India Is Poised To Lead IoT Innovation In The World: Aruna Sundararajan

Dr Harsh Vinayak, Senior Vice President, NTT DATA
Mr P Balaji, Chief Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea Ltd
Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India
Ms Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Department of Telecom, Ministry of Communications, Government of India
Mr Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar, Summit Chairman & President, Aeris Communications India
Mr Balaji Sreedhar, AVP ICT Practice – Consulting & Strategy, Marketsand Markets

The Internet of Things (IoT) stands for ubiquitous connectivity, ubiquitous computing and ubiquitous Data Analytics, said Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Department of Telecom, Ministry of Communications, Government of India at the CII Internet of Things Summit organized today at New Delhi.

Ms Sundararajan congratulated CII for organizing such a timely summit and emphasized that the kind of innovations happening in the IoT and Data Analytics sectors in India is unimaginable. She emphasized that as Indian business houses are readying themselves to become global, they are happily embracing the innovative technologies like IoT and Data Analytics.

The Secretary added that the Government of India is working towards creating a viable model for private players to collaborate with the government initiatives and bring forth the holistic development. India, in last few years, experienced the fast transition from 3G to 4G. India is now ready to witness and guide this paradigm shift in information technology from 4G to 5G now, she added.

Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, also graced the summit. He emphasized that IoT is not only a set of technology, but it is also a profusion of technologies which are all interconnected. He said that there is a sudden surge in the number of data centres and they are valuable enough to be analyzed and acted upon. It is this need of Data Analytics that puts India ahead globally because India is continuously innovating in this field. India has the capacity, latent and the opportunity to become the leader in IoT, he said.

In his opening remarks, Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar, Summit Chairman & President, Aeris Communications India mentioned that IoT has emerged as a game changer in India for many sectors including healthcare, agriculture, telecom and manufacturing amongst others. He added that it is a welcome move by the Government for approving the Software Product Policy and this will further enhance the growth of IT sector in India.

Addressing the summit, P Balaji, Chief Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea Ltd said that his organization is the market leader in Indian IoT space. Our 5 million live IoT connections in India are transforming businesses across varied sectors such as Automotive, Manufacturing, BFSI, Healthcare and Retail said Mr Balaji. He informed that his organization is also working on forming partnerships with key players in the IoT space for co-creating solutions to address the growing market.

During the summit, the delegates and the panelists also discussed the scope of IoT in Ganga Rejuvenation, River Development and other water resource management. In her address on the mentioned issue, Ms T Rajeswari, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Water Resource, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India, said that one of the main benefits of the Internet and Connectivity is that it connects people with each other as well as the resources. She said she is more interested in those people and how this technology is going to make their life better. She further said that water is one of the main resources, therefore, it would be interesting to see how we incorporate the technologies like IoT and Data Analytics for better and improved use of water, anywhere and everywhere. Ms Rajeswari mentioned that the ministry is in talks with companies like Google to know how we can use their technology for water conservation. I think the smart water management system is what we should look at for a better future and IoT definitely has a huge role in that, said Ms Rajeswari while closing her remarks.

In his address on Cyber Security at the summit, Mr. G. Narendra Nath, Joint Secretay, National Security Council Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office, said, it’s been ages since we are talking about cybersecurity and there are different service providers, vendors who have taken measures to insure security of the devices and the protocols. Time to time the government is also implementing new rules to make sure that services should be available with needed security. As the world is moving fast with technology development and it has become a daily need so technological development and security should also move in parallel. We are already talking that in the coming years there would be an explosion of IoT devices and the numbers will be in billions. With the increase in numbers of devices or IoT services, the need of a strong cybersecurity system is also high. The best solution could be provided when the industry experts and technology providers will work with the government to make things better. I will take back to my office the important points that I got during the panel discussion from the members who have industry experience and question-answer session and try to put in the framework that we need for the cybersecurity system of our country.

In his address, Dr Harsh Vinayak, Senior Vice President, NTT DATA said that for the society to innovate at scale, we must create solutions at the convergence of multiple technologies like IoT, 5G, AI, and Robotics.  Globally, NTT has been at the forefront of such innovations. In the city of Las Vegas in the United States, we showcased how we can use technologies to create a more connected society. With our own experience in managing natural disasters, we leveraged IoT and mobility to monitor highway bridges that are the backbone of the economy in many geographies, including Japan. In the wearable space, our smart shirt has been used to collect vital signs of professional athletes to understand their body movement. The implications of this technology goes far beyond sports.  The breakthrough material can gather real-time data through wearable smart shirts that can measure vital signs of chronically ill patients so they could avoid a hospital stay, and of bus and train drivers to increase safety.

Mr Balaji Sreedhar, AVP  ICT Practice – Consulting & Strategy, Markets and Markets in his theme introduction mentioned that we need to educate our citizens about the technological developments that are being carried out by the Government as well as the private sector in various areas.

During the summit a Knowledge Report titled “Building a Smart, Secure & Connected World” was released.

The summit was attended by over 200 delegates from the IT, Manufacturing as well as services sector.―CT Bureau