“GIS use is expected to grow further”: Interview with Esri India’s Agendra Kumar

The geospatial market in India holds significant promise for growth and development. To this end, Esri India has been actively involved in shaping India’s evolving geospatial landscape. Esri’s solutions are gaining traction among telcos to enhance their financial and time efficiencies. In an interview with tele.net, Agendra Kumar, managing director, Esri India, talked about the upcoming trends in the sector, ways in which telcos are harnessing Esri’s offerings, key clientele, and the impact of geospatial policy on the company’s business…

Which trends will benefit the private sector in terms of geospatial offerings in India?

The Indian geospatial economy is growing at a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8 per cent and is expected to surpass the Rs 631 billion milestone by 2025. Realising the unique benefits the technology brings, the government is actively taking steps to make the use of geospatial technologies like geographic information system (GIS) mainstream. Along with making immense progress in terms of conducive policies, it is regularly engaging in consultations with stakeholders and experts to expand the implementation of GIS solutions in the country. This builds a very positive environment for GIS and location intelligence software and solution providers.

The trends that will drive this uptake include the following:

• Focus on location intelligence: There is a growing demand for location-based insights powered by GIS. Accordingly, GIS will continue to swiftly establish itself as a transformative powerhouse, with applications spanning a multitude of critical sectors such as urban planning, agriculture, infrastructure, and disaster response.
• Rise of cloud-based solutions: Cloud-based geospatial platforms are gaining popularity as they offer scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness for businesses.
• Integration with other technologies: Geospatial technologies are increasingly being integrated with other technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT), to create new and innovative solutions. The merger of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) with GIS applications is another trend we are witnessing. The application of AI fused with geospatial data, science, and technology is already accelerating real-world understanding of business opportunities, environmental impacts, and operational risks. We call this geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI).
• Public-private partnerships (PPPs): PPPs are playing a crucial role in facilitating the adoption of private geospatial offerings. The government is actively collaborating with private players to leverage their expertise and resources for various geospatial initiatives, including mapping, data collection, and analysis.

What about telcos? Do they employ Esri India’s solutions for any use cases?

The significance of GIS remains essential for the deployment of telecom networks. Eventually, as user demands evolve and updated location data becomes paramount, the GIS maps become the central source of truth for pinpointing issues, facilitating network expansion, and ensuring swift resolutions for improved customer service. This proactive approach minimises downtime and mitigates economic losses. For instance, at Esri India, we have witnessed the impact of GIS technology while working with the two major telecom service providers (TSPs) in India, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Leveraging Esri’s ArcGIS, Jio implemented an advanced and expansive 4G telecom network that spans over 250,000 km of fibre-optic cables, comprising 29 states, 18,000 cities, and over 100,000 villages. With the integration of GIS, Jio achieved substantial financial and time efficiencies during the network construction phase. Moreover, it has witnessed significant enhancements in field operations through the utilisation of ArcGIS.

Reports indicate that Jio utilised GIS for comprehensive 5G coverage planning across 1,000 cities. Using heat maps and 3D maps based on targeted consumption and revenue potential, the company achieved meticulous coverage planning. This approach is likely to be emulated by other players, both large and small, entering the competitive 5G and 6G markets.

What impact will the liberalised geospatial policy have on Esri India’s domestic business? Do you expect it to increase?

The policy has set grounds for the private sector to play a key role in the creation and maintenance of geospatial and mapping infrastructures, innovations and process improvements, and monetisation of geospatial data. This creates a more conducive business environment for private organisations like us that are focused on developing innovative location intelligence-based solutions for solving pressing social and business challenges. Esri India markets its technology solutions in India. National and state government departments, the water resource sector, disaster management, utilities – electric, gas, and water; telecommunications, rural and urban development, banking, financial and insurance (BFSI), manufacturing, and retail are some of the sectors, where the use of GIS has reached advanced levels and will grow further due to the improved data availability.

Who are the biggest clients/users of Esri India’s services in India?

GIS technology-based solutions form approximately 70 per cent of Esri India’s revenues. We also work with a country-wide network of partners who deliver services around our technology to end customers. We work with numerous government and private organisations in the country across diverse industries, helping them make an impact with GIS technology. We have more than 6500 customers for applications in land management, utilities, water, infrastructure, retail, insurance, disaster management, telecommunications, urban development, smart cities, forestry, natural resources management, and more. Applications running on Esri’s technology are used by about 800,000 people across the country.