India has the potential to become the world's first truly mobile digital society due to several factors: - Rapid economic growth and a large population of over 1.2 billion people - Wide availability of inexpensive mobile phones even among the poor, with 250 million living below the poverty line - Entrepreneurial companies like JustDial and A Little World/ZERO providing mobile access to services like search, banking, payments to reach rural populations - Government initiatives to provide digital IDs and connect more people to services through programs on mobile phones If India can combine its growing appetite for mobile services with innovations in mobile access to information and financial tools, it may be able to bring many more people into the digital world through mobile

1. INDIA
The First Truly Mobile Digital Society?

2. Intro
Two Indias
Mobile Society
JustDial
Micro-Telecom
ZERO & Micro-Finance
Universal ID Number
Conclusion
References
Disclaimer

3. For the next 20-25 years, India’s economy will grow
faster than any other large country.

4. “Rapid growth in a country of 1.2 billion people is
exciting, to put it mildly.” The
Economist
Flickr image by realmolimo

5. India is a land full of contrast.
Flickr image by robynejay

6. Over 250 million people live below the poverty line in
urban slums and rural areas largely untouched by
infrastructure.
Flickr image by ommphoto

7. Yet, of the global top 20 places to outsource Research and
Development, India dominates with 6.
Flickr image by vis-a-vis
Karnataka • Haryana • Chennai
Hyderabad • Mumbai • Kolkata

8. India has the fourth
largest population of
Internet users, but has
only 7% penetration.
“Wait till Indians really combine their love of the cellphone with
social media. Then, Facebook, Twitter, etc, will really explode.”
Professor Sreenivasan, Columbia University

9. Facebook is moving quickly to capitalize on expected
future growth of 500% by 2015. For one rupee (2
cents) a day, users can get unlimited Facebook
use.

10. With a geographically dispersed and poor population,
could India skip the costly widespread adoption of
broadband access - and even PCs all together?
Flickr image by Roy del Vecchio

11. ACCORDING TO MCKINSEY,
All the elements are in place.
“The cost of network access and handsets is going
down, wireless networks are going up, and Indian
consumers already display an insatiable appetite
for digital services.”

12. What would a truly mobile society look like?
Don’t think too long,
Indian entrepreneurs are quickly shaping it.

13. Already, India’s largest search engine, JustDial, takes
close to 100 million calls a year. Many users have
never tried a computer.
People think of something they are looking for--a
phone number, a restaurant, a category like "doctor"-
-and call Justdial as automatically as someone
online would enter a word in Google.

14. JustDial is being
exported...to
North America
to compete
with 411.
Call centres are
being returned
to North
America...by
India.
Flickr image by oliviasmith1

15. Cellphones equipped with voice recognition or simple
commands could do even more for India’s 39%
illiterate population.
Flickr image by Dipanker Dutta

16. VNL is bringing
“micro-telecom”
to rural
communities
through its solar
powered
WorldGSM
Of the 11-20 million
system. subscribers being
added every month in
India, VNL saw that
rural users at the
“bottom of the
Pyramid“ made up less
than 20%.
www.vnl.in/technology/

17. Of course, telecom is the not the only thing the poor
are lacking.
60% of the population lack formal banking services.

18. A Little World (ALW) and its sister non-profit ZERO
Microfinance connect financial and government
services to rural populations.
The ZERO platform turns a smart phone, lockbox,
and fingerprint/eye scanner into a portable bank
branch.
ALW is working with the government to connect more
microcredit organizations as well as mainstream
banking institutions to remote communities through
smart phones.

19. The government is doing its part by
implementing a nation-wide Universal ID
number program.
This, combined with fingerprint/eye scanners
and mobile authentication will enable
eHealthcare and ePayments.
Image from A Little World.com

20. The main beneficiaries will be the disadvantaged
population who are currently outside the formal
sector. Properly identified, more people will receive
their rightful government services as well as
insurance.
Flickr image by Ulila

21. India faces many challenges ahead...

22. ...but it has an unparalleled entrepreneurial spirit.
Their innovative models may soon be leading the world in
all things “mobile”
Flickr image by juicyrai

23. REFERENCES
Slide 3 – The Economist, http://www.economist.com/node/17145035
Slide 6– CIA World Factbook India https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/geos/in.html
Slide 7– McKinsey Quarterly – R&D strategies in emerging markets
Slide 8- http://itpopular.com/india-4th-top-country-worlds-highest-internet-usage/
Slide 9- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/18/facebook_india/
Slide 11– McKinsey Quarterly – Can India lead the mobile-Internet revolution
Slide 13- http://www.fastcompany.com/1725661/indias-mighty-microeconomy
Slide 14- http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/22/can-india%E2%80%99s-justdial-make-it-
in-the-us/
Slide 15– CIA World Factbook India
Slide 16 - http://www.vnl.in/
Slide 17 - http://www.fastcompany.com/1725661/indias-mighty-microeconomy
Slide 18 - http://growinginclusivemarkets.org/media/cases/India_ALW_2010.pdf
Slide 19 - http://www.fastcompany.com/mic/2010/industry/most-innovative-india-
companies
Slide 21 – McKinsey Quarterly – Can India lead the mobile-Internet revolution

24. DISCLAIMER
I welcome any educational comments and/or
enlightening criticisms.
I have never been to India, nor do I have any matter
of expertise in the area of mobile communications.
I chose this subject for my project simply to educate
myself.
- George Dylan Carr