The general definition of Internet of Things or commonly known as IoT, is the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. For example, visualization, data storage and analytics, even smart street lights that dim when there is no traffic etc., all come under IoT. IoT is also identified by many other names like Internet of Everything (IoE) by Cisco, Industrial Internet by GE, and Smart Planet by IBM.

In business point of view, IoT is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. IoT is a multi-billion dollar industry and even bigger than online advertising. IoT is said to be the most prominent technological revolution and is poised to have share of USD3 to 6 trillion in global economy, by 2025.

IoT is rooting vastly in India, still as compared to other countries; it has been lagging behind in adapting IoT. China, Europe and U.S. have adopted this technology proficiently. In India, there are some initiatives taken by government in order to give push to IoT related projects in the country. The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeiTY) has drafted an IoT Policy document which focuses on creating an IoT industry in India of USD15 billion by 2020.

As we know, IoT has impact on our lives as it touches all the facets of our lifestyle starting from home to industries. It is transforming industries and the way we live & work. India being the third largest smartphone base and the second largest market for social media (Facebook, Twitter etc.) in the world, it is said that India would have a share of 5 to 6% of the entire global internet market and is expected to overtake U.S. as the second largest IoT industry. However, as India is late in this game, they have to put extra efforts to make it possible.
The examples of IoT can be a car with inbuilt sensor to apply emergency break before collision, biochip transponder for wild and farm animals, a person with heart monitor implant etc. In short, IoT can be any natural or man-made device or object which can have an IP address and have ability interact through internet. Till now IoT was associated only with machine-to-machine interaction in power, oil, gas and manufacturing sectors.

The IoT can be helpful in connecting many places like transportation system, manufacturing units, healthcare facilities and power plant to the internet, so that they can represent themselves digitally. Hence they can be controlled from anywhere with no physical presence. This connectivity leads to more data gathering from more places at the same time which will increase the efficiency, safety and security.

There are a lot of benefits with advancement in IoT industry. India being an emerging market can benefit from it. India can develop and provide more products and services, without the having to invest and build heavy physical infrastructure. Supporting digitally-enabled services through analytics and storage can be made easy. Things like traffic management, minimization of the consumption of energy, road death reduction and efficiency in using natural resources like rain water can become more manageable, safe and simple. Customer experience can be improved by a smart, automated and functional interaction. The mobile industry has entered a new phase of evolution where it will be closely tangled with many other industries. With the mobile revolution, IoT has become a necessity.
IoT has enabled with IoT-based interfaces providing real-time traffic data, entertainment on demand, productivity applications, remote monitoring, active safety systems, and personalized insurance rates and, in the long-term, a driverless experience.

The key players in Indian IoT market are Cisco, Bosch, IBM, WebNMS and Intel as these are major hardware, software & service providing companies. These companies are mostly dependent on large private and government companies to offer their products and solutions. Since in India, IoT is a new concept, most of the customers are using it on trial basis. Indian CIOs’ and enterprises are aware of IoT, but there is no business case around it. The industrialists are still not confirmed what value and benefits it can bring to businesses, so they are thinking whether it makes sense to invest in IoT or not.

IoT has three major components;

• Hardware – made up of sensors, actuators and embedded communication hardware
• Middleware – on demand storage and computing tools for data analytics and
• Presentation – novel easy to understand visualization and interpretation tools which can be widely accessed on different platforms and which can be designed for different applications.

There are many local companies which are doing well in IoT industry. Some of them even support other multinational companies for product and service development. Some of them are CarIQ Technologies, RHLvision Technologies, Ducere Technologies, 2mpower, Mango Man Consumer Electronics Pvt. Ltd. and Altizon Systems etc.

In India, there are enormous opportunities for development of IoT, but due to lack of market awareness, knowledge, funding and infrastructure, India is lagging behind other countries. Hopefully, this condition will change in coming 2-3 years and nation will see drastic improvement IoT market due to private and government willingness.

This Blog is written by Akansha, Sr.Research Analyst. You can reach her akansha@dartconsulting.co.in