Reliance Jio-led super app battle to intensify in India in 2021

By developing new-age apps and platforms, businesses will further increase the pace of their digital activities in 2021, and the world will see this war ratcheting up in intensity in India led by Reliance Jio Platforms, a new report has said.

Covid-19 affected Asia Pacific first, according to global market analysis company Forrester, and they predict that the country will also recover from the crisis first in 2021, ahead of the US and Europe.

Mr. Ashutosh Sharma, VP, Research Director, said, "APAC will see a platform surge. APAC is already home to some of the largest platforms in places like China and India. However, we will see this battle ratcheting up in intensity, especially in India".

By investing more than $20 billion in their digital company, Reliance's Jio Platforms have already blazed the trail.

Mr. Sharma said in a statement on Wednesday, "They are simultaneously lining up more investments for their retail platform. Tata in India has thrown their hat in the ring with the announcement of their own super-app".

India will see some serious rivalry between these channels, with Paytm and Walmart's Flipkart in the fray.

Targeting Google's dominance in India 's app distribution space, Paytm 's leading digital payments platform developed a Rs. 10 crore (US$ 1.36 million) fund last week as equity investments for the country's mini app developers.

To help local developers in the region, Paytm has also launched an Android Mini App Store.

Forrester said on 5 G, the technology would eventually have an effect and China will be its epicentre.

Mr. Sharma noted, "In China, with heavy government support, rapid rollouts across the country, and evolution of supporting tech, 5G will find an ideal breeding ground for innovations across various verticals".

The experimentation and adoption by China of 5G-enabled business models and 5G-led innovation would give other countries and businesses valuable lessons.

Values-focused businesses can produce higher profits than those based purely on profits.

Mr. Sharma emphasized, "Brands can no longer work in shadows with a constant spotlight on each of their actions, statements, and associations across social media. They must show their explicit commitment to respect customers' privacy, for example”.

"They must tackle complex economic, environmental, and social challenges that impact all of us. They must do so with integrity, competence, and transparency to earn the trust and loyalty of these values-conscious consumers".

Cybersecurity challenges would also dominate business and government agendas alike.

Mr. Sharma said, "We will see increased adoption of Zero Trust and evolution of regulatory frameworks for data protection and privacy. Further, we expect firms to sharpen their focus on employee experience as they struggle to deal with people's aspect of pandemic".

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.