Geopolitics kindles interest in Indian technology market

GOOGLE'S decision to pump US$10 billion into India over the next five to seven years, announced on Monday, is the latest in a recent string of investment announcements by technology giants in the country.

Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn earlier revealed plans to invest US$1 billion to expand its existing factory in southern India that makes iPhones, as part of Apple's move to shift around 20 per cent of its phone manufacturing to the country. Jio Platform, the digital and telecommunications enterprise arm of Reliance Industries - the business empire of Asia's richest businessman Mukesh Ambani - has, to date this year, raised a cumulative total of nearly US$16 billion in equity investments, including US$5.6 billion by Facebook. Chipmakers Qualcomm and Intel have also taken stakes in Jio Platforms. With India soon to decide on 5G networks, it makes sense for them to be invested in India's biggest mobile telecoms services provider.

Given India's market size and potential - with more than 500 million Internet users, the highest mobile data usage in the world and a young, tech-savvy population - the investments in themselves are not surprising. What is significant is that they have been announced at a time when the country is struggling to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, with nearly one million affected, and is facing an economic crisis.