India will be at the centre of global business and commercial activity with
a 1.4-billion strong population by 2020. It will have the largest projected
working-age and youngest population by that period, with 535 urban
dwellers, 864 million middle class consumers, and more than a billion Gen
Y individuals. Other mega trends such as infrastructure investment and
low-cost innovative business models will help the country achieve industrial
status, and a gross domestic product of more than 10 per cent, a far cry
from its agrarian beginnings.
Frost & Sullivan, as part of its ongoing Visionary Innovation Research Programme,
has published a special report on mega trends driving India's
growth. The new analysis, Mega Trends in India - Macro to Micro Implications
of Mega Trends to 2020, has identified over 10 key mega trends that
will accelerate India's growth rate to 10 per cent by 2020. Fuelled by a
swelling middle class, urbanisation, increased infrastructure spending,
and improved connectivity, the Indian economy will surge to become the
fastest growing economy and the third largest country in the world with a
GDP of $4.6 trillion by 2020.
For example, globally, mega trends like urbanisation, at the micro-level
offer investment and business opportunities in mobility, healthcare, and
smart infrastructure. But the trend when analysed for India had additional
unique spatial patterns such as the creation of satellite towns and mega
slums. By 2020, India will have 70 satellite towns built outside city limits,
designed to accommodate the overspill of IT employees. Mega slums, with
over one million urban poor will grow to become attractive consumer segments.
This brings new micro-level opportunities in the Indian market in
industries varying from logistics and infrastructure to white goods and
healthcare companies. Understanding the future direction of these unique
urban movements and evaluating the inherent opportunities/threats arising
out of the same will offer a competitive advantage within each segment.
In addition to urbanisation, the study also revealed other distinctive mega
trends that are more specific to the Indian panorama. These key findings
facilitate business leaders and organisations to plan future strategies
especially those looking to:
- Gain insight into future demographic trends and next generation of
social networking.
- Understand the implications arising from more than $1 trillion of expected
infrastructure spending.
- Identify opportunities arising from expected 1.5 billion connected
devices in 2020.
- Understanding the impact of generational political shift and political
leadership of future young urban intellectual leaders in India.
- Spot the new business models such as Value for Many and implications
on markets and business strategies.
- Understand the inter-linkages of these Mega Trends and implications on
the country, industries and cities on a micro level.