The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) organized the 12th India Digital Summit on January 19, in New Delhi. At the summit, many notable and eminent personalities shared their views on the digital industry and economy and discussed about it, currently growing at a fast pace in India.
At the event, Shri Suresh Prabhu, Honorable Minister of Commerce and Industry claimed that he’s expecting India to become a USD 5 trillion economy within the next 8-9 years and the manufacturing sector alone will contribute 20% of that. He also talked a bit about what he’s working on as he is planning a strategy for international trade that will contribute USD 2 trillion to the economy where the contribution can come from both manufacturing and services. “India is not only bridging digital divide but also helping people scale up their income,” Prabhu said.
Talking about the growing digital industry, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog said that every Indian will have a smartphone in the next five years. He said, “Today, 85% of the devices are still unconnected. Therefore, there is a huge opportunity in the Internet of Things (IoT) space. The opportunity would be in the range of $70 billion by 2025,” He also added, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) alone will generate the opportunity to the tune of $32 billion. Advanced robotics are already handling 25% of the jobs. This will grow up 45% in the coming years.”
He also talked a bit about how active internet users India has got as India is now one of the top countries with daily internet users and he hopes that digital transaction will touch $100 trillion in the next 10 years. He also put highlights like 99 percent Aadhaar penetration and bank accounts opened under Jan Dhan Yojana, which will open new opportunities for the FinTech industry.
At the commencement of the summit, Mr. Rajan Anandan, Chairman, IAMAI & Vice President, Google India & South-East Asia, while delivering the inaugural address said that it is an exciting time for internet in India. Availability of very low-cost high-speed mobile Internet connection in 2017 moved a slow speed nation to a high-speed nation.
Speaking at IAMAI’s 12 India Digital Summit, Mr. Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO of MakeMyTrip.com said that India was sitting on the cusp of a travel revolution, attributing it to social media. Holding a great future for the Indian travel industry, Kalra said that outbound travel alone from India would peak to 40 million by 2020. He also mentioned how Indians are traveling across the nation and abroad, and with that the travel industry comprising of airlines, hotels are witnessing almost full occupancy. He also said that he believes that this is happening largely because of the social media phenomenon, which is making tourists more aware of places and desire to travel. The mobile revolution is also responsible for this massive growth, as per him as MakeMyTrip alone has seen 70% on mobile and of that 70%, 90% is from the app.
At the summit, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma strongly supported the Make in India initiative. Recalling his struggling days and the quest to build Paytm, he said that his company did 255 million transactions last month and would achieve 14 billion gross merchandise value during this ongoing fiscal. He also said that in the seven years between 2018 and 2025, India would add USD 2.5 trillion to the economy and the digital industry would contribute a substantial amount to this growth. He also pointed out the achievements of fellow startup founders, Sachin and Binny Bansal who changed the country’s e-commerce ecosystem and brought a revolution and change in the buyers’ habits.
Former cricketer Virender Sehwag was awarded as the Social Media Person of the Year at the 8th India Digital Awards presented by IAMAI. He said, “I made 15 million followers in one year after I took over my Twitter handle myself from an agency.” The winners of the 8th India Digital Awards coinciding with the 12th India Digital Summit, 2018, were announced at a glittering awards function. The awards, this year had 8 Categories and 32 sub-categories for the internet and mobile value-added services industry.
Interactive Avenues won the award of Digital Agency of the Year, while the coveted Digital Person of the year went to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Unacademy won the Digital Start-up of the year while iProspect India won the silver for Digital Agency of the Year. Here’s a full list of awards and winners. Oyo Rooms won in the Traveltech category while Surmount Energy Solutions was the winner for IoT.
Winner List of 8th India Digital Awards-
| Award | Winner |
| Best Brand Awareness Campaign Using Mobile | Mondelez India by Affle and Isobar India |
| Best Data Driven Marketing Strategy | ICICI Bank by iProspect India |
| Best Lead Generation Campaign Through Mobile | HDFC Bank by iProspect India |
| Best Messaging Campaign | UNICEF by SVG Media (COLUMBUS) |
| Best Mobile Game used for Marketing | Reliance Jio |
| Best Mobile Search Campaign | Coca Cola by Interactive Avenues |
| Best use of AR/VR in a Marketing Campaign | Mondelez India by Isobar India |
| Best Digital Integrated Campaign | Philips Lighting India by Havas Media |
| Best Display Campaign | Reckitt Benckiser by Interactive Avenues |
| Best Email Marketing Campaign | Max Life Insurance by SVG Media (COLUMBUS) |
| Best Viral Marketing Campaign | Shaadi.com |
| Best Social Media Marketing Campaign | Reliance Fresh by Utopeia Communicationz |
| Best Search Marketing Campaign | Ford India by SingleInterface |
| Best Digital Payment Facilitator | Razorpay |
| Best Mobile Payment Product / Service | PayTM |
| Best Mobile App | Hello English- Intap Labs |
| Best Mobile Website | www.prokabbadi.com – STAR India |
The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is a young and vibrant association with ambitions of representing the entire gamut of digital businesses in India. The IAMAI was established in 2004 by the leading online publishers and in the last 13 years it has been effectively addressing the challenges facing the digital and online industry including online publishing, mobile advertising, online advertising, e-commerce, mobile content and services, mobile & digital payments, and emerging sectors such as fin-tech, edu-tech and health-tech, among others. The association is registered under the Societies Act and is a recognized charity in Maharashtra. With a membership of over 300 Indian and MNC companies, and with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the association is well placed to work towards charting a growth path for the digital industry in India.
