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Business News/ Companies / People/  India still lacks an enabling ecosystem for IoT, says Rahul Bhasin
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India still lacks an enabling ecosystem for IoT, says Rahul Bhasin

What must be kept in mind is that the technology of today may become obsolete and redundant, and historical architecture two years later, says Bhasin

Bhasin says the reality is that in India even getting Internet connections is still a problem. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/MintPremium
Bhasin says the reality is that in India even getting Internet connections is still a problem. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

While the Indian industry is anticipating rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT)—a concept that envisions machines being connected to each other over the Internet resulting in more analytics and enhanced productivity—to become the next big wave after personal computers and mobile devices, India has to improve the “enabling infrastructure for IoT companies such as basic connectivity and high broadband speeds" to support and enable that growth, according to Rahul Bhasin, managing partner at Baring Private Equity Partners (India) Ltd.

“In 2000, there was this entire buzz about the Internet in India and the companies emerging in this space. All I wondered was that there aren’t even enough phone lines. There were only 11 million phones lines back then and yet, we saw a large number of Internet companies being founded and a number of VCs (venture capitalists) coming out and investing in these companies," said Bhasin during his address at Mint’s Internet of Things event on 16 March.

Bhasin said he believes that “it is very right for people to get excited about technology", but what must be kept in mind is that “the technology of today may become obsolete and redundant, and historical architecture two years later". What really matters is that technology companies need to solve some real problems for real people and the cost of the solution must be affordable, he said.

“We may be talking about things getting connected with each other over technology, but the reality is that getting Internet connections is still a problem. If you look at broadband speeds in India (and compare it to that of the developed countries), we do not have broadband at all," said Bhasin, adding that in order to have companies develop IoT products, “we must first have an enabling ecosystem that supports and enables growth".

India can learn a lot from its Asian peers such as South Korea or Taiwan, according to Bhasin. “If you take examples of South Korea and Taiwan, governments have led the initiative of diffusing innovation and creating the enabling environment for companies to innovate," he said.

“Enabling infrastructure, linking educational institutes to that and inculcating training followed by using incentive will drive (innovation) infusion. In case of poor countries, cost of capital is high and they must try to diffuse innovational technology rather than trying to create innovative technology," said Bhasin.

He added that business model innovation and solution identification are also very important that will get people to pay for the technology. “Companies should be clear about what they are looking to deliver while eyeing the global market," said Bhasin.

Pointing out that technology barriers do not exist in India, Bhasin said there are companies that are building products with sensors which give updates on weather, directions and other things. “These are now standard things. You can buy, order them and rebuild them. Taiwan is a good example of a country that turned around things for itself," he said.

The good thing, concluded Bhasin, is that the market today is global and all emerging markets grapple with similar issues. “From Day 1, companies must think about that big market," he said.

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Published: 18 Mar 2015, 06:41 PM IST
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