ISSN (Print) : 0974-6846

ISSN (Online) : 0974-5645

Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 10(40), DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2017/v10i40/101542, October 2017

India’s Big Data Landscape: Challenges and

Opportunities
Aman Vats* and Abdullah Khan
Amity School of Communication, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida – 201313, Uttar Pradesh, India;
avats@amity.edu, abdullah.journo@gmail.com

Abstract
Objective: This study aims at mapping the big data landscape in India and scrutinizing the challenges and opportunities in
it. The blueprint of size, rate of growth of this sector and infrastructural challenges will enhance the knowledge on Indian
Big Data Landscape. Methods: This study has been carried out using issue analysis method using different points of view
on India’s big data Landscape. This method is suitable for the analysis of ongoing processes. As India’s Big data landscape is
still growing and is facing infrastructural and policy level challenges, issue analysis method is perfect for analyzing the state
of the art, challenges and opportunities. Findings: The study finds that India’s big data landscape is facing severe security
challenges. Information security in Indian cyberspace is critically low and needs to address urgently. The Information
Security Policy of India has serious limitations and it needs to be improved. Users and Usage aspect of big data is also not
clear at policy level. This study suggests for change in policy at five levels: 1. Data Management level, 2. Users’ right level,
3. Responsibility level, 4. Infrastructural level and 5. Contradiction level. By adopting these policies only Indian Big data
landscape can bring new opportunities and the cyber security will be safeguarded. Applications/Improvements: This
study has scope of advancements at micro-level, on how to safeguard cyber security using state of the art technologies in
third world countries, where technology comes first and regulation come next, may be an interesting field of study.

Keywords: Big Data, Cyber Security, Data Protection, Policy, Issue Analysis

1.  Introduction
We have entered in the Big Data era. It is currently in a
rapid development phase and continuously making tech-
nological breakthroughs. Theoretically and practically,
Big Data refers to a collection of data sets, or chunks of
information, too large and complex to be processed using
traditional software tools1. According to the definition
given by a research firm2 “Big Data” are information assets
that are of massive volume, have a high growth rate, are
diversified, and require new processing modes to have
more powerful decision making capabilities, more insight
and discovery capabilities, and capabilities for optimized
processes. “Big Data” has 4V features. The first is the large
data volume (Volume); the second is a variety of data
types (Variety); the third is low density value (Value); and
the fourth is fast processing velocity3.
As far as India is concerned, the number of netizens in
India has reached 300 million mark4, who are constantly
producing and consuming a vast amount of data. The mag-
nifying effect, transmission speed, and mobilizing power
of the Internet are growing. In this information age, IT
tools that we can use are omnipresent, and various kinds
of information related to us can be found everywhere, too.
Identities in cyberspace have become increasingly virtual,
and privacy is increasingly important. One recent study

*Author for correspondence

 India’s Big Data Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
shows that, once a person’s age, sex, and postal code are
known, 87 percent of the person’s identity can be deter-
mined from open-source database5.
With rapid changes in the information technology rev-
olution in the present-day world, the Internet has become
blended with different aspects of economic and social
development and information technology has entered
a new stage of Big Data, smart city, mobile Internet and
cloud computing. There is no doubt that India with over
300 million Internet users is already a major cyber power,
but it is also a major victim of information theft and
cyber-attack and comes under tremendous cyber secu-
rity pressure. This data explosion and continuous flow of
information has also confirmed the scope of the erosion
of civil liberties and right to privacy6.
This new phase of information technology makes the
issue of cyber security more and more prominent and leads
to the continuous extension of the connotation of cyber
security. In the past, people usually referred to the security
of cyber infrastructure as cyber security and referred to the
security of data and content as information security. Since
2011, however, countries like the United States, England,
France, Germany, Russia, Australia, Canada, South Korea
and New Zealand have all formulated their own cyberspace
strategy or cyber security strategy to secure and maintain
their strategic advantages in national security in the new
stage of information technology. Cyberspace covers cyber
infrastructure, data and content, and control domains. In
other words, it covers the transmission level, cognitive level
and decision making level and its scope will be extended
from the present Internet to various types of networks, var-
ious types of data links and various types of equipment that
they can link up with and control. The meaning of cyber
security covers not just traditional cyber infrastructure
security but also security at the information level, that is,
the security of data and content as well as security at the
level of execution of decisions, or the synthesis of non-
traditional security involving information technology.
The challenges from “big data” involve every level, from
information storage, processing, transmission, right to dis-
tribution and application.
2.  Prominent Players in Indian
Big Data Industry
Bangalore is the hub of “big data” analytics in India,
though other cities are emerging. Hyderabad has seen the
2 Vol 10 (40) | October 2017 | www.indjst.org
highest growth for big data analytic companies – from 8%
in 2012 to 11% in 20137.
According to the National Association for Software
and Services Companies (NASSCOM), India’s top body
representing the information technology industry, the
global analytics services outsourcing sector is expected to
reach $ 71 billion by 2016, from $ 42 billion in 2012. A
NASSCOM report said the analytics market in India is
slated to more than double to $2.3 billion by 2018 from
about $1 billion in 2013. Most of the growth is coming
in areas such as retail, banking, and financial services8.
According to some estimates, over 100 Indian analytics-
focused software companies have developed and launched
products catering to niche business needs. There has been
a four-fold increase in Indian analytic start-ups in the
past four years. The Indian provider landscape report-
edly consists of a mix of established players which have a
strong reference customer base and brand name, as well
as a large number of emerging providers9.
India reportedly hopes to play a major role in big data
analytics. The NASSCOM-Crisil report said that the Indian
big data industry is expected to grow from $200 million in
revenue in 2012 to $ 1 billion in 2015. “Big Data will help the
BPO [Business Process Outsourcing] industry move for-
ward as it will help in ‘evidence-based’ decision-making for
clients, which in turn has a high impact on business opera-
tions,” NASSCOM said. Pointing to India’s strong existing
IT base, the Indian BPO industry reportedly continues to
maintain over 37% of total global sourcing BPO revenues,
although over the last five years rising Indian wage costs
have given a competitive advantage to the Philippines,
Brazil, West Asia, Poland, and Romania. Apart from that,
the Indian IT landscape is divided between pure-play ana-
lytics vendors, Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO)
a services provider, and BPO service providers who also
reportedly provide big data analytics services as a part of
their offerings. In addition, global companies also source
analytics services from their Indian affiliates.
3.  Top Players in India’s Big Data
Analytics Sector
Indian analytics industry landscape consists of nearly 600
firms, out of which 500 are start-ups and over 200 are prod-
uct firms. In the absence of any standard rating, the firms
mentioned in this paper were selected as they consistently
garnered media attention and were lauded as top developers.
Indian Journal of Science and Technology

“Big Data Edge” developed by IT major Infosys enables
real-time discovery of data. It analyzes both structured
and unstructured data including information contained
in emails, document files, blogs, social media, call center
voice records, videos. It also converts voice calls into text
to find necessary information. It uses facial recognition
to extract information from videos. It has a repository of
more than 250 pre-built algorithms and over 50 reporting
options for display of data10.
“TCS ACE Solution set,” developed by IT major TCS
Analytics, ITACE – a comprehensive set of analytic solu-
tions covering project management, service management
and financial analysis. TCS had collaborated with Twitter
to launch an app IELECT to observe and analyze social
media conversations during 2014 Indian parliamentary
elections11.
Genpact’s website claims the company has been
named “analytic leader worldwide” in the International
Data Corporation market space in 2012. Its expertise
includes credit risk analytics, fraud analytics, and opera-
tions risk management. Most of its clients are from the
banking and financial services sector. It has also launched
cloud-based order management platform12.
Wipro generally referred to as “Indian outsourc-
ing giant” offers services in business analytics, business
intelligence, and information management. According
to media reports, Wipro, the third largest information
technology services company, has signed an agreement to
acquire a minority stake in Opera Solutions, a US-based
data analytics firm13.
Pin storm, a top digital marketing agency, collected
and analyzed tens of thousands of political statements
from over 100 online platforms daily for nearly six months
before the April-May 2014 Indian parliamentary elec-
tions to help political parties find supporters and tweak
their political message14.
4.  Prominent Indian Startups in
Big Data Analytics
Companies that are into Big Data Analytics are quite in
demand in India. The following companies and products
have featured in various industry surveys as prominent
start-ups in the big data analytics sector of India. Create15
collects and analyzes financial data for any irregularities.
Veda Discovery by Veda Semantics16 allows collection
and analyses of social media conversations in real time.
Vol 10 (40) | October 2017 | www.indjst.org
Aman Vats and Abdullah Khan
OneView by Simplify36017 offers real time monitoring
of conversations across a range of social media platforms
and offers sentiment analysis, audience intelligence, and
trends monitoring.
Trisul18 by Unleash Networks applies large scale real-
time analytics on big data streams to monitor the network
for a variety of purposes such as network security, traffic
monitoring, and network forensics.
MECBOT by Farmcept19 stands for Management and
Enhancement of Content and is responsible for storing
and analyzing all the data.
NanoBi20 has for the first time brought into the Indian
market the concept of an analytics app store.
Persistent Systems analyzed more than 15 million user
responses – almost one million per week for an Indian TV
show in 2012. These messages were gathered from Face
book, Twitter, web, phone calls, and SMS, both in English
and Hindi. Later in 2013, it analyzed 750K+ tweets over a
90-day period to analyze sentiment around a Hindi film. Not
much is available on the tools it uses for data analytics21.
Crayon Data has built a Big Data platform called
White Box that can take data – be it internal or external
social data – from any platform in any format and ingest
it into the platform22.
Gramener23 has created a technology platform which
reads heterogeneous data sources in practically all data
formats—both structured and unstructured. During the
2014 elections, it analyzed over 10 million pages of elec-
tion results in real time, which was used by prominent
English language news channel CNN-IBN.
“pi” is the data analytics platform which allows users to
convert raw data into meaningful information in the form
of interactive charts, tables, and various other formats24.
5.  Indian Big Data Industry Faces
Security Challenges
The Indian Government in 2011 introduced certain
rules under the Information Technology Act outline
the compliances required when collecting, storing or
otherwise dealing with SPDI (sensitive personal data
or information). The 2011 rules require organizations
and corporations to lay out clear privacy and data
protection policies in an attempt to increase the trans-
parency to the consumer about how their information
will be used25.
Indian Journal of Science and Technology 3
 India’s Big Data Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
Apart from that, the Indian Government is one
of the largest stakeholders in data collection. The
Indian Parliament on 11 March 2016 has also passed
the Aadhaar Bill that aims to ensure targeted services
to intended beneficiaries by assigning them unique
identity numbers. These numbers will be given to
each person who has stayed in India for 182 days in
the year preceding the date of application. The Unique
Identification Number (UIN) or “Aadhaar” in India
allows government to access an individual’s personal
information. This is the perfect example of big data in
India. This program will collect over 1.3 billion names,
addresses, birth dates, gender details, and photographs.
It will retain over two billion iris scans and 20 billion
fingerprints in its database. These cards will provide
demographics information for 1.3 billion people. Such
data can be very useful for planning social programs
in developing countries. Unfortunately, India doesn’t
have any strong strategy to protect this large amount
of data.
However, according to experts, the IT Act does not
impose liability on the Indian Government for any
breach of privacy or loss of sensitive data collected by
it. Two legal experts26 stressed this point in an arti-
cle on a technical website geospatialworld.net. They
asserted that since the UIN is a government undertak-
ing and since there are no laws delimiting the activity
being undertaken by the government, the UIN project
gives the government “complete freedom with respect
to privacy laws.” A report in prominent business daily
The Economic Times said the government was planning
to set up a data protection authority to probe any “data
security breach27. After that, no progress was made in
this regard.
6.  Major Security Challenges
Big Data concerns the country’s security interests. The
severity and urgency of the issue of information security
in cyberspace has greatly exceeded that of conventional
security issues. In the highly uncertain cyberspace, the
types of risks have increased, and they are difficult to
prevent in this “complex circumstances28. Looking
around the world, from the anti-terrorist campaign
since 9/11 and color revolutions in East Europe to
the Jasmine Revolution in the Middle East and North
Africa, sovereign countries are now always in this plight
of “looking for a needle in a haystack” when faced with
4 Vol 10 (40) | October 2017 | www.indjst.org
unconventional security threats, with the needle that
a government is looking for always submerged in the
gigantic ocean of data. Even the cloud also comes with
explicit security challenges because of control issue of
datasets in cloud environment29.
The collection of big data inevitably increases the risk
of leakage of user privacy30. Big Data concerns the protec-
tion of state secrets. The arrange and Snowden incidents
that caught the whole world’s attention have vividly made
clear to all the harsh challenges presented by Big Data.
“Wiki Leaks” has exposed several times the United States’
military, diplomatic, and other secrets on such a huge
scale and with such a wide impact that stunned the whole
world.
The “Prism gate” opened by Snowden refracted into
the entire world the mystical rays of cyberspace that exist
between state and individuals, control and counter-con-
trol, and infiltration and counter-infiltration. According to
the data released by Snowden in March, 6.3 billion pieces
of intelligence information about Indians was accessed.
According to another revelation by Snowden, the Indian
embassy was one of the 38 embassies in America bugged
by the US National Security Agency. Criminals and
terrorist groups have also realized the potential for uti-
lizing mass data for crimes and strikes. During the 2008
Mumbai attacks, terrorists actively mined open source
and social media data during attacks.
7.  Major Challenges Confronting
Cyber Security in New Stage of
Information Technology
Big data and cloud computing are new focal points for
cyber security. Big data have attracted more and more
attention with the development of mobile Internet and
other services. According to statistics published by BBC,
global daily Internet traffic was 2.7 EB in 2013, with
new data generated globally increasing by 40 percent
annually and doubling every two years. The tapping of
big data may be put to use in the economic, political,
national defense and cultural sectors. Big Data are the
characteristics of the new stage of information technol-
ogy as well as the new focal points for the defense of
cyber security. India does not pay sufficient attention to
the storage, protection and utilization of big data, with
the result that information is lost or incomplete. At the
same time, problems of the damage, alteration and leak-
Indian Journal of Science and Technology

age of information have brought hazards to country’s
information security and protection of public privacy.
Meanwhile, the in-depth application of broadband and
information technology has pushed forward the develop-
ment of cloud computing. Personal cloud storage, cloud
manufacturing in enterprises and cloud administra-
tion have seen rapid development in recent years. Now,
most of the world’s data centers are going to be based on
cloud computing technology. Even, India’s cloud com-
puting market has grown even faster. Many companies
in India are employing Microsoft’s cloud computing
service. However, all those data centers are situated
abroad31. According to “India Cloud Computing Market
Forecast & Opportunities, 2020,” the market for cloud
computing services in India is projected to grow at the
compound annual growth rate of over 22 per cent dur-
ing 2015-202032. Every country need to understand that
distributed, virtual and service-oriented technologies in
cloud computing capability are the technical foundation
of cloud computing, but attacks on and breakdowns of
cloud computing platforms would cause massive server
paralysis.
In addition to that the security of the Internet-of-
things cannot be overlooked. The Internet-of-things
has numerous nodes, which are not easy to manage.
Data stored at the nodes may be altered or forged, and
this is a major hazard of the security of the Internet-
of-things. For example, the Internet-of-things has now
been put to use on medical devices, and the hacking of
devices like pacemakers would directly affect the safety
of people’s life. Hackers may also launch attacks using
smart TVs, refrigerators and wireless loudspeakers. In
the world’s first attack against the Internet-of-things,
over 100,000 Internet-connected “intelligent” home
appliances were connected into a vicious network
under the control of hackers, which sent out about
750,000 phishing emails to unguarded victims within
two weeks.
The security of industrial control systems also needs
to be strengthened. For example, hacker attacks on the
smart meter systems to change the meter data have
sounded the alarm for us33. Some countries deliberately
prepared for cyber wars to sabotage the information
systems of other countries and destroy their energy,
transport and other infrastructure facilities. A famous
case in point was the “Stuxnet” virus which attacked
and paralyzed Iran’s nuclear facilities in 201034–36. These
serve as a warning to us.
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Aman Vats and Abdullah Khan
8.  India Needs Information Secu-
rity Policy for Fair use of Big
Data
Compared with conventional public policies, the informa-
tion security policy is even more complex, comprehensive,
and multifaceted. The more open and pervasive the
Internet, the more external the nature of the information
security policy will be. The greater the interconnected-
ness and interactivity of the Internet, the more parties of
interests will be concerned with the information security
policy. Therefore, many more aspects and issues need to
be considered in formulating the information security
policy. In a vibrant democracy like India, policy makers
need to consider the following four aspects:
9.  Strategic and Legal Aspect
The cyberspace is a natural extension of human society.
Western powers including US, EU and England have
laid down strategies, laws, and regulations to regulate the
cyberspace. Looking at their approaches it is not difficult
to see that technological development changes rapidly,
making it necessary for management to advance with the
times. The policy’s scope of consideration and content of
management must effectively accommodate advancement
and innovation in Internet-based living and intelligence-
based production. However, basic legal relationships and
legal concepts will not undergo a fundamental change
because of the virtual nature of the Internet and the con-
centration of data. In other words, India should handle
well the relationship between “change” and “no change.”
What should “change” is the form and way of management;
what should “not change” are security responsibilities,
data ownership rights, jurisdiction rights, security man-
agement requirements, etc. These legal relationships will
not change because of the virtual nature of the Internet.
10.  Industrial and Market Aspect
Generally speaking, India’s information industry still
needs to become more open, on the condition that
security must indeed be guaranteed. That is the dialec-
tical relationship between development and security.
Development is the goal, while security is the prerequi-
site. That should be the basic objective of the information
security policy. Therefore, the management policy related
Indian Journal of Science and Technology 5
 India’s Big Data Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
to the opening of the market and the development of
industries should provide system arrangements and tech-
nological guarantees in such areas as enterprises’ security
obligations, industrial social responsibilities, government
procurement policies, and law-based security oversight.
11.  Technology and Risks Aspect
Information technology is a typical dual-use technology.
Technological advances in such areas as cloud computing,
Internet of Things, and mass storage are all “double-edged
swords” with dual-use features. Only by managing the risks
effectively can we draw on advantages and avoid the pitfalls.
There have been quite a lot of discussions in many countries
and societies over whether technologies and products should
be indigenous or imported. The issue should be viewed dia-
lectically. Controllability is the key. Credibility exists only
with controllability. That should be the goal of the informa-
tion security policy from the technology perspective.
Thus, under the circumstances of “the West being
stronger and developing nations weaker” in terms of
overall technological standards, India may place “control-
lability” above “indigenousness” as appropriate. The most
urgent task at the moment is to strengthen country’s abili-
ties in analyzing and discovering IT loopholes and hidden
dangers and in evaluating the risks of technological prod-
ucts and system applications. India should adopt such
methods as “examination before application, relaxation
on the condition of controllability, oversight and control
in application, and security evaluation” toward new tech-
nologies and new applications and provide the support of
technological standards and the guarantee of state policy
for the security of the supply chain.
12.  Users and Usage Aspect
As is known to all, Google made its name by deter-
mining the connection path between a webpage and
another webpage, while Facebook comprises inter-
related persons and organized “social graphs.” Such
an ability to connect a circle with another circle is
immensely powerful. As a user, the only power is the
power of choosing whether to connect or not to con-
nect. Once connected, you are no longer the same self
but are turned into a statistical self in the cyber data-
base. Various kinds of relevant data will be used for
commercial purposes or other causes, legal or illegal,
6 Vol 10 (40) | October 2017 | www.indjst.org
which you will not be able to intervene physically, thus
a user will immediately change from being a strong
person with the right to choose into a weak one with no
power to turn around a desperate situation. That raises
a requirement for the Information Security Policy.
In this policy, the users must have the right to choose
as well as the right to know. Enterprises that provide the
technologies, products, and services should have the
responsibility and obligation to voluntarily and promptly
inform and remind their users.
In a country like India, where exponential growth in
creation of big data is being seen, Big Data Security Policy
should pay attention to five major issues.
13.  Issue of Data Management
In the era of big data, the methods for storing and
using data have undergone new changes, with some
being inter-regional and even cross-border. The issue
of data management is extremely prominent and also
especially important. With respect to that, in formulat-
ing the policy India should handle well three “rights
and interests”:
First, India must face hegemony squarely, meaning it
must be soberly aware that in such areas as Internet con-
trol power, key technologies, and high-end equipment,
country is still under Western control. That is the objec-
tive circumstance and the overall backdrop.
Second, India must make clear its sovereign rights.
Data, being an important strategic resource -- whether
individual-owned or state-owned, must be considered
within the scope of its sovereign rights. Third, it is crucial
to have control rights. Possession of sovereign rights does
not necessarily mean the ability to oversee and control.
For example, data stored overseas and cross-border cloud
computing might not be within the scope of one’s sover-
eign rights. How should transfer of power be carried out?
The country must treat different data differently and adopt
solid, reliable means to effectively manage those data that
truly need to be protected. If India is unable to manage data
effectively, it is definitely risking a catastrophic loss of con-
trol over big data.
14.  Issue of Users’ Rights
This issue involves the people’s welfare in cyberspace
and users’ data ownership, i.e., the issue of whether
Indian Journal of Science and Technology

users have control over their own data. It involves pro-
tection of individuals’ privacy, assurance of Internet
credibility, and guarantee of everybody’s ownership
rights over their personal data. It is not difficult to
imagine that if one’s information is mixed together with
the information of numerous other people in a mas-
sive database that is controlled by a commercial entity
and that includes such contents as users’ intentions,
behaviors, and interests, what changes could happen
to individuals’ rights? Therefore, India needs the cor-
responding policy and measures that are compatible
with society’s capabilities and methods of analyzing
and handling big data.
15.  Issue of Dividing Responsibili-
ties
This issue concerns the spreading of security risks.
Information security risks exist throughout the entire
lifespan of data, and the security responsibilities cor-
responding to each link – from technological concepts
and products’ development to usage by subscribers
and management of services -- must be shared. Big
data’s security issue involves governments, relevant
enterprises, network operators, service providers,
data producers and users, etc., making it necessary for
the policy to lay down clearly the respective security
responsibilities.
16.  Issue of Infrastructure
Big data’s development is inseparable from such key infra-
structures as the telecommunications network, Internet
data centers, and even industrial control systems, and
its security and reliability is dependent on these infra-
structures. Due to globalization of the supply chain and
privatization of industries, the security between net-
works and key infrastructures has become increasingly
complicated. A country’s big data may be stored in other
countries’ networks, and a country’s infrastructure may
serve multiple countries concurrently. The high degree
of global interdependence challenges the existing con-
cept of sovereignty. Therefore, security monitoring and
supervision systems for key infrastructures are extremely
important. In India, it is necessary to establish as soon as
possible substantive state security inspections on supply
Vol 10 (40) | October 2017 | www.indjst.org
Aman Vats and Abdullah Khan
chains and regular security monitoring and supervision
of basic networks.
17.  Issue of Managing Contradic-
tions
This issue concerns the contest of interests over Big Data
on the Internet. As Big Data rises in value as a resource,
the competition and confrontation over big data will
grow in intensity. The methods of producing, process-
ing, and using Big Data will immensely change the way
contradictions of various kinds manifest themselves and
the severity of damage incurred. This issue includes such
contents as IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) protec-
tion, handling of Internet crimes, crackdown on online
sabotage activities -- especially online terrorism, and
countering the threat of cyber warfare.
18.  Basic Approaches for Safe-
guarding Cyber Security on
the Technical Level
The capacity for independent technology innovation
should be increased. Today, virtually all the operating sys-
tems used on personal computers and cell phones in India
are of foreign origin and the core chips are imported. This
is a major hazard. As far as cyber security is concerned, it
is very difficult to realize safe and controllable manage-
ment without mastery of technology.
Snowden’s disclosure of alleged massive US attacks
against Chinese servers is a case in point. The core tech-
nologies of foreign countries cannot be bought and
cannot be exchanged on the market. However, Indian
market plays a very important role in the cultivation of
technology and products through independent innova-
tion. This demands that in the cultivation of network core
technologies, India should also give play to the decisive
role of the market in the distribution of resources and give
better play to the role of the government.
The building of the contingent of cyber experts should
be accelerated. India must build a strong contingent of tal-
ents who are strong in politics, proficient in vocational skills
and good in work style in order to build their country into
a cyber-power and safeguard cyber security. India needs to
cultivate and bring up scientists of world standards, net-
work technology personnel, outstanding engineers and
Indian Journal of Science and Technology 7
 India’s Big Data Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
high-level innovation teams. India should play an active
part in international Internet governance. In order to build
itself into a cyber-power, India needs to have a say in inter-
national Internet that is commensurate with our position
as a cyber-power. Indian Government’s ‘Make-in-India’
campaign can play a vital role in this direction.
19.  Opportunities
India is on the path of becoming a major global trading
power. Building a trading power requires a higher reli-
ance on modern science and technology to remold a new
advantage in foreign trade competition and boosting the
quality and results of the development of foreign trade.
The big data applications in e-commerce are becoming
increasingly widespread, providing a rare opportunity for
India’s foreign trade development. Fully utilizing modern
information technologies such as big data is an important
measure for India to cultivate a new advantage in foreign
trade competition. The business and government sectors
should enhance their cooperation and make the most of
the role of big data as a “new engine” for the development
of foreign trade.
20.  Big Data Brings New Oppor-
tunities for Development of
Foreign Trade
The trading platforms rely on big data service functions;
[they] consolidate foreign trade information flows, capital
flows, and material flows; reduce trading costs; and boost
trading efficiency.
With the help of big data analysis, third party foreign
trade service businesses attract small- and mid-size busi-
ness groups to conduct trading, settlement, and financing
on their platforms, and the data and information on the
platform trading of small- and mid-size businesses provide
third party foreign trade service businesses with oppor-
tunities to expand their service functions and innovate
their data service products. There is positive interaction
between big data and platform data. Third party for-
eign trade service businesses utilize big data to expand
their platform service functions, gradually extending
high value-added services such as online reports, credit
financing, cross-border settlement, and global business
consulting, for a clear rise in the level of specialization
and informatisation in foreign trade business.
8 Vol 10 (40) | October 2017 | www.indjst.org
There are three main types of third party foreign trade
businesses, cross-border ecommerce businesses, foreign
trade consolidated service businesses, and supply chain
management businesses. With market competition heat-
ing up, a number of countries are actively assisting the
big data service providers in their country’s trade fields.
In order to adapt to this new situation, Indian businesses
should also actively promote internationalization strat-
egies and extend their areas of work into the fields of
investment and services. This will certainly promote the
tight joining of big data services with the real economy.
21.  Conclusion
A smart phone today has more computing power than all
of NASA when it put a man on the moon in 1969. There
are five billion cell phone users and 4000 tweets generated
per second. There are more than 900 million facebook
users either sharing data or looking at other people’s data.
This unstructured data is no longer controlled by organi-
zations; it is in people’s hands. The issue is how to mine,
store, transfer, refine, synthesize, and build secure systems
that use this data.
Big data presents a beautiful yet terrifying picture
of the future for mankind. The beautiful aspect is that it
gives us a wider perspective and newer discoveries, which
in turn will change our life, work, and mindset. The ter-
rifying aspect is that it creates even more risks and greater
challenges; besides security of the data itself, privacy of
individuals is more of a concern. Therefore, among the
numerous issues surrounding big data, security risks have
been the focus of attention.
As far as India is concerned, many big domestic inter-
net companies like Baidu, Renren, Qq, Alibaba have come
up in China, while in India there are no such indigenous
companies to challenge Face book, Google and Yahoo.
A small number of Indian companies that do exist also
depend on American servers or technology for at least
some of their work. Intelligence agencies are directly
obtaining information from American servers. As such,
how can a common online user take precautions? The talk
comes back to the government, which has not taken any
stand on the privacy of citizens in its cyber policy. The
contracts for many sensitive services -- like ‘Adhaar,’ in
which private data of most of the Indians has been stored
-- are with foreign companies. Merely being called the
superpower of IT is not enough. The path of cyber secu-
rity is in going domestic.
Indian Journal of Science and Technology

The proclamation of the government that it is con-
scious of its responsibility to prevent unauthorized use of
information and protect our privacy, civil rights does not
instill confidence. Even India’s National Cyber Security
coordinator has also described India’s current privacy
protection attempts as “piecemeal” and “lacks overall
strategy. Shouldn’t India be worried to know how the pri-
vate data of its institutions, business and citizens is being
processed? Or is it being handed over to other countries
or parties? How long will such data be preserved and what
type of conclusions is being drawn from it? The truth is
that even after creating numerous cyber-security agencies,
departments, organizations, laws and policies that have
trendy names, the government appears to be powerless
while facing cyber-attacks. There have been cyber-attacks
on the Prime Minister’s Office as well as on the defense
and foreign ministries, Indian embassies, missile systems,
the National Informatics Center and even on the comput-
ers of the Central Bureau of Investigations. Along with
the surveillance, there can also be business objectives
behind these attacks. In July 2010, due to in the irregu-
larities in the power system of Insat-4B, one of its solar
panels stopped functioning and 12 of its 24 transponders
went out of use. Later on, it was discovered that someone
had infected it with the Stuxnet virus so that TV channels
beamed to INSAT are sent Chinese satellites!
There is also an absence of a legal framework on
issues associated with data manipulation along with the
growing fields of data visualization, predictive and link
analyses, and collection strategies. The ubiquity of large
data requires the right combination of people, tools and
technology to leverage its unlimited potential. In these
circumstances India also needs Information Security
Policy for fair use of Big Data.
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