RURAL WILL DRIVE NEW BIZ MODELS

BRINGING THE NEXT 30 MILLION BUSINESSES ONLINE CAN PUT INDIA ON THE PATH OF EXPLOSIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH

- AJIT MOHAN

India of 2021 is dramatically different from the India of early 2020, not just because of the massive health crisis that we’re facing globally, but equally because of a generational shift that has happened over the last one year as a result of an explosive digital transformation. One of the most visible effects of digital adoption has been on businesses, both small and large, and consequently on the Indian economy. We know I that the pandemic has adversely affected business operations, but it’s also true that the digital forces unleashed over the last one year have made the economy more resilient, created new opportunities for business growth and are now paving the way for economic recovery.

Several studies have shown that the economic impact of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India was less severe than in the weeks following the first lockdowns last year. Then, businesses were merely trying to adjust to a world that had moved online almost overnight. Over the course of the year, they discovered that moving online is not just the need of the hour, but can also be a transformative opportunity for the future.

With 700 million people on the internet, and a majority of them coming online in the last four years alone, India is brimming with new ideas that are just waiting to be converted into business opportunities — whether it’s the 63 million businesses or the 150 million farmers who will be able to connect with each other and their customers online for the first time in the coming years.