COVID-19 has expedited India’s digitalisation

As businesses are pushed to be online because of the novel coronavirus, the investment activity is growing in the country’s technology area.The pandemic will speed up digitalisation in India because of the dependency of people in the tech sector is rising day by day. 

Contactless Digital Payment

The COVID-19 outbreak is increasing the adoption of contactless digital payments; and there has been a rise in digital payment number in online grocery stores, retail outlets, online pharmacies, vegetable and fruit seller. In recent critical times, the digital system constructed over the years has proven important in fulfilling business transactions. Contactless payments, via QR Code, wallets, UPI or contactless cards, are getting famous as they give ease, protection and safety while helping people to maintain physical distance.

Digital Tracking APP

At the moment India is using around 19 apps to track and trace COVID-19, including Aarogya Setu.

To successfully track and monitor the spread of COVID-19, India’s National Informatics Centre developed the Aarogya Setu app, which has been downloaded more than 127 million times.

Online Doctor Consultations and Telemedicine

During the novel coronavirus hospitals are giving telemedicine solution and remote consultations to patients. This is one of the great changes seen over the past few months that have led to increased investment activity in the respective field.

Many Indian states have increased the use of robots and drones:

Indian states have used the novel coronavirus as opportunity to proliferate the use of technology.  It can be the use of Collaborative Robots (Co-Bot) by the government in the eastern state of Jharkhand or the municipal corporation of Bengaluru, using drones to spray – disinfectants, survey areas, monitor containment zones or to make public announcements.

Technology is playing a great role in renovating education, health, public services, and agriculture, that are important to economic recovery in the short and long term during COVID-19. 

Cloud computing is already changing the data sharing capabilities of hospitals, contactless commerce and the function of retail industry. Whether it’s in manufacturing or sales or customer service, businesses are upgrading to digitalisation. It is clear that technology has a main part to play in every phase of this critical situation. I would say novel coronavirus has brought forward the clear advantage of investing in a technology enabled the future. 

These technology and digital tools, with innovative solutions will have tremendous impact across various spheres of life of Indian people.