The Digital India project, unwaveringly produced and supported by the Prime Minister Modi administration, is driving India to the forefront of the global smart cities drive.
When you think of smart cities, you must consider the integration of IoT. The sphere of IoT is growing in impact as connected devices are being applied to various consumer and industry markets. Increasing devices will lead to an increase in data production. Smart cities can utilise this information for analytics, creating valuable insights which can raise the standard of living in India.
With this, the Indian Government is pushing to attain 5 to 6 percent of the global IoT market by the year 2020.
JS Deepak, Secretary of the Department of Electronics and IT, had recently announced this effort, adding that, "A policy framework around internet of things is in consultation stage. As per reports, the global IoT industry would be USD $300 billion by 2020.” By tackling this industry, India would become a more formidable player in the smart cities arena.
This new push in policy is estimated to bring in $15 billion domestic revenue in five years’ time.
"IoT can be a game changer. It can save lot of power. We see street lights being on in small cities and towns even during day. With help of technology such lights can be automatically turned off which can result in huge saving for the power sector," stated Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation at a recent event on IoT.
In this push for IoT, the Department of IT and Electronics has agreed to finance indigenous projects focused on creating new innovative technologies such as wearables, IoT, computing systems, and more.
Proposals for funding are to be processed through the Convergence Communications & Broadband technologies (CCBT) Research and Development programme. The CCBT programme works to support the abilities and capacities of indigenous with respect to R&D in Convergence Communication, Broadband Technologies and in Strategic Electronics.
Institutions, individuals, organisations and research labs applying for funding that already have backing from the industry and/or partnership with a production agency, will be given priority in the selection process. This is so that the projects are proven to lead to commercialization.
These two pushes in IoT development may just help India mark its territory in the smart technology sphere. It is now up to the government to work with citizens to use these technologies and advance the nation as a whole.
