is keen to promote the sector.
The Thiruvananthapuram Technopark, the first park in the country is in an expansion mode and the Phase III of the park is likely to be completed in November 2022 with almost all the space already being filled before the work is completed.
TCS, Tech Mahindra, and IBM are also setting up major infrastructure in the state by the end of 2022.
Thar SUV (Photo: @Mahindra_Thar /Twitter)
Agriculture sector that has been on a backburner in state is looking up with several Farm Producer Cooperatives coming up in all areas of the state with the support of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), and many of these Farm cooperatives are involved in making value-added products from tapioca, banana and jack fruit and is earning export revenue.
The Balaramapuram handloom which has been a traditional weaving cluster of the state is also looking up with the Hollywood fashion designer Sanjana John making a documentary and promising the weavers that she would display their product at the Oscar award-winning function. Union Minister of State for External affairs V. Muraleedharan, who hails from Kerala, had taken the initiative in this regard.
While Covid and its new variant Omicron are a cause of worry to the people and the authorities, the state is well poised to move ahead with more vaccinations to older people and children alike.
Cloud is India’s best bet to aid faster innovation at scale in 2022…writes Shailender Kumar, Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Director, Oracle India
What the world, and each one of us, experienced in the past two years, has taught us important life lessons. At the same time, it has demonstrated development and progress, which will have a long-term positive impact on society, industry and governance.
As a result of the ongoing economic and humanitarian crises, we have all been witness to a major shift to digital as organisations showed resilience and realignment in their businesses. Now, as the country advances its agenda of building a digitally knowledgeable economy, it must also look to create a self-sustaining model of development and progress.
Business leaders and economists are talking about the recovery of the Indian economy. Optimistic projections from the World Bank (projecting growth of 6.5 per cent by 2023) and according to some economists, business in India has now exceeded pre-pandemic levels, indicating a swift recovery. India’s growth story lies in the hands of select defining sectors like healthcare, government, banking and finance, manufacturing, e-commerce, retail among others.
The pandemic has brought numerous changes in the way growth and scalability are outlined. This means uprooting traditional processes, reskilling and most importantly, pivoting business practises.
In its recent reports, Nasscom estimates that with a more aggressive talent building roadmap, India can increase its cloud talent pool to between 1.7 to 1.8 million and in the process, become the world’s second largest cloud talent hub by 2025. It is estimated that the demand for cloud experts will exceed 2 million.
Numerous companies in sectors like healthcare, pharma, life sciences, telecom, education, banking, and insurance have advanced their use of cloud and have acknowledged the numerous benefits it has brought to their businesses.
Gartner’s recent forecast states that end-user spending on public cloud services in India is estimated to total $7.3 billion by 2022, an increase of 29.6 per cent from 2021.
Along with cloud technologies, new innovative solutions based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are expected to rise too, which will help create a well-rounded digital ecosystem.
It is estimated that by 2025, the IT industry will contribute up to $350 billion, amounting to 10 per cent of India’s GDP, says MeitY. The growth in the IT space will continue to be driven by use of emerging technologies and this will help industries become progressive and be more efficiently run.
A prime example of leveraging cloud to utilise its full potential is health-tech firm Medexpert Software solutions. Started in 2018, the organisation is helping to ‘uberize’ healthcare delivery. The company runs its health management system on next-generation cloud infrastructure.
Through this technology, they extend support to healthcare delivery organisations like super-specialty hospitals and neighbourhood clinics, to improve business agility and deliver a better healthcare experience to patients.
IFFCO too has implemented cloud technology and is relying on advanced IT systems to support their sustainability efforts, including one of their recent initiatives — ‘Nano-technology’ fertilisers. These eco-friendly fertilisers are able to reduce the use of conventional chemical fertilisers in half, while boosting crop outputs.
Witnessing the recent acceleration in the acceptance of technology, it is quite evident that 2022 will continue to be disruptive. Multi-cloud is going to be the way of the world. Businesses today are already evaluating multi-cloud models where they can gain maximum benefits from a trusted set of cloud providers.
And why not? Globally, organisations are expected to spend an incredible $1.78 trillion on cloud and other digital transformation technologies in 2022, according to Statistica.
For us, as technologists and a major cloud provider, this is an exciting time. We are in the midst of a huge digital revolution. Perhaps what is most exciting is that the economic value created will be proportional to the extent of digital transformation this country will witness — as cloud technologies stimulate innovation and improve efficiencies, while protecting institutions’ and citizens’ most valuable data assets.
Indian businesses are prioritising speed as their key competency this year, to recover growth faster. CEOs want to leapfrog innovation cycles. So their focus clearly is on faster, data-driven innovation. And there’s increased awareness on why cloud is the best engine to aid faster innovation at scale.
Only cloud services can accelerate India’s move towards becoming a digitally empowered society, bringing about a smarter, more inclusive future for everyone.
(Shailender Kumar is Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Director, Oracle India)
