• According to the Payments Council of India, the growth rate of the digital payments industry, which was earlier in the range of 20-50%, has accelerated post demonetisation to 40-70%.
  • India has seen an addition of over 1,000 startups this year, strengthening its position as the third largest startup ecosystem across the world, amidst intensifying competition from countries like UK and Israel. This takes the total number of technology startups to nearly 5,200, according to the Nasscom Startup Report. While Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai retained their position as the key startup hubs in India, 20% of the startups emerged from tier II and III cities, the report noted. Fin-tech startup base is estimated to be 360 in 2017 indicating at 31% year on year growth with over $200 million funding received in the first half of 2017, recording a growth of 135% since the comparable period in 2016, it said.
  • In the race to go digital, businesses judge India’s Silicon Valley — Bangalore — the best host among 45 cities worldwide. Business leaders expressed the highest confidence in their digital environment based on people and skills, financial environment, innovation &Entrepreneurship , new technology development, and ICT infrastructure, according to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit published recently. Most in demand are people with skills in digital security, according to the report, followed by big data analytics. These beat demand for cloud computing skills, social media, and artificial intelligence.
  • Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2018 calls the entwining of people, devices, content and services the intelligent digital mesh. It’s enabled by digital models, business platforms and a rich, intelligent set of services to support digital business. The trends identified are includes Intelligent (AI Foundation, Intelligent Apps and Analytics, Intelligent Things), Digital (Digital Twins, Cloud to the Edge, Conversational Platforms, Immersive Experience) and Mesh (Blockchain¸ Event-Driven and Continuous Adaptive Risk and Trust).