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Madanmohan Rao | June 09, 2014 at 8:00 am
Int ernet of Things (IoT): how t o t ap t he $12 billion
market in India
The age of connect ed devices wit h ubiquit ous sensors and mobile net works has been coming upon us for years now,
in it s earlier phases of smart machines and M2M (machine t o machine connect ivit y) and now t he Int er net of
Thi ngs (IoT). Ot her relat ed t erms used by indust ry giant s are Int ernet of Everyt hing (IoE) by Cisco, Indust rial
Int ernet by GE, and Smart Planet by IBM.
A range of models are being proposed here t o t ransform t he way we live, work and play sensors t alking t o one
anot her, t o consumers or t o organisat ional managers; dat a host ed by t he sensor, user device or t echnology
providers cent ral servers; int elligence in t he hub, net work or sensors; on-grid and off-grid sensors; and so on.
Frost & Sullivan forecast s 80 bi l l i on connect ed devi ces i n year 2020, and invest ors and t ech giant s are ramping up
in IoT space. Ciscos vent ure capit al arm, Cisco Invest ment s, is report edly increasing it s invest ment in IoT st art ups t o
t he t une of US$150 million globally over t he next t wo years; it project s t hat t he IoE indust ry can be a US$14.4 t rillion
market by 2022. Cisco has already invest ed in IoT accelerat ors and st art ups such as Alchemist Accelerat or,
AylaNet works and Evryt hng.
Can t he proliferat ion of low cost and low power devices plugged int o wireless net works also t ransform emerging
economies like India?A range of indust ry st akeholders and st art ups gat hered t o discuss t hese opport unit ies at t he
inaugural panel of t he IoT Special Int erest Group (SIG), host ed by t he Bangalore chapt er of The Indus
Ent r epr eneur s.
According t o Machina Research dat a cit ed at t he TiE panel, t he global market for IoT in 2020 will be wort h $373
billion in revenue, wit h $194 billion from hardware and $179 billion from soft ware. Indi a wi l l account f or $10-12
bi l l i on of t hi s t ot al r evenue but t his figure can be much higher if proact ive st eps are t aken right now. Here are
some of my key t akeaways from t he TiE panel about t hese opport unit ies and challenges for IoT in India.
Sect or s and i mpact ar eas
A number of IoT impact areas and sect ors have already been ident ified and many will apply t o India, such as
t ransport , wellness, healt hcare, buildings, home, fact ories, agricult ure, livest ock, elect ric grids, wat er supply
net works, and of course individual consumers. Port als for managing t his informat ion and operat ing services will be
run by individuals, organisat ions and indust ry. Overall, IoT is a hardware, soft ware and t elecom play, collect ively
bringing about improved product ivit y, risk management , realt ime decision making and new waves of innovat ion.
Mappi ng t he Indi a l andscape
In addit ion t o t he usual suspect s above, unique needs of t he Indian environment will have t o be fact ored in, such as
ext reme t emperat ures, high levels of humidit y and dust , errat ic power supply and spot t y t elecom coverage. The
solut ions lie not just in t echnology or business but also cult ure wireless surveillance devices can easily be
sabot aged and t ampered wit h by disgrunt led employees!
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Insi ght s f r om ear l y st age st ar t ups
A number of early st age IoT st art ups have already t aken off in India and not just in t he usual large cit ies but also
smaller ones such as Belgaum, home t o SenseGiz.com. The st art up has a range of t ags and sensors which can be
clipped or st rapped on t o t he body; some monit or sleep indicat ors, t rack at hlet ic act ivit y, det ect accident s, and
provide panic but t ons. Ot hers help consumers t ag it ems so t hey can be easily found, t hus saving search t ime. The
t ags are priced bet ween Rs 1,500 and Rs 6,000 and already have paying cust omers and dist ribut ors in t he US, Japan
and Thailand. Ot her st art ups like Bangalores Get Act ive are also in t he device space for monit oring personal healt h
indicat ors.
Insi ght s f r om mat ur e st ar t ups
Some st art ups in t his space were founded 7-10 years ago during t he M2M era, wit h RFID t ags as popular
applicat ions. Connect M was founded in Bangalore in 2007, wit h funding from Sasken and IDG Vent ures. It s
solut ions have been used in monit oring bank ATM net works (part icularly relevant given t he spat e of recent
robberies), and asset management in mobile operat orst elecom net works. India has an est imat ed 350,000 mobile
t elecom t owers, as compared t o 475,000 in China, 70,000 in Africa and 75,000 in Europe. Each t ower cost s about Rs
50 lakhs, wit h elect ronics account ing for Rs 30 lakhs. IoT solut ions help in efficient ut ilisat ion of resources like diesel,
and t rack pilferage and t heft . The t elecom sect or is t he second biggest user of diesel in India, aft er t he railways and
before defense.
Indust r y-academi a par t ner shi ps on Indi a-speci f i c IoT
The Robert Bosch Cent re for Cyber Physical Syst ems (RBCCPS) at t he Indian Inst it ut e of Science is advocat ing a
more human-cent red view of IoT, which has peoples ownership of t heir dat a at t he cent re and does not require lock
in t o vendors such as Cisco, Microsoft or Google. It advocat es models which also use lit t le dat a,such as healt h
indicat ors of individuals, which are st ored and cont rolled on t heir own devices also and not just cent ral dat a servers.
It s project s include Bluet oot h sensors t o t rack hand hygiene habit s of medical st aff in St Johns Hospit al in
Bangalore, sensor net works t o help irrigat ion efficiency for Indian farmers, and mot ion t racking in post -operat ive
t herapy for Narayana Hrudayalaya pat ient s.
Ident i f yi ng t he l ar ger pai n poi nt s
Though t he ESDM (Elect ronics Syst em Design and Manufact uring) sect or is project ed t o cross $400 billion in 2020,
65% of Indias hardware is import ed, at a cost est imat ed as t he same size of Indias pet roleum import s an alarming
prospect indeed for government and indust ry. It is embarrassing t hat for a supposed IT superpower, many of Indias
hardware component s in t he burgeoning cellphone assembly indust ry are import ed from China, and t hat t est s of
locally developed hardware component s oft en have t o be done in t he US, Europe or China. If IoT has t o t ake off as an
ent ire sect or, India needs t o get it s hardware act t oget her.
Indust r y associ at i ons and gover nment wi l l cr eat e an el ect r oni cs manuf act ur i ng cl ust er (EMC)
To st em some of t he above short comings, t he government of India and t he India Elect ronics and Semiconduct or
Associat ion have t eamed t o set up t he first brownfield EMC at Bangalore for $13 million. The approval for t he
second brownfield EMC at Mysore for $5 million is also expect ed short ly, wit h bot h clust ers t o be operat ional by t he
end of next year. This will help set t ing up of semiconduct or fabricat ion unit s, t est ing facilit ies, prot ot yping labs and
3D print ers all of which can help hardware st art ups move fast er in t he IoT space.
Nat i onal pol i cy wi l l devel op and pr omot e l ocal har dwar e
Indias Nat ional Policy on Elect ronics (NPE) aims at invest ing about US$ 100 billion in t he elect ronics indust ry by
2020, and providing employment t o around 28 million people by 2020. This includes achieving a t urnover of US$ 55
billion of chip design and embedded soft ware, US$ 80 billion of export s in t he sect or, and over 200 EMCs by 2020.
The policy also aims t o upscale high-end human resource creat ion of PhDs in t his sect or, according t o government
sources. India and Sout h Korea, which is ranked No.2 aft er t he USin IoT leadership, have signed agreement s t o
cooperat e on IoT. All t his sounds great in t heory, but t he real t est will come in speedy implement at ions and
clearances, which hopefully will happen under Indias new government .
Indust r y net wor ks ar e connect i ng ent r epr eneur s
The Bangalore chapt er of The Indus Ent repreneurs has creat ed a Special Int erest Group on IoT t o exchange ideas,
organise field t rips, host online forums and promot e ent repreneurial act ion on IoT act ivit y in India. Invest ors,
ment ors, t echnology providers, t est ers, lab heads and even lawyers have signed up already. Focus areas include IoT
st acks, sensor manufact uring, connect ivit y models, analyt ics, IP models and specific vert ical sect ors.
In sum, concert ed moment um is accelerat ing in India in t he IoT sect or. A range of business models are emerging
(such as CapEx-OpEx mix for indust ry solut ions), along wit h scalabilit y solut ions for hardware product s, and global
and local applicat ions of IoT plat forms. St art ups are already showing t he way for innovat ors, and large indust ry
players and academic inst it ut es are t eaming up. Wi t h t he next l i nk comi ng f r om gover nment , IoT may wel l be
poi sed as a power f ul gr owt h sect or and dr i ver i n Indi a.
Speaker profiles:
Venkat esh Kumar an is VP, St rat egy & Operat ions at t he India Elect ronics and Semiconduct or Associat ion (IESA).
He is working t o grow t he ESDM (Elect ronics Syst em Design and Manufact uring) indust ry in India, execut ing on t he
Nat ional Elect ronics Policy. He is act ively working t o develop Greenfield and Brownfield Elect ronic manufact uring
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Madanmohan Rao Follow @MadanRao
Madanmohan Rao is research direct or at YourSt ory Media and edit or of five book series
(ht t p:/ / amzn.t o/ NpHAoE). His int erest s include creat ivit y, innovat ion, knowledge management , and
digit al media. Madan is also a DJ and writ er on world music and jazz. He can be followed on Twit t er
at @MadanRao
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clust ers (EMC). Venki earlier spearheaded Int els soft ware subsidiary Wind River as Count ry Manager, and was also
wit h Mot orola, OnMobile in HongKong and Tat a Elxsi in Bost on.
Sr i r am Chi dambar am is CEO of Connect M Technology Solut ions. He was earlier at Philips Elect ronics, Cadence
Design Syst ems and Paramet ric Technology Corporat ion. He has an engineering degree from Birla Inst it ut e of
Technology and Science, Pilani, and a management degree from Indian Inst it ut e of Management , Bangalore.
Dr . Jay War r i or is Chief Technologist at t he Robert Bosch Cent re for Cyber Physical Syst ems at t he Indian Inst it ut e
of Science, Bangalore. He was earlier wit h Agilent Technologies, Hewlet t -Packard, Fisher-Rosemount and Honeywell
in t he USand Asia. His ext ernal roles include t he advisory board for Coact ive Net works, an Int ernet based st art up in
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Ravi Chi vukul a is Vice President and Global Pract ice Head for Ent erprise Mobilit y at Tech Mahindra. He has led
innovat ion, engineering and monet izat ion in soft ware and syst ems in diverse areas. His int erest s span ruggedised
mobile devices, app st ores, VoIP, life sciences and manufact uring.
Ar vi nd Ti war y is Founder of SangEnnovat e, and organiser of t he TiE Special Int erest Group on IoT India. He has
indust ry experience of 27 years as product manager, ent erprise applicat ion archit ect , sales and market ing. Arvind is
an alumnus of t he Whart on Business School, Indian Inst it ut e of Technology, Kanpur and Indian Inst it ut e of
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