India has gone from a data-starved to a data-abundant nation: Neeraj Roy

At the IAA ‘Tech Pulse’ event, held in Mumbai on 27 April, Neeraj Roy, managing director, Hungama, provided insights into the potential business opportunities presented by AI, Web3, EVs, and a decentralised digital ecosystem.

Roy started his talk by sharing the opportunities for growth in the digital ecosystem. He attributed two factors that will drive growth: connectivity and devices. 

“The Indian digital consumption rate grew rapidly with the increase in smartphone consumption, and so have internet speeds. The cost of gigabytes (GB) has also become economical, which has led to its growth. We Indians have gone from a data starved to a data-abundant nation. This provides businesses with more opportunity to track consumer data”, stated Roy. 

Roy expressed that the building blocks of enhancing a decentralised ecosystem and garnering consumer data have been created through the Aadhaar Card, UPI payments, and the India Stack, which has democratised data by tracking an Indian consumer's digital footprint. 

Adding that digital disrupters and regulatory frameworks should co-exist, he said, “Even though there are government regulations in place, which hamper the full-scale growth of digital efficacy, there are also technological disruptors who have found ways to enhance digital developments. This synergy of disrupters and regulatory framework doesn't limit innovation or privatise it but helps democratise the digital ecosystem. PhonePe did just that with digital payments. Our country has laid the building blocks for a digital ecosystem which will see marginal GDP growth in the next ten years.”

AI: A learning curve for businesses

Roy believes that businesses should try to engage with AI and through the learning curve, gain insights as it will be disrupting the digital ecosystem shortly. 

He communicated, “Industries are going to be impacted by AI no matter what sector their business belongs to. AI is a huge component that will disrupt the digital business ecosystem, and it is vital to test out the opportunities for growth at its nascent stage.”

Opportunities for EVs

Roy stated that the production rate of EVs is at 10 million plus on a global level.  

He shared, “EV consumption is moving at an accelerated pace. The driving growth proponent is the reduced cost of batteries. The cost has been reduced by 70%. By 2030, this global 10 million base will scale to 60 million EVs. Charging stations were another pain point. EV charging stations would be found after one and a half hours of travelling. Now, that has to be reduced to 15 minutes, and by 2027 it will be four minutes."

Talking about how businesses can leverage the EV market, Roy remarked, “Businesses shouldn’t look at the EV market as a linear opportunity but as a cohesive venture. With the advancements in battery technology, there will be a next phase of innovation in EVs and autonomous driving, which is augmented reality. These AR offerings will propose different growth opportunities to reach out to consumers on a personalised level. AI will also accelerate the enterprise's reach through EV sensors and will be able to track the drivers' footprint, which will give businesses first-party data to scale their reach and target new consumers. EVs with AI offerings will become the next media opportunity for marketers.”

Web 3.0 

Roy believes that Web 3.0 is another fragment of the digital ecosystem and will enable personalised experiences for businesses. He voiced, "Web 3.0 gives consumers a more decentralised and immersive experience which helps businesses personalise their offerings. BMW has done this with its Nvidia Omniverse, and users can have a digital experience of an original factory."

Drones will help the delivery system take flight 

Wrapping up his session, Roy left the audience with tech prospects for food delivery apps. 

He said, “Today when we talk about fast delivery, the biggest issue that arises is the cost for inventories for delivery personnel to reach the consumer, in a limited duration. However, in the future, with drones, this issue of delivery costs won’t be a major issue. The delivery time will be reduced and will disrupt the food delivery and e-commerce delivery space.”