Lots of good news coming India's way!
According to a report by McKinsey & Company, Internet services and devices would contribute 3.3% to Indian GDP by 2015. This is an increase of almost $30 billion dollars. In addition, It is also expected to create 22 million jobs by 2015.
This is a good news for the country which seems plagued by the news of corruption, slowing of the manufacturing industy and GDP.
The good news is a prediction based on the fact that India currently has 120 million Internet users. This population is set to grow to 370 million by 2015.
India is still way behind its giant neighbour, China. It currently has 480 million users followed by the US with 245 million users as of 2011.
Thanks to the Internet service and device industry, India will also have a unique feature -- three out of four new users from the country will be mobile-only users.
Mobile-based internet users will form 55 per cent of the total user base in 2015 in India, compared to just 15 per cent in other aspiring countries, it said.
By 2015 China is expected to have 583 million users, while the US is expected to have 279 million users.
For a while, India's growth story seemed entangled with corruption, thanks to common wealth game organisers like Suresh Kalmadi and Co but there were a few inspirational examples like Ashok Khema in between...
The challenge for Indian government is to pave a way for better infrastructure and integrate rural India in the growth story. The report touched on these some dark realities too.
"While India scores well on availability of human and financial capital. It rates poorly on internet infrastructure, internet engagement, e-commerce platform, ease of Internet Entrepreneurship and the impact of e-governance," the report said.
India may take solace from the fact few initiative have been made to address this issue. One notable including its Aakash Tablet, priced at Rs. 3,499 or around US $ 63.45 according to today's dollar value.
According to Kapil Sibal, the Telecom and IT minister, the price will come down to $35 very soon. The reduction in cost is due to the manufacturing order of 5 million new tablets waiting for approval in the cabinet.
Although Aakash 2 has a long way to go before 3 million current orders are delivered, hopefully it will come with better educational resources than currently on offer.
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