The IT sector of India is and has always been the domain of great minds. It has played a pivotal role in the economic growth of the country. In 2018, the government think-tank, popularly known as the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog focused on the development of AI research within the IT sectors.
This development came with the launch of the task force on AI for the economic transformation of India by the Commerce and Industry Department of the Government of India in 2017. Since then, AI has been on the rise. Different sectors are adopting AI technologies in India.
The Government’s Helping Hands
With the Government of India urging towards AI, different AI initiatives are taking place and also numerous startups are getting funded. Mayank Kapur, the CTO of Indian AI startup Gramener explains that the government is still the biggest potential customer for the data science services in India. There are also different public sectors that are supporting the spread of AI.
The government initiated a proof-of-concept pilot in 15 districts in India where AI-based & real-time advisory-based satellite imagery, weather data, and similar other information. This is helpful for increasing farm yields, especially in those areas where the farm production levels are low. Also, another long-term project for building a complete NLP platform is in operation.
These would help in the development of different applications like conversational general and career counseling through chatbots & assistants, that can converse in 22 Indian languages.
| SL. | Statistics | Details |
| 1. | Growth in the use of AI | The number of businesses using AI for its operations grew by 270% in the last 4 years. |
| 2. | AI as an Industry | The global AI market is expected to reach $267bn by 2027. |
| 3. | AI in business | 9 out of 10 ongoing businesses invest in AI. |
| 4. | AI in increasing productivity | More than half of the global startups have reported a boost in productivity after implementing AI. |
| 5. | AI in customer experience | 62% of the customers are willing to submit data to AI to have better experiences. |
| 6. | AI in customer service | 15% of all the global customer interactions will be AI-powered. |
| 7. | AI in sales | 2 out of 4 sales teams use AI in their day to day work. |
| 8. | Cost benefits in AI use | 44% of the global business organisations have reported cost savings after using AI. |
| 9. | AI in voice assistance | The number of AI-powered voice assistants will reach 8 billion by the end of 2023. This is an increase by 146% from 2019. |
The Interest in the Use of AI
The level of interest in learning about AI and making use of it is increasing in businesses in India. A lot of industries are working to use their manpower in the use of AI to compete with other global players. A lot of educational institutions have also started working on their curriculum to add courses on machine learning and other different areas.
There are going to be pockets for deep tech research like robotics. Bangalore can be a good place to start with. Hyderabad can be a good data/AI training center. Mumbai can be a good place for AI implementation in the BFSI sector and Delhi for agriculture. Just like China, most of the solutions can probably be applied to the local economy.
What do the Indian CEOs have to Say About the Growth of AI in India?
India is in the ‘learning & growing’ zone when it comes to AI-powered business solutions. Yes, there can also be hindrances. This is due to the underdeveloped economy of the country. However, a lot of CEOs think that AI has immense potential in India, especially for startups.
Dr. Nishant Chandra, the Data Science Leader of Science Group at AIG stated in an interview, “Indian society is not as forgiving to failure in entrepreneurship as the US or Europe” while speaking about the high stakes of failure in India.
Aakrit Vaish, the CEO of Haptik, Inc. said in the next 10 years, the understanding of AI and its use will become more common amongst the technology industry executives. He also thinks that India might go in the direction in which China has gone, economically.
Komal Talwar from the GOI’s AI Task Force stated that, “We think AI could have a great impact in the health sector. There is a scarcity of good doctors and nurses, with AI the machine can do the first round of diagnostics. Staff can carry machines with them to help cut down on the physical presence needed for doctors.”
According to her, the government is urging startups to have AI applications which also has a social impact. For instance, AI for the healthcare sector, or AI for the education sector, etc. It will be great to see a healthy competition amidst startups to solve social problems.
Professor Manish Gupta, the CEO of VideoKen said that there is a trend of copying the ideas in the AI market of India. This prevents the Indian potential to thrive and participate in the global market. Startups need to have their own innovative ideas to use AI to its highest potential.
Top Indian Brands Using AI to Reshape their Functionalities
AI has important effects on business operations. Both tech and non-tech Indian companies are running the race to streamline AI. Thus, it has accelerated their way of working a lot. Here are the top Indian brands using AI to redefine their company functionalities.
1. Reliance Industries
Reliance Industries is an Indian multinational brand that is spread throughout multiple genres. These include energy, petrochemicals, retails, telecommunications, natural resources, and textiles. In May 2017, Reliance had already announced that they are spearheading a 10-year investment project in Maharashtra. The initiative was focused on industry 4.0 technologies. These include AI, IoT, AR & VR, blockchain, and others.
In 2019, Reliance Industries took its first step towards using AI in its business. They acquired Haptik – a Mumbai-based conversational platform. A year later, in 2020, Reliance partnered with Facebook and used WhatsApp to launch an AI chatbot. Created by Jio Haptik technologies, the chatbot offers relevant information on personalized investment and asset management to the advisor, to share it with the customers.
2. Hindustan Unilever
Hindustan Unilever, which is also the subsidiary of Unilever, is an Indian consumer goods company. The company is using AI to strengthen its supply. In 2018, it used AI software Jarvis for predicting the grocery needs. Using the software, HUL extracted details like who visited the grocery store in the last three months, what are their interests and how likely are they to buy from them next time. This initiative reshaped the supply chain and corner shop strategy of HUL.
Apart from that HUL also used an end-to-end digital transformation program. This program includes data, technology, and AI throughout the value chain. The company also set up a digital council to lead the future tech programs. HUL is also using AI to contribute to social causes. HUL and Google, in collaboration with MyGov India, announced plans to arrange a hackathon. This is an artificial intelligence hackathon that will address the issue of water scarcity in India.
3. Titan
Titan is one of India’s largest providers of lifestyle accessories. It is using AI, machine learning, and augmented reality to leverage creativity and innovative designs in the products. The Chief Digital Information Office at Titan also mentioned that technology is the magic tool behind the 99% accurate sales forecasting of the company.
Titan is one of the early adopters of AI technology. In 2017, the company found a unique way to use AI-powered design in its wide array of personal accessories like watches, eyewear, and sunglasses. They use AI-powered products along with massive tools to come up with the most trending designs.
Titan further enhanced its bet on AI in 2019 by harnessing its power in design, e-commerce, and omnichannel. They also took up a disruptive step in exploring General Adversarial Networks (GANs) for learning from images of the watch portfolio and then creating new watch forms.
4. SpiceJet
SpiceJet is one of India’s low-cost airlines and it has adopted AI to make the flight journey of customers sophisticated and hassle-free. Right from booking flight tickets to answering all the customer queries, this aviation company is using AI to streamline the process.
In December 2020, SpiceJet was declared the first airline company in India to offer an intelligent and bilingual conversational experience for callers. Pepper is the AI-powered virtual voice assistant that offers excellent customer service in both English and Hindi.
Before this, SpiceJet also acquired Travenues – a subsidiary of the booking and price comparison app Lxigo. The goal was to improve the e-commerce platforms while using mobile apps, UX, cross-selling, personalization, payments, and more.
5. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory is an internationally accredited pharmaceutical company that operated in India, Russia, Europe, the USA, and other CIS countries. Even when the AI technology was at the early stage of adoption in India, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratory embraced digitization. This helped in streamlining the drug production and supply. The pharmaceutical company uses electronic lab notebooks for research purposes.
In the drug-making and production process, Dr. Reddy uses machine learning algorithms that are fed with the company’s data for improving efficiency and agility. It also uses technology for identifying the basic materials needed for drug making. Dr. Reddy has also adopted disruptive technology to fast-track the manufacturing process. Also, it helps in balancing the quality assessment.
To enhance the end-to-end sophistication with technology, Dr. Reddy’s Lab used data science. This streamlines the sales and marketing drives. Also, Dr. Reddy’s Lab is using cloud computing, NLP, AI, and chatbots to power the drug-making process.
Wrapping Up
The era of AI is NOW!! And the stakes are high for India. With the tech-savvy talent pool, renowned universities, strong corporations, and healthy levels of entrepreneurship, India has the potential for excellent development in Artificial Intelligence. India is still the most competitive South Asian country in the use of AI. For big companies and industries, AI can maximize profitability, increase growth and transform business. For startups and young companies, AI serves as a tool to take on larger incumbents. And for society, AI can improve safety and even save lives.
