Tech startups in India are very promising that SAP and other global companies are pitching in to nurture the home-grown talents.
Two factors can push the adoption of artificial intelligence: a strong tech startup story and IT prowess. The good news is that India has both.
Economic Times shared how its Leadership Council in India (ETILC) rated India’s advantage as a market leader for IT services.
The ETILC said:
“We believe India has a major advantage over other countries due to its vibrant tech-related startup ecosystem, strong IT services, and an offshoring industry, to harness the power of AI.”
The ETILC consists of the members who are upper management leaders from companies such as Kuliza Technologies, SAP Labs India, NextGen, NEC Technologies, Hitachi Systems Micro Clinic, and GreyMatter Software Services.
There are specific requirements for AI and machine learning algorithms for it to be able to run on big data. At present, Indian companies are requiring technology that can digitise and store data. Industries are continuously adopting this infrastructure. There is also an increasing surge in investor interest. According to YS Research, 2019 can end and be referred to as the year of a B2B unicorn.
Funding for tech startups in India the H1 of 2019 alone was already up by 9{aa282f308afcc222aaa21b0478c79e01a8fedd01972e2180867097bd93930f22} YoY to $4.9 billion when the average deal size is usually $12.8 million YoY with 381 total number of deals. Some large-scale tech companies have also started to set up accelerators or incubators to help startups. An example of this is the SAP Startup Studio.
India has the third-largest startup economy next to China and the USA. The country boasts of its capacity to potentially build the world’s best process automation and BPO AI applications.
In preparation for the upcoming digitalisation era, India is actively skilling and reskilling its workforce; however, one of the things that still need to be addressed is the hesitation to embrace technology because of fear of job losses. This is where the US’ preparation for policy responses may have to step in.
At present, the IT/ITeS industry is spearheading the initiatives for skilling and reskilling the young workforce. For example, Nasscom’s FutureSkills is contributing to the initiative by delivering live sessions on technologies. And everyone’s goal was to make India the center for digital talents.
