Table of contents

Table of contents

1. IT/ITeS Industry in India 3-7

1.1 Importance of the Sector…………………………………………… 3

1.2 Historical Evolution of the Sector...…………………………………4
1.3 Composition of the Sector...………………………………………... 5
1.4 SWOT Analysis…………………………………………………….. 7

2. Latest Technologies Defining the Sector 8 - 16

2.1 Artificial Intelligence………………………………………………. 8

2.2 Internet of Things…………………………………………………...10
2.3 Blockchain Technology……………………………………………..11
2.4 Cyber Security in India……………………………………………...13
2.5 The dawn of the 5G era …………………………………………….15

3. Data is the New Oil 17 – 22

3.1 Big Data and its Application in India....……………………………. 17

3.2 Cambridge Analytica and Ethics of Micro targeting ………………. 18
3.3 General Data Protection Regulation………..………………………. 19
3.4 Justice B.N. Shrikrishna Committee Report on Data Protection…… 21
3.5 Data Localization…………………………………………………… 22

4. Government Policy Decisions 23 - 26

4.1 National Super Computing Mission.....……………………….…….. 23

4.2 National Mission on Quantum Technology…………………………. 24
4.3 Digital India Mission………………………………….……………. 25
4.4 BharatNet……………………………................................................ 26

5. Impact of COVID - 19 on the Industry 27 - 29

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 1 IT/ITeS INDUSTRY IN INDIA

1.1 IMPORTANCE OF THE SECTOR

It has been noted that IT / ITeS industry has become the backbone of the Indian Economy
as it is significantly responsible for its growth and development. The Indian IT / ITeS
industry has made one of the great success stories in modern India by putting the country
on the global map as the leader in the Information Technology (IT) and Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO). The Indian Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology
Enabled Services (ITeS) sectors go hand-in-hand, in every aspect. The industry has not
only transformed India’s image on the global scenario, but also fueled economic growth
and has contributed a lot to social transformation in the country. India today, is flying
high in this sector which is growing day by day with its cost advantage, huge resource
pool and young population. This sector has evolved over the past few decades with the
main focus on the execution of Business Processes and Information/Data Security, End
User Privacy, Business Contingency, Technology, People Management and above all
efficiency, productivity and customer satisfaction.

The global sourcing market in India continues to grow at a higher pace compared to the
IT-BPM industry. India is the leading sourcing destination across the world, accounting
for approximately 55% market share of the US$ 200-250 billion global services sourcing
business in 2019-20.

Economic Growth:

• India’s IT industry contributed around 8 per cent to the country’s GDP in 2020
• It is expected to increase 1.9 per cent to reach US$ 150 billion in FY21
• According to STPI (Software Technology Park of India), the software exports by its
registered units increased by 7% YoY to reach Rs. 5 lakh crore (US$ 67.40 billion) in
FY21 from Rs. 4.66 lakh crore (US$ 62.82 billion) in FY20

Employment Opportunities:

• The IT industry recorded 138,000 new hires.

• The BPM sector in India currently employs more than 1.4 million people, while IT and
BPM together have more than 4.5 million workers, as of FY21.
• In February 2021, Tata Consultancy Services announced to recruit around 1,500
technology employees across the UK over the next year

The liberalization of Indian economic policy, de-regulation of key sectors and progressive moves towards
further integrating India with the global economy has been a key driver of increased IT adoption in the
country.

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 Rising Foreign Investments:

• The computer software and hardware sector in India attracted cumulative foreign
direct investment (FDI) inflows worth US$ 71.05 billion between April 2000 and
March 2021
• The sector ranked 2nd in FDI inflows, as per the data released by Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)
• In FY21, computer software and hardware topped FDI investments, accounting for
44% share of the total FDI inflows of US$ 81.72 billion.

Social Impact:

• India is in a phase of demographic dividend where 65% of the population is in the

productive age of 15-64 years. The IT/ITeS sector has given massive employment
which leads to better education, health and skilling opportunities.
• The rise of the IT hubs like Bengaluru and Hyderabad is the manifestation of
urbanisation caused by the IT sector boom.

1.2 HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE SECTOR

The Indian IT industry is not an old industry. It evolved as a sector in India during the
1990’s. But because of a galloping growth, presently it has become one of the leading
contributors to the economy. The growth phase of the industry is outlinedbelow

Phase of Emergence (1990-2000)

• India started positioning itself as a product development destination in the world. The
remuneration structure was marginal and low initially.
• Post 1995, the industry came into its own with Software and Internet Services seen
as the new growth engines. The first Offshore Development Centre was set up to
provide low cost/high quality IT services from India-based locations.
• The industry grew at a scorching pace, recording almost 50 percent CAGR. Growth to
India was driven by IT services spurred by the Y2K phenomenon, focused largely on
Application Development & Maintenance (ADM) and software R&D services.

Phase of Resilience (2001 – 2005)

• The end of 2001 brought with it the dot com crash and a host of new challenges for the
industry.
• While the sentiment and view of ‘technology’ services post the crash was extremely
negative, Indian IT Services Companies proved their resilience by realigning their
service offerings to serve geographical and verticalmarkets.

The Y2K is the shorthand term for the year 2000 commonly used to refer to a widespread computer
programming shortcut that was expected to cause extensive havoc as the year changed from 1999 to 2000.

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 • In particular they took advantage of the need for technology cost saving in the US and
Financial Services vertical to maintain an extremely strong CAGR of ~37 percent.

Phase of Dominance (2006 – 2016)

• Driven by relentless growth, 2006 was the year which revolutionized the industry.
• They placed themselves as Multinational companies and have emerged as leading
players in the international arena ever since.
• Growth of BPO services and more recently, offshore delivery of IT services such as
package implementation/systems integration, as well as remote IT infrastructure
management have witnessed increased buyer adoption.

Snapshot of the Present Times (2017-2021)

• During the past few years, the IT and ITeS sector has become one of the most
significant growth catalysts for the Indian Economy. It has played a significant role in
transforming India's image from a slow moving bureaucratic economy to a land of
innovative entrepreneurs and a global player in providing world class technology and
business services.
• The government has played a major role in improving the Ease of Doing Business
ranking from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2019 which has helped create new opportunities. It is
predicted that the IT and BPM industry is expected to grow to US$ 350 billion by
2025.
• Government efforts like Tax Holidays in Software Technology Parks and Special
Economic Zones, Inclusion of IT/ITeS in 12 Champion Sector and reformed FDI
policy are all steps taken to stimulate growth of the sector.
• The major players have adopted new strategies of growth including:
a) Shift to productive and fast growing areas like knowledge services, data analytics,
legal services, business process as a service (BPaaS), cloud-basedservices.
b) Companies are expanding their business to tier II and tier III cities to tap into the
cheap labour, affordable real estate for itsgrowth.
c) Companies are investing a lot in R&D and training employees to create an
efficient
workforce, enhancing productivity and quality.

1.3 COMPOSITION OF THE SECTOR:

• IT Services Sector:
a) Market Size: US$ 86 billion during FY21.
b) Over 54 per cent of revenue comes from the export market.
c) BFSI continues to be the major vertical for the IT sector.
d) IT services accounted for almost 51.68 per cent share of IT industry’s revenue in
India in FY21.

In light of the current coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
(MeitY) has decided to provide rental waiver to IT companies housed in STPI premises in the country from
March to June, i.e., for 4 months period as of now.

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 • ITeS BPO:
a) Market size: US$ 32 billion during FY19.
b) Around 23 per cent of revenue comes from the exportmarket.
c) Market size of BPM industry to reach US$ 54 billion byFY25.
d) BPM had a 20 per cent share of IT industry’s revenue in India in FY19.
• Software products and engineering services:
a) Market size: US$ 33 billion during FY19.
b) Over 23 per cent of revenue comes from export.
• Hardware:
a) Market size: US$ 15.4 billion in FY19.
b) The domestic market accounts for a significant share.
c) Hardware exports from India was estimated to grow at 7-8 per cent in FY19

Composition of the IT/ITES Sector

•Project Oriented Services: IT consulting,

system integration and customized
application development and management
•IT Outsourcing: Infrastructure outsourcing,
IT application outsourcing and network
Services infrastructure management
•Support and Training: IT education and
training, hardware support and installation
and software testing

•Customer Care
•Finance and Accounting
ITeS-BPO •Human Resource Management
•Procurement
•Training

Software
products
•Enterprise Application Software
and •Packaged Software
Engineering
Services

•Hardware System
Hardware •Peripherals
•Networking Equipment
Source: Ministry of Commerce & Industry

Infosys shares were listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in 1999 as American depositary receipts. It became
the first Indian company to be listed on Nasdaq.

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 1.4 SWOTANALYSIS
Strengths:
1. Proactive Policy decisions taken by
the Government to stimulate the
sector.
2. Fertile Export Markets established
over years of global presence.
3. Skilled human resource which can
lead the growth for years to come.
4. Diversified Business Verticals like
BFSI, telecom and retail.
SWOT
ANALYSIS
Opportunities:
1. Development of world class
infrastructure in identified tier II and
tier III cities.
2. Rising Foreign Direct Investment in
all domains.
3. Increased collaboration with foreign
entities in Technology Transfer and
Joint Ventures.
4. Rising start-up opportunities in
different business domains.
Strengths of the Indian IT Sector like lower attrition rates than on the west, dedicated workforce aiming at
making a long term career in the area and lower response time with efficient and effective service need to be
tapped in the near future.
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Weakness:
1. Lack of research resulting in
significant usage of imported IPR.
2. Rising costs due to concentration in
Metros and inadequate infrastructure
in other towns.
3. Lack of flow of talented workforce
leading to high expenditure on
training and development.
4. Rising salary structure removing the
low wages benefit.
Threats:
1. Competition and strong pull from
countries like China, Philippines
offering less capital-intensive
operations.
2. Covid led rising protectionism in
target markets like Europe and North
America.
3. Issues like H1B Visa with USA and
delay in signing Free Trade
Agreements with potential markets.
4. Data protection regime lacking
significantly.
 2 LATEST TECHNOLOGIES DEFINING THE SECTOR

2.1 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:

• The term Artificial Intelligence was coined in the year 1956 by American computer
scientist John McCarthy. The world discovered the idea of the ability of machines to
look at social problems u88sing knowledge data and competition.
• Artificial Intelligence is an emerging technology that facilitates intelligence and human
capabilities of sense, comprehend, and act with the use ofmachines.
• It is a system that provides action through technologies such as expert systems and
inference engines to undertake operations in the physical world.

Artificial Intelligence

Source: TheHindu

Areas of Utilization:

• Transports, Logistics, and Smart Mobility: This domain mainly includes various
autonomous and semi-autonomous features, for example, monitoring and maintaining a
predictive engine along with driver-assist. Other applications of AI include improved
traffic management, autonomous trucking, and delivery.
• Retail: Being one of the early adopters of AI solutions, it provides applications such as
developing user experience by personalized suggestions, image-based product searches,
and preference-based browsing. Other uses include customer demand anticipation,
improved inventory management, and efficient delivery management.
• Manufacturing: It can enable ‘Factory of the Future’ through flexible and
adaptable technical systems to facilitate various processes and machinery to respond to
unfamiliar or unexpected situations by making smart decisions. Impact areas include
engineering, supply chain management, production, maintenance, quality assurance,
and in-plant logistics and warehousing.

As reported by Gartner, by 2025 more than 75% of venture and seed capital investors will use AI and data
analytics to gather information.

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 Government Initiatives:

National Strategy for ArtificialIntelligence

• In 2018-19 budget, the government mandated NITI Aayog to establish the National
Program on AI with a view to guiding research and development in new and emerging
technologies.
• NITI Aayog then adopted a three pronged approach undertaking exploratory proof of
concept AI projects in various areas, crafting a national strategy for building a vibrant
AI ecosystem in India and collaborating with various experts andstakeholders.
• NITI Aayog has identified four core areas for application of artificial intelligence:

Healthcare:

a) AI based Radiomics is an emerging field that focuses on comprehensive

quantification of tumor phenotypes by applying a large number of quantitative
imaging features, which has resulted in improvement to existing biomarker
signature panels.
b) A joint venture between Microsoft and Indian start-up ‘Focus Health’ has
developed a portable device named 3Nethra that can screen for common eye
problems as well as complicated conditions like diabetic retinopathy.

Agriculture:

a) Used for enhanced farmers’ income, increased farm productivity and reduction of
wastage.
b) Agriculture sector is witnessing a large participation of start-up sector such as –
Intello Labs, Trithi Robotics.
c) Crop health monitoring and providing real time action advisories to farmers and
using image classification tools combined with remote and local sensed data can
bring a revolutionary change in utilization and efficiency of farmmachinery.
d) AI is being used for soil care, sowing, herbicide optimization, precisionfarming.

Education:

a) AI can be used for developing tools for customized learning, interactive and
intelligent tutoring systems.
b) It can also be used in developing automated teacher posting and transfer
systems, using analytics based on demand – supply gaps across schools.
c) Andhra Pradesh government has collaborated with Microsoft to predict drop-outs
and address the issue.

PWC has reported that by 2030, the global GDP could rise by 14 percent as a result of AI enabled activities.

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 Smart Cities and Infrastructure:

a) Optimization of infrastructure in cities, service delivery, crowd management,

cyber security, public safety and water and waste management are some of the
areas where AI can be used.
b) Bandicoot robot has been developed for sewer cleaning to put an end to
manual scavenging.

2.2 INTERNET OF THINGS

• Internet Of Things (IoT) is a computing concept that describes the idea of everyday
physical objects being connected to the internet and being able to identify themselves
to other devices.
• IoT is significant because an object that can representitself digitally becomes
something greater than the object by itself. No longer does the object relate just to its
user, but it is now connected to surrounding objects and databasedata.

Internet of Things

Source: GoldmanSachs

In March 2019, NITI Aayog circulated the cabinet note to establish a cloud computing platform called
AIRAWAT (Artificial Intelligence Research, Analytics and Knowledge Assimilation Platform for the
Government of India.

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 Benefits of IOT in India:

• Unprecedented connectivity: IoT data and insights from connected applications and
devices empower organizations with the ability to deliver innovative new products and
services faster than theircompetitors.
• Increased efficiency: IoT networks of smart and intelligent devices provide real-time
data to arm employees with the information they need to optimize their day-to-day
efficiency and productivity.
• Cost savings: IoT devices provide accurate data collection and automated workflows
to help organizations reduce their operating costs and minimizeerrors.
• Time savings: Connected smart devices can help organizations enhance the
performance of systems and processes to save time.

Government initiatives:

• According to Nasscom, the Indian IoT market is expected to reach $15 billion by
2020 and constitute 5 per cent of the global market.
• The Indian government outlined a plan to leverage IoT as part of the Digital India
mission. The government provided a budget allocation to develop 100 smart cities,
conserve water and power, and improve healthcare, transportation, and security.

2.3 BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Blockchain is decentralized, distributed and public digital ledger. Blockchain is a new

type of network infrastructure (a way to organize how information and value move around
on the internet) that create ‘trust’ in networks by introducing distributed verifiability,
auditability, and consensus.
• Blockchains create trust by acting as a shared database, distributed across vast peer-
to-peer networks that have no single point of failure and no single source of truth.
• New data can be added to a blockchain only through agreement between the various
nodes of the network, a mechanism known as distributed consensus.
• Each block of data represents some new transaction on the ledger, whether that means a
contract or a sale or whatever else you’d use a ledger for.
• Blockchain leverage techniques from a field of mathematics and computer science,
known as cryptography, to sign every transaction (e.g. the transfer of assets from one
person to another) with a unique digital signature belonging to the user who initiated
the transaction.

According to Nasscom, the Indian IoT market is expected to reach $15 billion by 2020 and constitute 5 % of
the global market.

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 How Blockchain works?

Source: IndianExpress

Benefits to the IT/ITeS Industry:

Greater transparency:

• Transaction histories are becoming more transparent using blockchaintechnology.

• Data on a blockchain is more accurate, consistent and transparent than when it is
pushed through paper-heavy processes.
• To change a single transaction record would require the alteration of all subsequent
records and the collusion of the entire network which leads to authenticity.

Enhanced security:

• Transactions must be agreed upon before they are recorded.

• Information is stored across a network of computers instead of on a single server,
making it very difficult for hackers to compromise the transactiondata.

Improved traceability:

• When exchange of goods are recorded on a blockchain, you end up with an audit trail
that shows where an asset came from and every stop it made on its journey. This
historical transaction data can help to verify the authenticity of assets and prevent fraud.
• Increased efficiency and speed.
• When you use traditional, paper-heavy processes, trading anything is a time-consuming
process that is prone to human error and often requires third-party mediation. By
streamlining and automating these processes with blockchain, transactions can be
completed faster and more efficiently.

The Supreme Court of India set aside the RBI’s order, banning block chain based crypto currencies like
Bitcoin.

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 2.4 CYBER SECURITY IN INDIA

According to EY’s latest Global Information Security Survey (GISS) 2018-19 – India
edition, one of the highest number of cyber threats have been detected in India, and the
country ranks second in terms of targetedattacks.

Key Terms of Cyber Security

• Cyber Space: A global domain within the information environment consisting of the
interdependent network of information technology infrastructures, including the
Internet, telecommunication networks, computer systems, and embedded processors
and controllers.
• Cyber Attack: It is a malicious and deliberate attempt by an individual or organization
to breach the information system of another individual or organization.
• Cyber Security is protecting cyber space including critical information infrastructure
from attack, damage, misuse and economic espionage.

Components of Cyber Security

• Application Security: It encompasses measures or counter-measures that are taken

during an application’s development process to protect it from threats that can come
through flaws in the app design, development, deployment, upgrade or maintenance.
• Information security: It is related to the protection of information from an
unauthorized access to avoid identity theft and to protectprivacy.
• Network Security: It includes activities to protect the usability, reliability, integrity and
safety of the network.
• Disaster Recovery Planning: It is a process that includes performing risk assessment,
establishing priorities, developing recovery strategies in case of an attack.

Cyber Security framework in India:

National Cyber Policy, 2013

• Creating a secure cyber ecosystem.

• Creating mechanisms for security threats and responses to the same through national
systems and processes.
• National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) functions as the nodal
agency for coordination of all cyber security efforts, emergency responses, and crisis
management.
• Promoting cutting edge research and development of cyber securitytechnology.
• Human Resource Development through education and training programs to build
capacity.

Since the beginning of COVID-19, major cyber security firms have observed a 47% increase in the severity
of ransom ware and malware attacks in India.

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 Government Initiatives:

• Cyber Surakshit Bharat: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

(MeitY) has launched Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative to strengthen cybersecurity
ecosystem in India in line Government’s vision for a DigitalIndia.
a) It was launched in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD)
and industry partners.
b) Objective: Spread awareness about cybercrime and building capacity for safety
measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff
across all government departments.
c) Operations: It will be operated on three principles of awareness, education
and enablement. It will include an awareness program on importance of cyber
security. It will also include a series of workshops on the best practices and
enablement of the officials with cyber security health tool kits to manage and
mitigate cyberthreats.

• Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In):

a) CERT-In is nodal government agency that deals with cyber security threats like
hacking and phishing in India.
b) It comes under the aegis of Union Ministry of Communications and Information
Technology.

Objective:

• Protect Indian cyberspace and software infrastructure against destructive and hacking
activities.
• Strengthen security-related defense of the Indian Internet domain. Issue guidelines,
vulnerability notes, advisories, and whitepapers regarding to information security
practices, prevention, procedures, response and reporting of cyber securityincidents.

• Cyber Swachhta Kendra:

a) The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has

launched Cyber Swachhta Kendra in New Delhi for Botnet cleaning and Malware
analysis.
b) The centre’s mission is to create a secure cyber space by detecting botnet
infections in India and to notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end users
so as to prevent further infections.
c) It is being operated by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-
In) under provisions of Section 70B of the Information Technology (IT) Act,2000.

Major issue with the Cyber Security Framework in India is that it has several central bodies that deal with
cyber issues, and each has a different reporting structure.

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 2.5 Dawn of the 5G Era:

With a confluence of technologies (IoT, big data, edge computing, AI, etc.) maturing
together, 5G is set to be a game changer for the telecom industry and is expected to yield
enormous economic opportunities over the next three to five years.
As per a KPMG International survey report 2020, the augmentation of enterprise 5G will
impact almost all major sectors, with the potential to unlock USD4.8 trillion globally
through identified use-cases. KPMG in India in association with IMC and Cellular
Operators Association of India (COAI) 2019, estimated that India Inc. has the potential to
unlock USD48.69 billion (INR3408 billion) through the deployment of 5G over the next
four years and the contribution of 5G to annual GDP is likely to be in the range of 0.35 to
0.50 per cent.
While 5G received a great deal of media attention in its early days, manufacturers and
innovators have only recently started to adopt the technology, paving the way for mass
adoption. 5G is set to disrupt Industry 4.0, powering machine-to-machine communication
and demand-driven supply chains. The adoption of 5G will be a compelling proposition
with benefits like lower latency, higher capacity and increased bandwidth (10x faster than
4G). It will also provide greater flexibility, reduce costs and make viable applications that
cannot be operated using current wireless technology, enabling a more efficient and
smart-connected world.

Strategies for 5G deployment

In terms of 5G deployment, there are two strategies that telecoms can adopt depending on
their level of investments and the respective use cases of their networks:
• 5G standalone (SA) – Deployment of new radio and 3GPP-standardised 5G Core
which is independent of the 4G network
• 5G non-standalone (NSA) - An add-on to the existing 4G network with 5G radio
base stations and 4G evolved packet core (EPC).

India’s tryst with 5G

In India, the DoT (Department of Telecommunications) is expected to hold spectrum
auctions for 5G networks in 2021. Additionally, the DoT has allocated INR224 crore to
set up an ‘Indigenous 5G Test Bed’ in India by 2021. The test bed creates an ecosystem
that closely resembles a real-world 5G deployment and is a much-needed step towards
building multi-institutional collaboration across sectors.

The challenges in deploying end-to-end 5G networks include high fees of spectrum,

infrastructure investments, existing fibre backhaul capacity and security of open-stack
platforms.

According to a report, 5G networks will be responsible for 35% of total global mobile traffic by 2024.

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 Use cases of 5G

Source: KPMG

The deployment of 5G will disrupt our day-to-day lives and transform sectors with an
array of applications and use-cases. Sectors such as manufacturing, energy and utilities,
smart cities, public safety, and transport, will be the focus sectors during the early stages
of 5G adoption in India.

In the context of 5G, the key imperatives for the success of emerging technologies include
spectrum pricing, network sharing, adoption of business models including VNO (Virtual
Network Operators), NaaS (Network as a Service), SPV (Special Purpose Vehicles) and
the role of enterprises as service innovators.

While enterprises will lead the implementation of 5G technology, governments would

need to set industry-specific regulations to ensure that the devices and networks are well-
secured to mitigate digital and cyber risks across the ecosystem.

5G will require a high level of collaborations and partnerships, and this interconnected
ecosystem is set to provide significant opportunities for telecoms across the value chain
and spur the adoption of lighter and effective business operating models.

The Ericsson Mobility Report also revealed that by 2024 at least 65% of the world’s population will have used
5G.

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 3 DATA IS THE NEW OIL

3.1 BIG DATA AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN INDIA

Big Data simply refers to a large amount of data which is of structured, semi-structured
or unstructured nature. The data pool is so voluminous that it becomes difficult for an
organization to manage and process it using traditional databases and software techniques.
Therefore, big data not only implies the enormous amount of available data but it also
refers to the entire process of gathering, storing, and analyzing thatdata.

Big Data

Source: WEF
Applications of Big Data in India:

Governance:

• Big data can be analysed for targeted delivery if schemes, maintain a record of
beneficiaries, analyse the response of the electorate to policies, predict future trends and
demands of the population.
• Patterns of investment, savings and expenditure can be revisited with changing time and
government can instil such changes in its policies.
• The Digital India and Smart Cities initiatives of the government also include efforts
to utilise data to design, plan, implement, manage, and governprogrammes.

Businesses:

• Help to understand customers profile and needs, keep centralized data of sales, maintain
the individual history of each customer and delivercustomized services.

The Economic Survey of 2018-19 recognising the rise of Data as the new Oil called for democratisation of
its use following the policy of Data of the people, for the people, by the people.

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 Urbanisation

• Massive amounts of data generated by cities can be used to improve infrastructure and
transport systems as Singapore has done.

Agriculture
• Seed Selection: Big-data businesses can analyse varieties of seeds across numerous
fields, soil types, and climates and select thebest.
• Weather: Advanced analytics capabilities and agri-robotics such as aerial imagery,
sensors help provide sophisticated local weather forecasts can help increasing global
agricultural productivity over the next few decades.
• Insurance: Crop-related ground data helps crop insurance companies for accurate
assessment of risk and speedy settlement of claims.

Government Initiatives:

• NITI Aayog is currently working on a plan in collaboration with the private players to
develop the National Data & Analytics Platform, which will act as a single source of
sectoral data for citizens, policymakers, andresearchers.
• Big Data Management Policy drafted by CAG is being for auditing large chunks
of data generated by the public sector in the states and the union territories.
• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has proposed to establish a
National Data Warehouse on Official Statistics which will leverage technology and
use big data analyticaltools to improve the quality of macro-economic aggregates.
• The Ministry of Agriculture has signed a deal with the ISRO to use satellites for
mapping of agricultural assets.
• Smart City Mission, Digital India, digital economy proposals like BHIM app, inter alia
are important government initiatives that are using Big Data for achieving good
governance in the country.

3.2 CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA CASE AND ETHICS OF

MICRO TARGETING
A watershed moment in case of personal data and data breach came about in early 2018,
when it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had harvested and used personal data of
over 87 million people's Facebook profiles, without their consent, for politicalpurposes.
Cambridge Analytica (CA), a London-based elections consultancy firm, was one of
the many data analytics companies which used data from social networking sites for
academic research purposes. The data was allegedly used to micro-target the voters in
various political across the world and favor certaincandidates.

The use of Big Data Analytics in Project Insight of Central Board of Direct Taxes is a highlight in India.

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 Ethical Issues associated with the Data Breach Scandal:

• Breach of trust of millions of Facebook users by compromising of their personal data

and other issues like Data breach, Data privacy & Dataprotection.
• Profiling and Micro targeting of populace and electoral manipulations by the data
analytic firms, and their effect on democratic choices that people make. Such
information has the potential for getting misused for political or criminal ends. In case
of Cambridge Analytica, such sensitive information was collected without the consent
of the people.

Global Impact of the Scandal

• People’s perception of their privacy, security and protection of their data has enhanced
immensely.
• The onus on companies like Facebook to protect data and ensure privacy has increased.
The management of the companies need to have an ethical code to follow while using
the public data for their organizational gains
• Data protection laws like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of Europe, to
protect the personal data have started to takeshape.

3.3 GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR)

• The European Union in 2018 passed a new Data Protection Regime called General
Data Protection Regime (GDPR).
• The GDPR redefines the understanding of the individual’s relationship with their
personal data.
• It relates to an identifiable living individual and includes names, email IDs, ID card
numbers, physical and IP addresses.
• This law grants the citizen substantial rights in his/her interaction with
a) Data controllers - Those who determine why and how data is collected such as
a government or private news website.
b) Data processors - Those who process the data on behalf of controllers, such as an
Indian IT firm to which an E.U. firm has outsourced its dataanalytics.

Features of GDPR

• Definition of Data and Entities: Any company offering back-end services to

companies operating in the EU or elsewhere, if they are receiving EU resident data,
may fall within the definition of a processor under the GDPR.
• Under GDPR a data controller will have to provide consent terms that are clearly
distinguishable.

In the last few years data privacy has gained immense importance with privacy laws being enacted in over
80 countries around the world.

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 • Individuals will have right to have personal data deleted under certainconditions.
• Stronger obligations: Under GDPR, data breaches have to be reported within 72
hours and failure to comply with the new laws could result in a fine up to 4% of global
turnover or maximum amount of fine 20 millionEuros.
• It mandates the concept of ‘privacy by design and default’ and creates categories of
data privacy compliance that never existed earlier.
• Punishment: It empowers EU statutory authorities to impose heavy administrative
fines and to impose bans on data processing, ordering rectification, restriction or
erasure of data and suspending transfers to certaincountries.

GDPR Explainer

Source: EU GDPR

The importance of personal data protection can be gauged from the fact that India has 50 crore active web
users.

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 3.4 JUSTICE BN SRIKRISHNA COMMITTEE REPORT ON DATA
PROTECTION

A committee headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Justice BN Srikrishna has

submitted its report on "Data Protection Framework" to theGovernment.
• The Committee was constituted by the union government in July 2017, to deliberate on
a data protection framework.
• The Supreme Court in its Puttaswamy judgment, 2017 declared privacy a
fundamental right. This set the government in motion to take steps to bring a new
data protection legislation for the country.
• The report has emphasized that interests of the citizens and the responsibilities of the
state have to be protected, but not at the cost of tradeand industry.

The Committee has also proposed a draft Personal Data Protection Bill.

Features of the Report:

• Individual Consent: The proposed Bill makes individual consent the centrepiece of
data sharing, awards rights to users, imposes obligations on data fiduciaries (all
those entities, including the State, which determine purpose and means of data
processing).
a) Consent will be a lawful basis for processing of personal data. However, the law
will adopt a modified consent framework thereby making the data fiduciary liable
for harms caused to the data principal.
b) The Data Protection Bill also calls for privacy by design on part of data processors,
and defines terms like consent, data breach, sensitive data,etc.
c) Right to be forgotten: It refers to the ability of individuals to limit, delink, delete,
or correct the disclosure of personal information on the internet that is misleading,
embarrassing, irrelevant, or anachronistic.

• Data Protection Authority: The data protection law will set up a Data Protection
Authority (DPA), which will be an independent regulatory body responsible for the
enforcement and effective implementation of the law. The DPA shall perform the
following primary functions:
a) Monitoring and enforcement.
b) Legal affairs, policy and standard setting.
c) Research and awareness.
d) Enquiry, grievance handling and adjudication.

• Penalties: Penalties to be imposed for violations of the data protection law. The
penalties imposed would be an amount up to the fixed upper limit or a percentage of
the total worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever ishigher.

Google Pay was recently found in breach of data localisation norms and was asked to ensure immediate
compliance of data localisation, data storage and data sharing norms.

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 • The law will not have retrospective application and it will come into force in a
structured and phased manner.
• Cross border data transfers of personal data, other than critical personal data, will be
through model contract clauses containing key obligations with the transferor being
liable for harms caused to the principal due to any violations committed by the
transferee. Personal data determined to be critical will be subject to the requirement to
process only in India (there will be a prohibition against cross border transfer for such
data).

3.5 DATA LOCALISATION

The RBI in 2019 ordered global financial technology companies to comply with its data
localization norms in India and to store transaction data of Indian customers within India.
RBI said that all system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment
systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India.
• Data localisation is the practice of storing data on any device that is physically
present within the borders of the country where the data is generated. As of now,
most of these data are stored, in a cloud, outsideIndia.
• Localisation mandates that companies collecting critical data about consumers must
store and process them within the borders of the country.

Advantages of Data Localisation:

• Secures citizen’s data and provides data privacy and data sovereignty from foreign
surveillance.
• Unfettered supervisory access to data will help Indian law enforcement ensure better
monitoring.
• It will give local governments and regulators the jurisdiction to call for the data when
required.
• Greater accountability from firms like Google, Facebook etc. about the end use ofdata.
• Minimises conflict of jurisdiction due to cross border data sharing and delay in justice
delivery in case of data breach.

Major issue with the new Data Protection Bill in India include the excessive exemption with the central
government in processing personal data.

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 4 GOVERNMENT POLICY DECISIONS

4.1 NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTING MISSION

Supercomputers in India:

• India's supercomputer program was started in late 1980s because Cray supercomputers
could not be imported into India due to an arms embargo imposed on India, as it was a
dual-use technology and could be used for developing nuclearweapons.
• This led to setting up the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-
DAC) in March 1988 with the clear mandate to develop an indigenous supercomputer
to meet high-speed computational needs.
• PARAM 8000, considered to be India’s first supercomputer was indigenously built in
1991 by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
• Presently, Pratyush, a Cray XC40 system - an array of computers that can deliver a
peak power of 6.8 petaflops, installed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
(IITM), Pune, is the fastest supercomputer inIndia.

Use of supercomputers:

• Climate Modelling.
• Weather Prediction.
• Aerospace Engineering including CFD, CSM, CEM.
• Molecular Dynamics.
• National Security/Defence Applications.

Details of the Mission:

It is being implemented and steered jointly by the Department of Science and Technology
(DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology(DeitY).
Focus of the mission:
• The Mission envisages empowering national academic and R&D institutions spread
over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70
high- performance computing facilities.
• These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid
over the National Knowledge Network (NKN). The NKN is another programme of
the government which connects academic institutions and R&D labs over a high speed
network.
• The Mission includes development of highly professional High Performance
Computing (HPC) aware human resource for meeting challenges of development of
these applications.

The world’s fastest supercomputer is Japan’s Fugaku with a maximum speed of 415 petaFLOPS.

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 Benefits

• This mission will bring India, a step closer, to be in the select league of few top nations
(USA, China, Japan, etc), having a large supercomputing power and improve its
presence in the world of supercomputers.
• It supports the government's vision of Digital India and Make in Indiainitiatives.
• India’s large Scientific & Technology community will have access to supercomputing
power necessary for developing applications in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cyber
security, etc.
• These machines will be part of the National Supercomputing grid over the National
Knowledge Network (NKN), which will have wide-scale applications in the fields of
climate modelling, weather prediction, aerospace engineering, computational
biology, molecular dynamics, atomic energy simulations, national security and
defense applications.
4.2 NATIONAL MISSION ON QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES

Union Budget 2020-21 proposed to spend ₹8,000 crore ($ 1.2 billion) on the newly
launched National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications (NMQTA). The
mission seeks to develop quantum computing linked technologies amidst the second
quantum revolution and make India the world’s third biggest nation in the sector after the
US and China.

Quantum Computing:

• Quantum Technology is based on the principles of Quantum mechanics, that was

developed in the early 20th century to describe nature in the small , at the scale of
atoms and elementary particles.
• The first phase of this revolutionary technology has provided the foundations of our
understanding of the physical world, including the interaction of light and matter, and
led to ubiquitous inventions such as lasers and semiconductor transistors.
• A second revolution is currently underway with the goal of putting properties of
quantum mechanics in the realms of computing.
• Quantum computers compute in qubits (or quantum bits). They exploit the properties
of quantum mechanics, the science that governs how matter behaves on the atomic
scale.
• In this scheme of things, processors can be a 1 and a 0 simultaneously, a state called
quantum superposition.
• Because of quantum superposition, a quantum computer if it works to plan,can mimic
several classical computers working in parallel.

Google’s quantum supercomputer called Sycamore has gained popularity of late by solving computational
problems found impossible for normal machines.

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 Applications of Quantum Technology
• Secure Communication: This area is significant to satellites, military and cyber
security as it promises unimaginably fast computing & safe, un-hackable satellite
communication.
• Disaster Management: Tsunamis, drought, earthquakes and floods may become more
predictable with quantum applications.
• The collection of data regarding climate change can be streamlined in a better way
through quantum technology. This in turn will have a profound impact on agriculture,
food technology chains and the limiting of farmlandwastage.
• Pharmaceutical: Quantum computing could reduce the time frame of the discovery of
new molecules and related processes to a few days from the present 10-year slog that
scientists put in.

4.3 DIGITAL INDIAMISSION

The Indian Government launched the Digital India campaign to make available
government services to citizens electronically by online infrastructure improvement and
also by enhancing internet connectivity. It also aims to empower the country digitally in
the domain of technology.

Digital India Mission is mainly focused on three areas:

• Providing digital infrastructure as a source of utility to every citizen.

• Governance and services on demand.
• To look after the digital empowerment of everycitizen.

Digital India was established with a vision of inclusive growth in areas of electronic
services, products, manufacturing, and job opportunities.
The motto of the Digital India Mission is Power to Empower. There are three core
components to the Digital India initiative. They are digital infrastructure creation, digital
delivery of services, and digital literacy.

Objectives:

a) To provide high-speed internet in all Gram Panchayats.

b) To provide easy access to Common Service Centre (CSC) in all the locality.
c) Digital India is an initiative that combines a large number of ideas and thoughts
into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them is seen as part of a larger
goal.
d) The Digital India Programme also focuses on restructuring many existing
schemes that can be implemented in a synchronized manner.

The Government of India recently announced that every village in the country will be connected by the
optical fibre cable (OFC) in the next 3 years under its Digital India Mission.

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 4.3 BHARAT NET

• BharatNet is a flagship mission implemented by Bharat Broadband Network Ltd

(BBNL).
• It is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by the Government of India under
the Companies Act, 1956 with an authorized capital of Rs 1000 crore.
• It is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunication under the Ministry
of Communications.
• The initiative was launched in 2011. Under the initiative, 100 Mbps speed internet
were to be provided to around 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats. The aim is to increase their
speed to around 2 to 20 Mbps in the future to all households in rural areas.
• The project is a National Optical Fibre Network project. It is seen as a major initiative
in order to succeed Digital India.
• The Government of India has so far connected 1,30,000-gram Panchayats through
Bharatnet. More than 50,000 Gram Panchayat are yet to be connected. The government
is working under the current target that at least 15% of villages are to be digitalized in
next four years. The free Wi-Fi services are being announced under Bharatnetproject.
• The Government in June 2018 announced that all gram panchayats will receive
broadband connectivity by 2020.
• The Government of India has so far connected 1,30,000-gram panchayats through
Bharatnet. More than 50,000 Gram Panchayat are yet to be connected. The government
is working under the current target that at least 15% of villages are to be digitalized in
next four years. The free Wi-Fi services are being announced under Bharatnetproject.
• The Government in June 2018 announced that all gram panchayats will receive
broadband connectivity by 2020.

Bharat Net

Source:PIB

To give impetus to its Digital India Mission, the government launched the National Digital Health Mission
which is a complete digital health ecosystem including health ID, personal health records, Digi Doctor and
health facility registry.

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 5 IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE INDUSTRY

The outbreak of COVID-19 has severely impacted the global economy, disrupting
businesses across diverse sectors around the world. The effects of COVID-19 are having a
significant impact on the technology sector, affecting raw materials supply, disrupting the
electronics value chain, and causing an inflationary risk on products

Expected impact on the sector

• Indian IT firms will face the full impact of business disruption in the US and Europe
due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown in the quarter to June, as analysts expect
companies to report 5-10 per cent drop in revenue due to clients cancelling or putting
off discretionary spending on technology.
• Major companies are also expecting to reduce their IT budgets and slow down new
initiatives due to the fear of uncertain economic situation andrecession.
• Indian firms have faced several projects cancellations by clients across sectors due to
limitations in air travel and shutting down of cities and countries to contain the spread
of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The rise of protectionism and import substitution policies have also started to
take shape. Amidst fear of worsening economic conditions, the countries and
companies largely dependent on outsourcing are trying to control the IT service
imports so that they can employ their own resources to the assigned job. For instance,
two major companies of Australia – Telstra and Optus which had partnered for process
outsourcing with India & Philippines, have announced to give preference of
employment to candidates in host country only.
• Staffing concerns ramp up for full-time employees, as well as gig workers, such as
drivers, delivery workers and retail staff, who often work ascontractors.
• A slowdown in recruiting resulting from the crisis could affect a future pipeline of
skilled workers.

Segment oriented Impact:

• Software and Hardware:

a) New Smartphone launches have been delayed due to supply chain constraints.
Even consumer confidence being low is going to impactsales.
b) Opening and running factories smoothly across the country is becoming difficult
which will impact production for the upcomingquarters.
c) Software is seeing a stark resurgence with companies selling remote working
technologies getting higher business.
d) Security softwares are seeing a rise in sales as companies spend to secure all
data points of their remote workforce.
e) Hardware companies are also fulfilling large orders of laptops and mobility
devices in the market.

It is predicted that revenue of the IT sector will reduce by 2-7% due to a slowdown in decision making in the
next six months while businesses evaluate the impact of the virus that is disrupting the global economy.

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 • IT Services:

a) Rising demand for cloud infrastructure services, telecom services and certain
specialised softwares are needed to keep the workforce well connected.
b) Changing demand for automation and faster access of data will enhance the focus
on network softwares and communication devices.

• Network equipment:

a) Raw material supply needed for manufacturing is hindered due to disruptions in

supply chain.
b) New product schedules and even product go to market strategies for new launches
will be impacted.
c) Companies need to address their geographical concentration of supply chains as it
can severely impact company processes.

Green Offshoots:

Many businesses who had never given a thought of outsourcing could capitalize on this
situation to partner with a few outsourcing firms during this time to stretch their wings.
Now companies are adopting work from remote location, thereby requiring more cloud
services and IT applications to effectively enhance and strengthen their information related
security from cyber attacks. So on one side, when the Indian IT industry is expected to
witness pressure on new contracts and pricing, there are segments within the IT domain
wherein outsourcing is anticipated to increase.

Tech industry leading India’s recovery post covid disruption:

The Indian technology sector rallied round to grow at 2.3% YOY on the back of rapid
acceleration in digital transformation and tech adoption. It is expected to add over
1,38,000 net new hires in FY21.
The resiliency shown by both large technology firms and startups have made India one of
the strongest digital markets despite the disruption caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
According to a recent Nasscom report, Indian IT services revenue is set to touch $194
billion by end of FY 20-21, a 2.3% increase from the previous year. The commentary
from the Indian IT giants, post their Q3 FY21 results, were all positive as they closed
large deals and estimated a strong Q4.
For instance, Infosys raised its revenue guidance to 4.5-5% in constant currency terms
from the earlier estimated number of 2-3%. When it comes to startups, Nasscom has
earlier reported that more startups are raising their first round of funding in 2020 (nearly
42%) as compared to 2019 (around 29%).

India’s software and services exports which grew 8.1% to $147 billion last year are expected to take a deep
plunge according to the National Association of Software and Services Companies.

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 The first-time funded startups were in BFSI, ed-tech, agri-tech and gaming. In 2020,
despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, over 12 unicorns were added to India Inc,
as reported by Nasscom in its report.
As far as the large global brands in the IT industry in India, digital transformation will set
the tone for the decade ahead. In one of the CEO surveys conducted by Nasscom with
100 key CEOs in the tech industry, it was found that 97% CEOs expect the global
economic growth to be better than 2020, 71% CEOs expect global technology spend to be
significantly higher than 2020 and 67% expect Indian tech industry to grow significantly
higher than 2020.
The main driver behind this is the need for digital transformation. While the large IT
services brands continue to bag large deals abroad, startups in India have opportunities
within the country as well by working closely with large companies and by offering
services/ products to MSMEs. For instance, the demand for deep-tech startups and their
services is increasing. In the last five years, 2100 deep-tech startups have come up
focused on specific technologies.
Nasscom estimates that this pool is expanding at 5-Year CAGR of 41%, faster than
overall ecosystem growth rate. AI, IoT, Big Data, Blockchain, AR/VR and 3D printing
are some of the technologies that the startups specialize in. Fintech and health tech
startups saw a surge in the demand for their services such as digital contactless payments
and telemedicine. Similarly, retail tech startups benefited from the demand for e-
commerce, digital payments from the small businesses and kirana stores.
New-age digital skills will be priority for talent in large IT firms as well as growing
startups, especially in the areas of blockchain, AI, IoT, security, AR/VR and data
analytics. Nasscom predicts that digital skills demand will outstrip supply by FY24

About 64 percent of organizations say that adopting cloud-based solutions has helped them reduce waste and
lower energy consumption

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 REFERENCES

• www.ibef.org

• www.investindia.gov.in

• www.kpmg.com

• www.pwc.com

• www. pib.gov.in

• www.economictimes.com

• www.timesofindia.com

• www.statista.com

• www.businessstandard.com

• www.investopedia.com

• www. visionias.com

• www. drishtiias.com

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Research and Scholastic Development Team (R.S.D.T.)

S - Team
Aishwarya Dhamangaonkar (Operations)
Akansh Arora (Finance)
G.S.V. Ramana (Finance)
Samiksha Gamare (Marketing)
Sunaina B N (HR)
Tushar Upadhyay (Marketing)
Vamshi Krishna Salem (Marketing)
Yamini Mathur (Operations)

I - Team
Bhavini Priyamvada (Marketing)
Keerthi Krishna A S (Operations)
Komal Agrawal (Marketing)
Kshitiz Jaiswal (Marketing)
Phanindra Sai Siddamsetty (HR)
Sheetal Sable (Operations)
Shubhada Vyawhare (Marketing)
Vallabh Agarwal (Operations)
Yash Vardhan Chaudhary (Marketing)

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2

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