Posted by
Girl on cellphone. Aurangabad, India. Photo: © Simone D. McCourtie / World Bank In recent decades, India’s growth story has been difficult to ignore. And the Indian technology revolution, a key contributor to this growth, has been remarkable. The information technology industry contributes to nearly 9.5% of India’s GDP and is the largest private sector employer, generating some 3.5 million direct jobs, and over 10 million indirect jobs[1]. However, the dividends of India’s digital growth have been unevenly realized, providing lots of opportunities for improvement, including: Mobile penetration in India is still relatively low. India’s rural populace makes up approximately 68% of the population but account for just over 40% of its mobile users[2]. India ranked 156th in the world in terms of broadband penetration (at over 19%) as per the UN Broadband Commission report released in 2015.[3] Roughly nine out of 10 workers are informally employed and lack social protection. Most workers lack adequate education or skills and the educated youth faces high unemployment rates.[4]
Source: Transforming India through Digital Innovation | Information and Communications for Development