Is India ready for “Digital Disruption”?

Abstract

According to many, India has the potential to become one of the largest digitized economies in the world. By end of 2016, most sectors in the Indian economy ranging from healthcare to education, banking and finance as well as retail will face challenges and opportunities through digital disruption. In this fast changing scenario, the euphoria of new marketing opportunities may however be dampened by the reality of considering how sustainable such digital disruptions will be in the long run. One key element in this sustainability is the network readiness of the economy. The World Economic Forum publishes Networked Readiness Rankings for all economies where India is ranked 89 out of 143 countries for the year 2015 and India’s rank has been declining consistently declining since 2013. This is a clear indication that despite the digital revolution which is now called the fourth industrial revolution, India may not be able to harness its full potential if the networked readiness of the country does not improve. The services sector of the Indian economy which contributes close to 60 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product should see incremental growth as the networked readiness improves. This paper seeks to examine this relationship as well as the reasons for the declining rank on Network Readiness. Only when such challenges are addressed both by the private sector as well as the Government can we be confident that the digital disruption will indeed add a long run value for the economy.