82 per cent Indians admit to the 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) when not connected

• 
  The report said more than half of surveyed Indian Internet users admit they can't survive more than five hours without Internet connectivity.

• 46 per cent of users in India spend 6 hours or more a day on Internet
• 82 per cent Indians admit to the 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) when not connected
• 56 per cent Indians admit they can't survive more than five hours without Internet
• Tablets and smartphones are rapidly replacing television
• 43 per cent Indians  are willing to give up television for the Internet
• 61 per cent of Indian respondents believe that 'everyone owns the Internet'

 Indicating towards the growing importance of Internet in the country, a survey today revealed that 46 per cent of users in India spend 6 hours or more a day actively using the Internet whereas 82 per cent admit to the fear of missing out when not connected.

"In India, not only did 46 per cent of respondents spend 6 hours or more a day actively using the Internet (in comparison to 29 per cent globally), but an alarming 82 per cent of respondents admit to the 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) when not connected (the highest globally)," Tata Communications said in its 'Connected World II' report.

The report captures responses from 9,417 Internet users across six emerging and developed countries - France, Germany, India (2,117), Singapore, the US, and the UK .

The report said more than half of surveyed Indian Internet users (56 per cent) admit they can't survive more than five hours without Internet connectivity.

"Although surveyed Indian men spend more time on the Internet than surveyed Indian women, it is Indian women (21 per cent) who outdo men (16 per cent) in feeling anxious or lost when not connected to the Internet," it said.

The study further discloses that tablets and smartphones are rapidly replacing television as the preferred screen as nearly twice as many surveyed Indians (43 per cent) are willing to give up television for the Internet, compared to Americans (17 per cent) and Europeans (22 per cent) respondents.

"The Internet has truly changed the way we function. As technologies evolve and adapt, there is a huge potential for the Internet to affect different aspects of life, economy and society," Tata Communications' Nextgen Business Chief Marketing Officer and CEO Julie Woods-Moss said.

The impact of the Internet on global economies is phenomenal. About 2.5 billion people are connected to the Internet today , that's a third of the world's population. By 2020, the number of connected devices is expected to rise to 26 billion.

Tata Communications said 61 per cent of Indian respondents believe that 'everyone owns the Internet', compared to 70 per cent globally with 21 per cent rightly pointing out that each individual country owns their Internet when compared to 16 per cent globally.

The study also reveals that Asian respondents appear to be the most 'Internet dependent' with less than half of surveyed Singaporeans and Indians capable of lasting up to 12 hours without Internet access compared to 86 per cent of German, 77 per cent of French, 75 per cent of US and 70 per cent of UK respondents.

Respondents from Asia and those from the USA and Europe are distinctly different in their vision of the most inspirational opportunity that the Internet will deliver in the future.

"32 per cent of surveyed Singaporeans and 27 per cent of surveyed Indians pick smart cities as their preferred choice for what the Internet will enable in the future," it added.

Respondents from the UK, France, Germany and the USA, meanwhile, feel that light speed connectivity will be more important.

"The survey results also found that 77 per cent of respondents believe the most beneficial impact of the Internet is its ability to connect people globally with incredible speed," Woods-Moss said.

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Digital India-A programme to transform India into digital empowered society and knowledge economy

The Cabinet today at the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi gave its approval for Digital India – A programme to transform India into digital empowered society and knowledge economy.  This is a follow up to the key decisions taken on the design of the programme during the meeting of the Prime Minister on Digital India Programme on August 7, 2014, and to sensitize all ministries to this vast programme touching every corner of the government.  This programme has been envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).

The vision of Digital India aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.  The programme will be implemented in phases from the current year till 2018.  The Digital India is transformational in nature and would ensure that Government services are available to citizens electronically.  It would also bring in public accountability through mandated delivery of government’s services electronically, a Unique ID and e-Pramaan based on authentic and standard based interoperable and integrated government applications and data basis.

The source of funding for most of the e-Governance projects at present is through budgetary provisions of respective Ministries/ Departments in the Central or State governments. Requirements of funds for individual project(s) for Digital India will be worked out by respective Nodal Ministries/ Departments.

The vision areas of Digital India:

I           Infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen:

(i)            High speed internet as a core utility shall be made available in all Gram Panchayats.

(ii)          Cradle to grave digital identity - unique, lifelong, online and authenticable.

(iii)         Mobile phone and Bank account would enable participation in digital and financial space at individual level.

(iv)         Easy access to a Common Service Centre within their locality.

(v)          Shareable private space on a public Cloud.

(vi)         Safe and secure Cyber-space in the country.

II         Governance and Services on Demand:

(i)            Seamlessly integrated across departments or jurisdictions to provide easy and a single window access to all persons.

(ii)          Government services available in real time from online and mobile platforms.

(iii)         All citizen entitlements to be available on the Cloud to ensure easy access.

(iv)         Government services digitally transformed for improving Ease of Doing Business.

(v)          Making financial transactions above a threshold, electronic and cashless.

(vi)         Leveraging GIS for decision support systems and development.

III        Digital Empowerment of Citizens:

(i)            Universal digital literacy.

(ii)          All digital resources universally accessible.

(iii)         All Government documents/ certificates to be available on the Cloud.

(iv)         Availability of digital resources / services in Indian languages.

(v)          Collaborative digital platforms for participative governance.

(vi)         Portability of all entitlements for individuals through the Cloud.

Scope of Digital India:

The overall scope of this programme is:

(i)             to prepare India for a knowledge future.

(ii)           on being transformative that is to realize IT (Indian Talent) + IT (Information Technology)  = IT (India Tomorrow)

(iii)         making technology central to enabling change.

(iv)         on being  an Umbrella Programme – covering many departments.

·      The programme weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision, so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal. Each individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the larger picture.

·      The weaving together makes the Mission transformative in totality.

(v)           The Digital India Programme will pull together many existing schemes which would be restructured and re-focused and implemented in a synchronized manner.  The common branding of the programmes as Digital India, highlights their transformative impact.

Digital India aims to provide the much needed thrust to the nine pillars of growth areas, namely

1.      Broadband Highways,

2.      Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity,

3.      Public Internet Access Programme,

4.      e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology,

5.      e-Kranti - Electronic Delivery of Services,

6.      Information for All,

7.      Electronics Manufacturing,

8.      IT for Jobs

9.      Early Harvest Programmes.

Approach and Methodology:

i             Ministries / Departments / States would fully leverage the Common and Support ICT Infrastructure established by the Government of India.

ii           The existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be revamped to align them with the principles of Digital India.  Scope enhancement, Process Reengineering, use of integrated & interoperable systems and deployment of emerging technologies like Cloud & mobile would be undertaken to enhance delivery of Government services to citizens.

iii             States would be given flexibility to identify for inclusion additional state-specific projects, which are relevant to their socio-economic needs.

iv             e-Governance would be promoted through a centralised initiative to the extent necessary, to ensure citizen centric service orientation.

v               Successes would be identified and their replication promoted proactively.

vi             Public Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible.

vii           Adoption of Unique ID would be promoted to facilitate identification, authentication and delivery of benefits.

viii         Restructuring of NIC would be undertaken to strengthen the IT support to all government departments at the Centre and State levels.

ix             The positions of Chief Information Officers (CIO) would be created in at least 10 key ministries so that various e-Governance projects could be designed, developed and implemented faster. 

x               DeitY would create necessary senior positions within the department for managing the programme.

xi             Central Ministries / Departments and State Governments would have the overall responsibility for implementation of various Mission Mode and other projects under this Programme. Considering the need for overall aggregation and integration at the national level, it is considered appropriate to implement Digital India as a programme with well defined roles and responsibilities of each agency involved.

Program Management Structure :

A programme management structure would be established for monitoring implementation. Key components of the management structure would consist of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for according approval to projects, a Monitoring Committee headed by the Prime Minister, a Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the Minister of Communications and IT, an Apex Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) / Committee on Non Plan Expenditure (CNE).

Background:

Even though India is known as a powerhouse of software, the availability of electronic government services to citizens is still comparatively low. The National e-Governance Plan approved in 2006 has made a steady progress through Mission Mode Projects and Core ICT Infrastructure, but greater thrust is required to ensure effective progress in electronics manufacturing and e-Governance in the country.   The Digital India vision provides the intensified impetus for further momentum and progress for this initiative and this would promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services, products, devices, manufacturing and job opportunities. India in the 21^st Century must strive to meet the aspirations of its citizens where government and its services reach the doorsteps of citizens and contribute towards a long-lasting positive impact.  The Digital India Programme aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy by leveraging IT as a growth engine of new India.

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India on brink of urban revolution: UN-backed report

New Delhi: India is on the "brink of an urban revolution" with its population in towns and cities expected to reach 600 million by 2031,according to a new UN-backed report which pegged the gap in urban infrastructure investment in the country over the next 20 years at a whopping USD 827 billion.

Over the last two decades, India's urban population increased from 217 million to 377 million and this is expected to reach 600 million, or 40 per cent of the population by 2031, said the New Climate Economy Report by the The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate released here yesterday.

"India is on the brink of an urban revolution. The current pattern of urbanisation is largely taking place on the fringe of cities, much of it unplanned and?outside the purview of city codes and bylaws, and is already imposing high costs.

Unprecedented growth is leaving municipal governments with critical infrastructure?shortages and service gaps," it said.

The report said that in India, the gap in urban infrastructure investment is estimated at USD 827 billion over the next 20 years, with two-thirds of this required for urban roads and traffic support.

Urban air pollution was projected to become the top environmental cause of premature mortality by 2050, it said.

Among the rising costs of unmanaged, unstructured urban expansion in India is urban pollution which caused 620,000 premature deaths in 2010, up more than sixfold from 2001.

Recent estimates show that the cost of environmental degradation, largely driven by sprawling cities, is "enormous" and is reducing India's GDP by 5.7 per cent or about USD 80 billion annually.

"Some 44 per cent of India's rapidly growing carbon emissions have urban origins, emanating from transport, industry, buildings and waste. This highlights the?potential benefit of a new model of urban development," it said.

The 90 largest Chinese cities account for over USD six trillion while cities in India generating two-thirds of GDP, 90 per cent of tax revenues, and the majority of jobs, with just a third of the country's population.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the report timely as it comes just one week before a major climate summit he will be hosting on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders for the UN General Debate.

The UN chief said he looked forward to next week's climate summit, where leaders from government, business, finance and civil society are expected to deliberate challenges and deliver recommendations on how to promote low-carbon growth.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that the social?costs of road transport in OECD countries, China and India combined are 3.5 trillion dollars per year, including the value of health impacts and lives lost.

The report said that governments should phase out direct agricultural input subsidies, and redirect the savings to pay for the provision of social goods and?provide more direct support to low-income farmers.

India provided roughly 28 billion dollars in input subsidies to nitrogenous fertilisers and electricity for pumping agricultural water in 2010.

"Potential greenhouse gas emission reductions of 200 million tonnes of CO2e (Carbon dioxide equivalent) per year have been estimated from more efficient use of fertilisers in China alone and close to 100 million tonnes of CO2e per year from more efficient use of water in India," it said.

The year-long study was conducted by leading research institutes from Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, South Korea, the United Kingdom and United States and advised by a panel of world-leading economists.

The report further said that coal remains the default option for rapid expansion of the power supply and for heavy industry in several fast-growing economies.

India has imported more than half of new coal requirements in recent years, and may face still higher import dependence without a change of course, it said.

The report sets out a detailed 10-point Global Action Plan of recommendations to achieve prosperity and a safer climate at the same time.

It emphasises that over the next 15 years, about 90 trillion dollars will be invested in infrastructure in the world's cities, agriculture and energy systems.

It said this is an unprecedented opportunity to drive investment in low-carbon growth and bring multiple benefits including jobs.

The report further said that building better connected, more compact cities based on mass public transport can save over three trillion dollars in investment costs over the next 15 years and restoring just 12 per cent of the world's degraded lands can feed another 200 million people and raise farmers' incomes by 40 billion dollars a year.

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Retail sector to grow at 16% rate over next 3 years: Report

Mumbai: India's retail sector is expected to grow at a slower rate of around 16 per cent over the next three years as against 18 per cent previously, according to India Retail Report.

The retail market, which is currently valued at Rs 3,893,425 crore, has grown by an average of around 18 per cent to reach where it is today, said India Retail Report, which is published once in two years by the Images Group.

It is estimated that by 2017, the country's retail market would be at Rs 6,156,333 crore and may pick up even further, the report said.

The total apparel retail market is valued at Rs 324,500 crore and is growing at around 21 per cent. It is expected to be worth Rs 564,792 crore by 2017. Modern retail is estimated at 43.1 per cent of this total market and is expected to grow by much higher growth rate, it said.

There has been no slowing down in modern retail which is led by this category. The industry estimates the category would grow at around 40 per cent, it said.

Total fashion accessories retail market is worth Rs 15,557 crore. Modern retail is estimated at 13.3 per cent of this total market and is expected to grow by around 23 per cent. Retail expansion grew by around 18 per cent in terms of number of outlets and retail space with store growth being around 32 per cent, the report said.

Total food service retail market is worth Rs 204,438 crore, growing at around 24 per cent and is expected to touch Rs 380,000 crore by 2017. Modern retail is estimated at 13.3 per cent of this total market and is expected to grow by around 31 per cent, a much higher growth rate, the report said.

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57% teenage students prefer shopping online: Survey

 Teens hanging around electronic stores for their favourite gadgets may not be a familiar sight soon as they are catching up fast with the e-tailing,according to a survey.

However, they still want to spend time out munching their snacks with friends, instead of ordering online, a random survey conducted by Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Management Studies and Research (VESIMSR) said.

According to the survey, as many as 57 per cent of the students prefer to do shopping online with 90 per cent of them want to recommend it over traditional shopping on account of reasons like time-saving and vast options available online.

Among the online sellers, flipkart.com is the favourite among the students, it said.

"E-tailing is the flavour of time and is going to decide the future course of shopping. We want our students, who are managers of tomorrow, to take some valuable lessons on e-commerce management and the survey has side-by-side threw up many interesting facts about e-tailing," said Satish Modh, director of VESIMR.

The VESIMSR conducted the survey among 955 students of the professional colleges under Vivekanand Education Society (VES) which has 25 institutions and 18,000 students under its fold. As per the survey, 40 per cent of them went online to buy electronic and apparels while 37 per cent used online services to pay the bills and recharging.

Interestingly, only one per cent of them used online portals to order food and beverages.

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Messaging app Hike aims to reach 100 mn users next year

 Targetting youth under 25, instant messaging application hike messenger is aiming to reach 100 million customers by the end of next year.

"We have reached a user base of 35 million in August, with 15 million additions in just two months, and are targetting to reach 100 million in the next 12-18 months," Hike Founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal said.

Kavin, son of Bharti group chairman Sunil Mittal, said Hike will continue to focus on the Indian market and youth under the age of 25 for its growth.

Hike is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank Corporation.

Currently, over 90 per cent of the 35 million users are from India. The Hike founder added that similar markets like Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh might be looked at.

"The competition is pretty intense outside, so we will stick to markets that have similar characteristics like Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, we are open to get into but would you see us in US and UK, probably not," Mittal said.

The company is also planning to double its staff strength next year and add new services to the platform. Hike has recently got USD 65 million funding from Tiger Global, a New York based investment firm.

"With the investment we plan to add new services to the platform and double our staff next year," he said.

The company also plans to monetise the platform once the 100 million customer mark is reached through paid stickers or games but is strictly against advertising.

Hike is available globally on platforms including iOS, Android and Blackberry.

It allows users to send free instant messages to friends or people in contacts list who are also using 'Hike' anywhere across the globe and share location, media such as photos and videos instantly.

The app also allows users to send free SMS, even to contacts who do not have 'hike' on their handsets.

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Taiwan technology sector to see booming momentum

The Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC), an arm of the Institute for Information Industry  yesterday stated that components of Taiwan's technology sector including PC, network communication, semiconductor, and software are expected to see a tremendous growth momentum over the course of this year.

Most notably, the institute stated that prospects of Taiwanese fledgling software startup companies are poised to benefit from strong growth in the technology hardware sector.

According to the MIC, revenues across Taiwan's information and communication technology sector, including exports of modules is expected to reach the scale of NT$2.8 trillion (US$92.6 billion), gaining 9.9 per cent year-on-year and exceed the anticipated global average growth rate of 7.9 per cent.

In addition, following the launching of the 4G mobile broadband network in Taiwan, expected sales of smartphones is expected to surge by 12.7 per cent and reach around 292 million units in 2015. 

Concurrently, buoyed by strong growth in demand for mobile devices, the global semiconductor market is anticipated to climb to the US$336.3 billion benchmark towards the end of next year, gaining 3.1 per cent year-on-year. 

Furthermore, Taiwan's semiconductor sector is expected to see overall sales improve by 6 per cent year-on-year, and reach NT$2.21 trillion in 2015, propelled by strengthening demand for mobile devices including smartphones, and wearables while exceeding the forecasted performance of major international markets.

MIC senior industry consultant Shen Chu-san noted that Taiwan's technology sector is poised to emerge from the influence of turbulence and uncertainty beginning in the latter half of this year, with improving market conditions expected to persist until next year. 

Sectors including semiconductors, information communication are expected to see widespread performance improvement, said Shen, while commending integration efforts observed across the Taiwan's contract manufacturing sector. 

Although margins remain compressed, Taiwanese companies are evolving towards more value-added services, such as Acer's transition to the cloud computing industry amid the declining outlooks on hardware manufacturing.

Shen noted that PC and notebook computer contract manufacturing, which represents the bulk of Taiwan's technology sector this year began showing signs of recovery following consecutive years of decline. 

Shen, however, stated that the previous fast paced growth in tablet computer sales have began slowing ahead of expectations. 

Specifically, the MIC indicated that shipments of notebook computers this year is anticipated to reach 299 million units this year, declining slightly by 0.01 per cent year-on-year. 

Shipments of enterprise-use computers next year is forecasted to decline by 1.2 per cent next year, and reach 295 million units, as demand deriving from hardware upgrade initiatives by businesses subside, according to MIC. 

Overall, Taiwan's global market share for PC and notebook shipments this year declined from 2013's 86.9 per cent, to 83.6 per cent, and tumble to 79.6 per cent by the end of 2015, the lowest expected figure seen in recent years. 

Meanwhile, Taiwan's global market share for tablet shipments is expected to dwindle to 35.4 percent this year, and 33.6 per cent next year, according to the MIC.

The slowing momentum in the market may be curbed by Apple's latest high profile product launching, said Shen, adding that the U.S. company's Apple Pay service may broaden new horizons in the market for processing mobile transactions and payments.

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