The Internet of Things (IoT), which enables everyday objects to be inter-connected through the Internet, will help in the creation of 10-15 million jobs in India within the next few years .
“One of the reasons that IoT is particularly exciting for India is due to the job creation. It is estimated that about 10-15 million jobs will be created through IoT,” said Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary in the Department of Telecommunications.
Sundararajan was speaking at the second edition of IoT India Congress 2017, organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) India, being held in Bangalore.
“IoT represents a paradigm that can overcome the deficits that India has been facing in terms of agriculture, healthcare, transportation, garbage disposal in our cities etc.,” Sundararajan said.
While on the contrary, according to research and consultancy firm Zinnov’s study in 2016, IoT is likely to lead to 94,000 job losses in the country by 2021, and a total of 120,000 jobs could be affected. According to the industry experts, about 65 per cent of startups in India are working on different aspects of IoT.
“The PM (Narendra Modi) has made it clear at the Champions of Change event (held in New Delhi on August 17 for entrepreneurs) that the government’s role is only to facilitate and support. There’s no point in government actually getting into these areas,” Sundararajan told a news agency on the sidelines of the event. “There will be a regulatory framework set by the government which will outline how security will be dealt by the startups working on IoT,” she said. She added that India is becoming one of the world leaders in the IoT field.
“Once we have a full-fledged data protection law, the draft of which is expected by the end of this year or early next year, it will have a lot of impact on IoT as a lot of it has to do with privacy,” Sundararajan added. She noted that getting the next-generation networks, broadband and new technologies to the people of India would be the first and foremost mandate of the government.
“IoT can have a huge impact on our country in terms of the number of jobs it can create and the new business opportunities it gives way for,” Shekhar Sanyal, the Country Head and Director IET India told the news agency on the sidelines of the event.
“The IoT India Congress brings all the industry players onto the same platform and allows them to work together and bring forth solutions to the problems being faced by the world,” Sanyal added.
By Baishakhi Dutta
