How long will it take for digitisation benefits to translate into a reform-based culture?

Companies in the digital and technology sectors stand to benefit from the changing consumer landscape, potentially seeing higher stock valuations as digital consumption grows

In a rapidly changing world, no organisation can afford to miss the dynamic impact of digitisation. From insights to product development, smart sourcing to on-time efficient delivery, superior brand engagement and marketing through real-time content, connect and commerce, mainstreaming of the digital-first culture is taking place across sectors.

India is currently experiencing a “technological golden age”, with a growing number of skilled professionals and a supportive government policy framework with initiatives like the BharatNet project and the Digital Saksharta Abhiyan fuelling the rapid growth in digitisation.

The government has also ramped up efforts towards the adoption of technology for the digitalisation of the economy. In her Budget speech last week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she will incentivise states which implement business reform plans using digital methods.
The Economic Survey 2023-24 also pointed out that rapid technology-driven transformation of domestic service delivery and the diversification of India’s services exports are two significant transformations that are reshaping India’s services landscape.

The Survey also underscored the importance of relatively less-skilled dependent sectors like tourism for employment generation, on the basis of a report which argued that artificial intelligence could reduce India’s services export growth by 0.3-0.4 percentage points in the next decade.

India’s digital economy has also been driven by the private sector, with several startups and established players investing heavily in the sector. For instance, a diversified conglomerate like ITC Ltd is tapping technology in a big way by leveraging cutting-edge digital technologies like AI/ML, Industry 4.0, Advanced Analytics, Big Data and Internet of Things to drive growth and innovation.

ITCMAARS – the ‘phygital’ eco-system that enables wider agri-tech adoption, enhances efficiencies and access to markets as well as financial services. Leveraging the power of collectives, the ITCMAARS ecosystem now constitutes over 1,650 FPOs covering more than 1.5 million farmers. By 2030, we aspire to connect over 10 million farmers. Recently, ITCMAARS launched the world's first GenAI-based regional voice chatbot for farmers called ‘KrishiMitra’ that has been co-developed with Microsoft.

Companies in the digital and technology sectors stand to benefit from the changing consumer landscape, potentially seeing higher stock valuations as digital consumption grows.

In line with its ‘Orbit Next’ strategy, ITC Infotech also augmented its portfolio of solutions. During the year, the company acquired Blazeclan Technologies to strengthen its capabilities in the Cloud services space and make scalable progress in digital transformation solutions.