Any investor or entrepreneur with a global focus and outlook should have had their eyes on India for several years now. With a growth rate that places it among one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, a booming tech sector, a flourishing middle class, and a population representing over 1.3 billion consumers, India is clearly a stellar place to do business.
When assessing opportunities in India, it is important to examine the details to see which areas of the economy promise the best performance in the long-run. While traditional large-scale industries such as energy, agriculture, and transport still dominate the economy, there are a number of smaller high-growth sub-sectors of the economy that present foreign investors and business people with better opportunities. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the key emerging sectors that are fueling economic growth in India.
1. Online Groceries
Online grocery shopping, otherwise known as e-groceries, is one of the most robust areas of India’s economy. The pace of growth in this area has been so staggering that numerous global outlets have covered it over the past year. As well as recent year-on-year growth rates hovering between 25-40 percent, global giants such as Walmart and Alibaba have been investing big, with the latter pouring $300 million into India’s biggest e-grocer, BigBasket. The appetite among India’s large middle class for home-delivered groceries is surging, and businesses on every continent are hoping to benefit.
2. Online Gaming
India has rapidly become a nation of avid gamers over the past decade, but nowhere is this trend more pronounced than in the realm of online real-money gaming. According to the All India Gaming Federation, real-money online games such as slots and blackjack represent close to $300 million in revenue in India, a number set to rise to over $1 billion by 2021. This staggering growth has been fueled by popular international online casino platforms that provide Indian gamers with hundreds of real-money games that can be accessed via mobile.
3. Mobile Banking
Ever since the Indian government took dramatic steps to reform the country’s banking system and make it more formal and technology-oriented, mobile banking has skyrocketed. In the past year alone, the average daily volume of mobile transactions in India has more than doubled, with established financial institutions such as State Bank and Punjab National Bank emerging as the market leaders. As more and more Indians move away from cash, the demand for user-friendly mobile banking services will continue to shoot up.
4. Industrial AI
Given India’s status as the IT hub of the world and its strong reputation when it comes to IT education, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the country has emerged as a leader in the development of artificial intelligence. An area where India is particularly excelling at concerns so-called ‘industrial AI,’ which is when AI processes are applied to industrial activities such as mining, construction, and manufacturing. Industrial giants operating in India such as Ati Motors and Tata have invested record amounts into industrial AI, accelerating India’s rise in the global race toward Industry 4.0.
These Indian success stories highlight how the economy is transitioning toward a high-tech, services-led one. Watch this space for future developments.
