According to Frost and Sullivan’s recent findings, the internet of things (IoT) adoption is rapidly growing in India. Backed by strong connectivity and coverage, rising internet penetration, a surge in smart applications adoption, new business models, and government initiatives such as smart city projects, the Indian IoT market is expected to reach $9.28 billion by 2025 from $4.98 billion in 2020. The pandemic-triggered changes in enterprise behaviour and verticals’ focus on automation are driving the market.

India offers multiple opportunities for IoT providers, and the country’s IoT ecosystem is expected to continue to grow to offer entire new streams of revenue. Market participants should focus on:

  • Private long-term evolution (P-LTE) for enhanced security – Indian telcos should focus on marketing the benefits of P-LTE to create awareness and approach enterprises with vertical-specific P-LTE solutions.
  • Real-time operational intelligence for heightened risk and compliance management – IoT providers must develop hardware and applications that are interoperable and pre-integrated to offer brand-agnostic IoT solutions.
  • Visual matrix solutions for improved CX – IoT providers should establish partnerships with visual surveillance system original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to jointly offer in-store, live consumer analytics along with core security solutions.
  • IoT as a service for smart diagnostics laboratories – Starting with open source-based IoT solutions can reduce costs substantially and encourage the adoption of smart laboratories as a service.

Commenting on the report, Apalak Ghosh, associate director, information and communications technologies, Frost and Sullivan, said, “IoT solution deployment for manufacturing industries, including automotive, energy and utilities, smart cities (government), retail, and other industries such as logistics, will drive investments for enterprise IoT products and services. Enterprises are becoming more technology-focused and increasing investments in cellular IoT to generate value from their digital transformation. Use cases such as industrial automation, building automation, security, and surveillance account for the majority of the market revenue. Telcos may benefit from a share of this revenue, depending on their strategic partnerships with hardware providers and their roles in the IoT value chain.”