How launch of global organizations in India has bolstered innovation in the last decade

In the next few years, why India will continue to matter to global organizations will not just be limited to the sheer market size and scale, but the tremendous opportunity to participate in one of the richest and diverse startup innovation ecosystems in the world, writes Viral Jani, EVP & Country Head, India, Times Bridge.

In the last few decades, the Indian economy has witnessed tremendous growth, making it an attractive investment destination for businesses looking to expand internationally. As the world’s largest open internet market, with a vast population, highest per capita data consumption, high GDP growth and increasing purchasing power, India presents several opportunities that make it an unmissable business destination. Additionally, India’s booming domestic market opportunity, high quality talent pool and a progressively open regulatory environment add to the appeal of the subcontinent. India’s digital transformation journey has been accelerated by the entry of various category leading global players in the Indian market. This can also be credited to various policy measures implemented by the Government in the last few years, due to which the rate of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to India has been steadily increasing.

With over half a billion internet users, India is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for digital consumers. The new evolving consumer, typically the top of the pyramid, has an inherent global vision and this class of consumers are the early adopters of all kinds of new technologies that global organizations have to offer. Today, technology adoption has transcended geographical boundaries and has become all pervasive, which is a huge opportunity that organizations across the board are continuing to tap. It is estimated that by 2030, India’s ecommerce market will be the third-largest by scale.

Interestingly, these trends are now no longer limited to the metropolitan cities of India but are decisively trickling down to consumers in Tier 2 and 3 cities. In the last two years, these markets and smaller cities have grown as a revolutionary wave that has been found to be delivering success for all sectors, including new-age industries such as fintech, edtech, among various others. With the rising purchasing power of Indian consumers, the blossoming of fintech platforms and the growing preference for digital payments, the Indian economy is primed for the digital era and is digitizing faster than many mature and emerging economies.

On the technology front, disruptions such as artificial intelligence. Cloud technologies, blockchain, automation, IoT and more, have rapidly shaped an ever-evolving blueprint of how businesses are conducted, both globally and in India. Many category leading companies have combined both online and offline interactions to penetrate deeper into the consumer market. Global organizations like Uber, Amazon, Twitter, Headspace, Coursera have already witnessed unprecedented success in India by using advanced technologies to meet the evolving demands of Indian consumers. These global behemoths are increasingly adopting digital strategies across business function areas, and utilizing more sustainable and smarter ways to operate in the Indian market. This emergence of technology, primarily introduced by global firms that entered India in the last few years, has inspired various indengenous startups and accelerated the pace of innovation and technology-led growth in India. This category expansion has enabled healthy competition in the Indian business ecosystem considering there is enough opportunity for both, global and local organizations to coexist, while the market continues to organically grow. To this effect, India – with 90 unicorns – is the third-largest unicorn hub globally today and had 46 unicorns in 2021 alone, a testament to the unprecedented growth India’s tech ecosystem is witnessing.

Since the late 1980s, when the labor arbitrage model became a cost-effective solution for multinational firms, India was looked at as a destination for low-cost, outsourced software and support services. Historically, outsourcing has bolstered India’s service sector while also creating valuable jobs and promoting urbanization. Fast forward to 2022, India has now become the tech and innovation hub for various global organizations. With its massive consumer market, it has users for all kinds of new products or technology and is swiftly developing into a center for emerging markets. Global organizations have realized that if a product/service works in India, it will most certainly work in other developing countries. Having established itself as a trusted player for service delivery, India is now on the verge of becoming the global innovation hub.

Winning in India requires an intense, concerted and continued effort. For tapping and benefitting from the ample opportunities that India offers, global companies should enter the market with a long-term commitment and vision and must customize their working model to suit the requirements of the ever-evolving Indian consumer. While leveraging the plethora of opportunities India offers, global companies are playing an equally crucial role in boosting the culture of innovation and in promoting healthy competition in the country.

Note: This is an opinion piece by Viral Jani, EVP & Country Head, India, Times Bridge. The story originally appeared in The Times of India.