Indian Economy fell face-first due to Coronavirus but we doubled up culturally and technologically

Human beings have always been fast to adapt. When coronavirus first hit china, it disrupted the global supply chain. Since its spread in the world, Coronavirus has impacted health and business alike. And the Indian economy is no different.

But, telecommunications and technology industries have found opportunities in this failing times as well. A look at Reliance Jio's continuing ventures and EdTechs raising fund, industry giants are helping with what matters most. From scrambling to make video conferencing apps to assisting contact tracing and finding coronavirus patients, thankfully, we live in an era of digitization where everyone is moving online with an unprecedented volume.

Impact of Coronavirus on the Indian Economy

People are jobless and labourers are not able to go back home. Most of the government funds are used to feed the poor and the complete country is on a stand-down like never before. The Indian economy is on a material slowdown and Moody's analysts say that there will be 0% expansion in the current FY. We don't have any possible opportunities and we haven't been stable in the past few years.

Rural Household spending is less, and, we are moreover, shifting to a credit economy. There are fewer jobs and the banking sector is also consolidating. The Government looks forward to bring SMEs back in the game. But it is a tough time for E-commerce giants and multi-speciality stores to show profits, too. How will the economy come back to normal? We can't answer that, but what I can tell you, is that India has seen a technological usage spur, like never before.

How have we increased the usage of Technology during the Pandemic?

Work ethics

Indians culturally believe that office hours are the best time to work and weekends are for the family. While it is a good idea, we weren't able to adapt to the remote working culture. It proved to have a large scope, in terms of quality and less spending, yet we felt insecure.

But, when the pandemic forced us to work from home, we have seen a rise in technological spending from an employee point of view. We have adopted to working while our children circle the house, and pets failingly demand treats. Still, it has allowed us to be flexible in our productivity hours. There is a greater understanding between firms and their employees. Since communication is the key, so employees get a feel of wholesome belonging. There are better connecting tools, like Zoom, Slack and Google Meet. People attend conferences via live streaming instead of in-person events.

The pandemic has reduced our physical mobility but, we are now more mobile with the use of technology. On how COVID-19 is shaping Indian Digital structure, Neelesh Kripalani, Senior VP and Head of Center of Excellence (CoE) at Clover Infotech said:

This year, it is more contextual considering the challenges we are navigating due to COVID-19. From enabling remote working and collaboration to empowering banking, healthcare, education to function digitally, the developments have been a strong testimony to India’s Digital Prowess and Capabilities.

Family Time

Not just work-wise, but family-wise, too, we have improved. Devashish Sharma, CTO at Flock said:

Today, we are going through uncertain times with the outbreak of COVID-19, and everything about our personal and work lives have changed dramatically. Thanks to the development of new technologies, a large proportion of the workforce in India and globally were able to shift to remote working with the help of collaboration and communication platforms, video conferencing and more. Also, with the extended lockdown, people can connect with their near and dear ones through similar apps/platforms.

We have been closer to our family and relatives, more than before. From WhatsApp video calls to arranging birthday parties on Houseparty, we are inching closer. Almost 80% of the population in India is using WhatsApp.

Hotstar has seen a drastic revenue improvement from $173,253 to $329,675 after Disney launched Disney+Hotstar in India. Netflix and Amazon Prime have a stronger than before base, and they have reported that over 50% of its users are regularly binge-watching. Zoom App downloads increased from just 9000 in early February. Ludo King now reigns the online gaming industry as over 10 million users are live anytime on the app in India.

People are now more concerned with getting everything delivered to their homes, even medicine and thus we now have Telemedicine Apps. We are consulting doctors online. So it's safe to e-commerce is not just limited to apps like Flipkart, Amazon and Grofers. Grofers saw a peak in usage and order, and Swiggy and Zomato ventured into the arena too. Ola provided its technology to Punjab State to serve farmers. And one of the largest government fund collection after the Indo-China War was possible through Digital Payments.

Education

The Edtech sector has seen a surge of over 2 times. BYJU’S has made its learning app free and saw a rise of 150%. Unacademy's free live classes saw a three times increase. Many new Edtech companies like flipclass.com and Catalyst Group found consumer base, too. Government has also introduced many portals to trains students of school and colleges and even provide certificate courses to doctors, nurses and frontline staff.

Career Counselors also state that Edtech sector is, currently the largest employer, post-lockdown. According to business insider report, 15+ startups have raised funding amid the lockdown. In a potentially weakening Indian economy, these sectors have emerged out to get funded. Tech is on the rise, right?

Since schools and colleges are also closed, teachers have to teach from home. They have been using various sites like Google Classroom and Zoom. Google's initiative of "Teach From Home" has also brought a new era of digital homeschooling.

Government usage

Today, the government is making itself available at any time of the day. All you have to is post a Tweet and let the action begin. Mr Shashikant's 80-year-old parents were in Mumbai while the pandemic hit their society. Since he couldn't go home, or practically be of any help to them, he asked BMC to provide a path. And they did! Imagine if he didn't have technological resources.

On the other hand, drones, robots, ventilators, sanitary items; the government is using all of these. The DRDO is making medical equipment like at a war-front. The Government has even tried to help us fight the pandemic with the use of an App. Although Aarogya Setu is the central government contact tracing app, Government of Kerala and Maharasthra have their apps too. Likewise, Google and Apple are coming together to make an app to trace patients and many other countries also started investing in health tech apps. Contact Tracing and Bluetooth technology are seeing a surge in Google Trends search.

What do industry leaders think?

Mr Parag Naik, Co-founder and CEO, Saankhya Labs in a statement said:

During the times of the COVID-19 outbreak, we believe that changing the way the current networks are deployed and adapting to a whole new set of technologies such as 5G Broadcast, AI-based traffic steering, WiFAR etc are crucial to improve user experience; provide a smart data pipe for content; monetize the underutilized spectrum and to provide connectivity to the unconnected.

In a recent study, PwC said that over 72% of business leaders think Artificial intelligence as a business advantage. Most of them have already invested in AI research. Though the future numbers are optimistic, the current trend is not entirely dissatisfying. According to a Gartner study, 37% of organizations have implemented AI in some form. That's a 270% increase over the last four years. CR even estimated that the market will rise to $100 BN industry.

"As we observe National Technology Day on 11th May 2020, I would like to say that technological innovations are helping MSMEs like GoldMedal to up their business game and are making a positive difference to our lives,” said Bishan Jain, Director at GoldMedal Electricals.