The State of Innovation in India
The innovation landscape in India covers every industry — from technology to manufacturing and services to government. Which area has seen the most progress?
Some really exciting things are happening. India has some advantages in this area from being a ‘late mover’, which has enabled it to leapfrog the competition in many cases.
Smartphone plans are a great example. It is a matter of frustration for many Canadians to have to haggle with Rogers and for an extra gigabyte of data. People were thrilled recently when Rogers unveiled its new ‘unlimited’ plan. But it’s not really unlimited at all, because after 10 gigs, they slow down your speed. I visit India twice per year, and whenever I’m there I swap my SIM card for an Indian SIM card. This provides me with one GB of data per day for the month that I’m there, and it only costs 200 rupees, which is four Canadian dollars. I’m getting one gig per day for 30 days for four dollars. Of course, the sheer scale of the country contributes to cheaper prices, but I think Indians have really leapfrogged in terms of networks and the ability to deploy technology effectively to a vast number of people.
