Can RBI fix flaws in NEFT?

G Krishna Kumar, FEB 04 2021, 00:59 ISTUPDATED: FEB 04 2021, 07:47 IST

 In spite of the myriad of options for digital transactions like Bhim UPI, e-wallets, NEFT or National Electronic fund transfer is popular among many Indians. NEFT transactions increased from Rs 172.22 lakh crore in FY18 to Rs 229.45 lakh crore in FY20. Thanks to digital banking in general and NEFT in particular, footfall in banks has steadily declined by over 50% over the past 3 years.

Before we understand the flaws in the present NEFT system and the possible solutions, let us understand NEFT a bit. NEFT was started in November 2005 by India’s banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI). NEFT allows bank customers to transfer funds between two NEFT-enabled bank accounts through electronic messages and uses an hourly batch processing system.   
RBI has taken proactive actions to ensure safe transactions for the general public. A case is the recent swift actions from the regulator in curbing unauthorised ‘lightning speed’ loan disbursal apps. However, fund transfer using NEFT can be very stressful due to flaws in the existing system. RBI would do well to address the flaws and help in strengthening the system.  
When someone plans to transfer money using NEFT from one bank to another bank, the first step is to register the payee or recipient. As part of the registration process, some banks require the payee account number to be entered twice to avoid errors, while other banks register the payee with a one-time entry of the account details. Where is the flaw? The current system does not check if the payee details - account number, IFSC code, and name entered are accurate.  What prevents the current system to validate the information as done in the case of UPI for fund transfer?
The process gets tricky during the actual transfer. If the payee account number is wrong and there is no other account with this account number within the payee’s bank, the amount will be returned to the sender’s account. If the account number is a valid account held by another individual within the payee bank, the amount will be credited into his/her account without any check for name or branch code.
To avoid erroneous transfer, wise people suggest that first a token amount be transferred before the full amount. In this digital age, there is no need for such two steps process, if the system validates the payee details during registration.  Also, NEFT transfer should not be done without matching the name and IFSC code. If these two steps are mandated by RBI, erroneous money transfer cases can be completely eliminated.
What happens in the event of an erroneous transfer? Anecdotal data indicates that over 70-80% of the unintended recipients promptly alert their banks and the money is returned to the sender. Banking experts indicate that the prompt action from the unintended recipients can be attributed to genuine good intent or fear of potential implications considering that the money has been credited from an unknown sender. The present system provides a great opportunity for the rest of 20-30% of the cases, allowing them to make quick money and abscond. While banks would try to recover the money on a “best-effort” basis, there is no legal protection for the fund transferor.
Of course, the transferor’s fault is that he or she entered the wrong account number. Just imagine a situation where an erroneous transfer resulted in the amount credited into a fraud’s account outside the state. Essentially, Digital banking infrastructure has simply failed in providing a timely alert and allowing preventive or corrective action. It is concerning that the flaws with the NEFT system is well known among banking staff, yet no action is taken in the guise of system limitation.
RBI’s move to allow 24x7 availability of NEFT and RTGS is welcome. However, the support system and infrastructure for this are completely missing. Attempts to contact the phone help or Website/ email etc is futile. Meaningless automated response stating that the issue will be taken up within 48 hours is not helping. Urgent need for RBI to mandate the Banks to provide a resolution within an SLA (Service Level Agreement) 30 minutes or 60 minutes is needed. 
With rapid advancements in technologies like AI/ML, the banking infrastructure must provide the alerts to the Bank managers to prevent fraudulent transactions.   
Is the RBI listening?
(The writer is an ICT professional and columnist based in Bengaluru)

India’s EV conundrum: Incentives in place, but no infrastructure

G Krishna Kumar, DEC 31 2020, 01:27 ISTUPDATED: DEC 31 2020, 02:09 IST

Social media was recently abuzz that a Bengaluru-based car-maker had plans to launch an electric car with a 500-km range per charge. Assuming this plan is successful, it would help overcome range anxiety and would certainly push fence-sitters towards buying electric cars. 

Over the past 18 months, four big car-makers have launched electric vehicles (EV) in the Indian market. Notwithstanding the Covid-19 impact, electric car sales as a percentage of overall car sales in India is abysmally low at less than 0.2%. Electric scooters fare slightly better at 0.4% of overall two-wheeler sales -- a worrying sign for the government despite incentives like reducing GST on electric vehicles to 5%, providing income tax benefits and waiving road tax. To promote EV uptake, the government should consider waiving highway toll fees for EVs, perhaps till 2025.
Global trends indicate that EV penetration is about 3% of the overall sales. The EV market in the European Union grew by over 40% in 2019 compared to the previous year. The EU countries are offering an environmental bonus for car-makers and purchase price subsidies for EV buyers.
India has set a goal that by 2030, 30% of cars sold annually should be EVs. But to realise this goal, the buyer, government, and the industry need to play their respective parts effectively.

Economics of electric car purchase
In any car segment, EVs cost at least 20-30% more than their petrol and diesel counterparts. However, the running cost of an EV would just be 15-18% that of a petrol car. Sample this: The current petrol price is about Rs 83-85 per litre. Petrol price has increased 20-30% every five years since 2000 and this trend is expected to continue. The prevailing per-unit electricity rate for domestic consumption is Rs 5-7. Charging an electric car with 250-300 km range would cost about Rs 220-250 per month.
With few moving parts, electric car maintenance costs 20-30% of that of petrol cars. When we consider these aspects along with the income tax benefits, the extra cost paid for the electric car can be recovered in 2.5-4 years. Essentially, over five years, the EV becomes cheaper compared to regular cars. But the big challenge today is the unavailability of compelling EV alternatives in the compact car segment (comprising 70-75% of the overall car market) that can provide a decent range of 250 km per charge. The other big challenge is the availability of infrastructure.
For an existing car-maker to build a significant presence in the EV market, it should invest in EV technologies and adapt to the needs of the Indian market. A recent report states this would involve Rs 3.5 lakh crore Capex investment from all the car-makers over the next 5-7 years. A large part of this expenditure is likely to be used for acquiring companies in the EV space. Will these companies undertake such expenditure instead of protecting their current business?   

Charging infrastructure
Charging infrastructures in cities have improved significantly over the past year. For example, Bengaluru’s electricity provider Bescom has installed DC fast-charging infrastructure in 12 locations across Bengaluru. Also, some car-makers are offering anytime emergency charging for their customers within city limits.
It still takes 30 minutes to over an hour to obtain a meaningful range in the car. The government has planned for charging stations with 50KW capacity every 25 km on highways. In addition, there are plans for 100KW charging stations every 100 km, catering to heavy-duty EVs like trucks and buses. 
Statistical analysis in the EU and the US indicate that the number of cars per public charging station must be five to 10 to avoid queuing at charging stations. Currently, in India, there are about 650 charging stations, compared to three lakh in China.
India has about 22 cars per 1,000 people, compared to the US with 980 cars and China with 164 cars per 1,000 people. An International Energy Agency (IEA) report indicates that India’s car market is poised to grow significantly to 175 cars per 1,000 people by 2040.
 Assuming 60-70 cars per 1,000 people by 2030 in India and considering the government’s target of 30% cars as EVs, we will have over 2.5 crore EVs. Even if we consider 25 lakh electric cars by 2025, the number of public charging stations required will be about 4-5 lakh. The government should aggressively work on improving the public charging infrastructure through a PPP model. The biggest challenge is the availability of reliable power supply at these charging stations, especially along highways. The government must incentivise and push for solar-based charging stations. The solar-based pilot phase on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway must be expanded across the country. This will give confidence to the public about the government’s proactive action in establishing infrastructure.

R&D  
India needs to invest in alternative technologies like induction charging. Essentially, highways will have a charging lane, and EVs driven on this lane get charged wirelessly, removing range anxiety completely. This is an interesting concept, but in the present form is expensive.
Any research on creating an affordable mass-market solution for highways, parking lots, etc., will revolutionise India’s EV market.
Another area for research is on developing mass-market solid-state batteries for EVs.
While FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and EV) schemes are a step in the right direction, the government must create a strong EV ecosystem to help India become a leading player in the EV manufacturing and components space.
The government must play a significant role for India to march towards zero-emission. This must be supported by car-makers, providing compelling alternatives for people to switch to EV.
(The writer is a Bengaluru-based ICT professional and EV enthusiast)

Should kids code or not?

 G Krishna Kumar, NOV 18 2020, 02:31 ISTUPDATED: NOV 18 2020, 03:37 IST

Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/panorama/should-kids-code-or-not-916938.html

Recently, my relative from the temple town of Sringeri called me and her first question was, “what is this coding?” This would perhaps be the question with any parent with young kids, after seeing advertisements that persuade children to take it up. Unable to comprehend, they are worried that their kids are deprived of something and likely feel apprehension for being left out. Let us remember that these are the same parents who are proud of their kids’ ability to demonstrate “smartness” by effortlessly using smartphones.

Before we delve into whether parents need to push their kids into coding, let us understand the meaning of coding. Coding is a technical word for computer programming. Coding is a process by which source code for computer programs are created and maintained. All the computer and mobile applications that we often use, are a result of coding using various programming languages.

Can anyone with no computer background pickup programming? The answer is a resounding yes. There are various online tutorials that can teach the nuances of programming. This is exactly the way someone can pick up Kannada or Malayalam with the “Learn a language in 30 days” type books. The depth in understanding the language ( spoken language or programming language) will be missing.
Of course, Computer programming is an important subject and even the National Education Policy 2020 has emphasized the need for early exposure to children on computers and technology. As per MHRD website, India has over 12 crore students in the first to 10th standard bracket with over 6 crore in the 10-15 years age group. Do we want these kids to become programmers at the age of 10 or 12? There is much more to life for these young minds than coding. The NEP is envisaging holistic development of the future generation. Let us get the priority right. We need to provide a strong foundation on cognitive skills or life skills for the young kids to become effective in their life and career. We don’t need crores of coders.

Let us face it, a good software engineer will go through four years Engineering course work on computer systems and related areas. In addition, a Master’s degree with a specialisation in Artificial Intelligence or Data science can also be pursued. Of course, there are cases where non-engineering students too have fared exceedingly well in the Software Industry, but then those are exceptions.

We have a great ability to identify a trend, exaggerate and create a mess. Remember how engineering colleges across the country piggybacked on the IT Industry wave? Jobs in the IT industry started picking up during the late nineties and we witnessed hundreds of engineering colleges mushrooming across the country. What is the result of this? We ended up creating lakhs of poor quality and unemployable Engineers. These students end up taking-up non-engineering jobs or would need some bridge courses (read 12 to 24 months) for them to make an effective career in the software Industry. It is no wonder that many colleges have already shut down during the past decade. Perhaps there is a lot to learn from the Engineering colleges example. With the current momentum to outsmart each other, hundreds of ed-tech companies will start claiming that they can create the best coders in the country. We may end up with lakhs or crores of “kid coders”. This is certainly not desirable.

We must allow our next generation to gain a holistic perspective during their formative years. The new education system will provide the necessary exposure for software programming, but we should not mindlessly push children into it. The passionate ones will pick up skills and emerge as world-class coders.

(The writer is an ICT Professional and columnist based in Bengaluru) 

Much ado about banning Chinese apps

IN PERSPECTIVE

G Krishna Kumar,

Jul 15 2020, 23:08 ist | updated: Jul 16 2020, 06:39 ist

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indian techies and start-ups to come up with innovative mobile applications as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Innovation Challenge. This comes in the backdrop of the government banning 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and Helo, among others. These apps have been extremely popular in the country and have helped thousands of Indian entertainers and artists gather millions of followers and enjoy celebrity status. A moot question for us to ponder over is, with over our four million-strong IT workforce and being the ‘IT capital of the world’, why don’t we have top class Indian apps in our own country and in other countries?

Another question: Is the ban on Chinese apps a precedent? Will we ban Google, Facebook and others, should we have a rough relationship with the US in the future? Banning apps by itself will not solve the larger challenges faced by India’s digital ecosystem. Before we look at the areas for the government to focus on, let us understand the impact of the ban on the Chinese companies.   

With India accounting for 70-90% of their global subscriber base, Chinese companies that provide apps like ShareIt, UCBrowser, Camscanner, Likee and TikTok are sure to be impacted. This will also impact thousands of their employees in India, adding to the unemployment challenges in the country due to the Covid-19 situation. As per the latest reports, the Chinese companies are still hopeful that the Indian government will revoke the ban.

Alternative Apps

Social media is already abuzz with alternative “made in India” apps. The key is for these apps to match the banned apps in terms of user experience. Failing which, end-users will find alternative methods, like using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access the banned apps.

India could learn from countries like Russia and China when it comes to encouraging a world-class app ecosystem. China has banned Google, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc., and the Chinese government supported the local app ecosystem. Baidu, Alibaba and WeChat are popular with over 80% subscribers in the country. Russia also has been successful in developing an app ecosystem that provides best-in-class social networking apps like VK (equivalent of Facebook) and a search engine like Yandex (similar to Google).

The present situation provides a great opportunity for top-class apps from India. Perhaps the government should come up with a 2025 vision of getting at least five of the top 10 apps in the world to be from India? This is certainly not an outrageous thought in a country that can develop Aadhaar and Aarogya Setu, which demonstrate capability to deploy large-scale digital implementations.

Beyond the present app challenge initiative, the government would do well to task the top technology institutions based on the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) to create world-class apps. As part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat and the VocalForLocal movement, the government should earmark a budget to encourage start-ups.

Internet infra

While a clear indigenous app ecosystem is the need of the hour, there are a few areas that need immediate attention from the government. India’s mobile data rates are pathetic. Sample this: As per the June 2020 Speedtest global index report, India with about 12 Mbps data rate, stands at 129th position amongst 138 countries. It is interesting that countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal fare better than India on this count. While South Korea tops the list with 107 Mbps, China ranks No 3 with 103 Mbps average speed.  

Why is India lagging? It is mainly due to poor internet infrastructure. Mindless bidding during past spectrum auctions meant that many of the telcos soon filed for bankruptcy. If we recollect, just 10 years ago, there were 10-12 operators. Now, we are reduced to a handful. With the government-owned BSNL fast losing its market share, we are at the mercy of the private telcos. The overall debt in the telecom sector means that these telcos are not able to upgrade their infrastructure. The government would do well to reduce the taxes and regulatory levies imposed on the telcos. Presently, Indian telcos pay over 25% (including GST, licence fees, etc) of their gross revenue as tax, compared to less than 10% in other countries.  

Even on fixed line broadband, India fares very poorly compared with the other countries. Broadband has largely remained an urban phenomenon. Our progress in getting rural broadband infrastructure with BharatNet has been pathetic. The target to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats has been constantly delayed and is now expected to be completed by 2022. If we had all the villages connected through fibre optic network by now, remote learning for the students in the rural hinterland could have been smooth during the present pandemic.

Since India lacks a strong fibre optic backbone, our ability to rapidly move into 5G technology will be a challenge.

Meanwhile, India needs a clear policy on data privacy and data storage. While the data privacy issues raised over the Aarogya Setu app have subsided, we need strong regulatory oversight and the Personal Data Protection (PDP) law should be passed by Parliament soon. The government should provide a policy on data processing and storage, specifying what data can be processed outside the country, while strictly enforcing compliance. 

Developing alternative apps to counter the banned Chinese apps only solves a part of the overall challenges faced by India’s digital ecosystem. To address the Indian consumers’ increasing digital demands, a strong internet infrastructure and data storage and privacy policies are much needed.

(The writer is an ICT professional and columnist based in Bengaluru)

Multimode delivery: The best way to impart learning

By: G Krishna Kumar | 

Published: June 16, 2020 4:20 AM

Digital education picked up pace with platforms like SWAYAM and PM eVidya. But when the time has come to test its effectiveness on a grand scale, it is surprising to see governments, schools and parents alike refusing to accept screen-based education.

Both the Centre and states have divided views on online education. This conundrum needs to be handled effectively as online education is likely to be the norm. Digital education picked up pace with platforms like SWAYAM and PM eVidya. But when the time has come to test its effectiveness on a grand scale, it is surprising to see governments, schools and parents alike refusing to accept screen-based education.

Online interactive: Instead of completely banning online education for kids in the lower classes, we need innovative means to impart some form of education. While everyone hopes kids will be back in schools in full strength in the next few months, the risk of virus infection is alarming and parents would do well to support the government in supporting screen-based teaching.

India is faced with two challenges in terms of internet connectivity—quality of the internet and the digital divide. On quality, India ranks low in the global speed index (71st among 139 countries); while on broadband India is ranked 31st (of 174 countries), it is an urban phenomenon. India has made abysmal progress in getting the rural broadband infra with BharatNet. A report states that the target was to connect 2.5 lakh villages, but Wi-Fi is available only in about 23,000 gram panchayats.

So, mobile internet seems to be the only way out in the near future. With over 10GB data usage per month per person, India is among the top nations on mobile internet usage. With 5G not happening anytime soon, we need to live with poor internet speeds. The bigger issue is the gap in internet penetration in urban and rural areas—urban penetration is 100%, rural is less than 30%.

For addressing the have-nots, the government should consider giving tablets (something like Aakash tablets that gained popularity a decade ago). The euphoria around Aakash died too soon. The government must consider some form of ‘tablet and internet yojana’ for addressing underprivileged kids. The tablets can be controlled solely for education purposes. CSR funds from corporates can be put to good use for procuring and distributing tablets.
It’s time to ponder why India cannot have its own Zoom-like app exclusively for education. Can’t the government task top tech institutions to create a scalable app?

TV as a medium: Data shows that TV ownership in households in much higher than smartphones. In south India, for example, 95% homes have TVs. While it is lower in other parts, the government can revive TV-based learning. Do you remember UGC education programmes in early 1990s? Each state can have its own DD Gyan Darshan channel. Even better, the government could incentivise free-to-air TV channels for carrying classroom sessions. TV-based delivery will not be interactive, so schools can enable regular touch-time between parents and kids to monitor progress and provide guidance.

Multimode delivery: The government can enhance the draft National Education Policy (NEP) and formulate a long-term strategy for standardising education through a mix of online interactive, online one-way delivery (recorded sessions) and on-premises (regular classrooms) methods.

The draft NEP has the 5-3-3-4 design comprising of five years of foundational stage (three years of pre-primary school and classes one and two), three years of preparatory stage (classes three to five), three years of middle stage (classes six to eight), and four years of secondary (classes nine to 12). Perhaps a graded multimode delivery from, say, 100% on-premises method for foundational stage to 60% on-premises for secondary students can be considered. For students pursuing UG/PG, the online portion can be 70-75%—in-person interactions cannot be ignored and hence 25-30% of the time students will have to be present on-premises. Such a model could go global as well.

Indian students planning for higher education in foreign countries will have to spend much lesser money in earning their degrees as their need to be physically present on-premises will become considerably lesser.

The pandemic has provided us a great opportunity to implement multimode education delivery; now we need the right framework.

An ICT professional and a columnist based in Bengaluru. Views are personal
krishnak1@outlook.com

Some Caveats to Jio-FaceBook deal

Jio-FB deal: Kirana stores to benefit, but the govt must be vigilant

G Krishna Kumar  | Updated on May 05, 2020  Published on May 08, 2020

While the on-boarding of kirana stores onto a digital platform like JioMart will give a fillip to these stores, the government will have to address issues of data privacy and Net neutrality

Amidst the lockdown due to corona, the news of ₹43,574 crore investment from Facebook into Reliance Jio has provided a much needed positive sentiment in the country. The deal means a tie-up between Jio’s e-commerce grocery platform “JioMart” (a platform that would connect consumers with neighbourhood kirana stores) and Facebook’s WhatsApp.

Timing seems right

Jio gets access to WhatsApp’s 40 crore users in India, while Facebook gets access to 38 crore Jio subcribers. It is expected that three crore kirana stores will be onboarded onto the JioMart platform. An opportunity for kirana stores to embrace digital technologies and offer employment. Jio plans to expand JioMart beyond kirana stores and create an ecosystem by bringing in SMEs, farmers, and healthcare workers, among others. Reports already indicate that Jio-FB is aiming for an all-encompassing app like China’s super app WeChat

The internet is already abuzz with the news of JioMart-WhatsApp based service being rolled out as a pilot programme in three suburban areas of Mumbai involving over 1,000 neighbourhood stores.

Will this partnership transform the way we buy daily essentials? Time will tell, but the track record of Reliance in disrupting markets is well known. JioMart is ready to take on incumbent players like Amazon and Flipkart. Reports suggest that online e-commerce is expected to grow seven-fold to $30 billion by 2028.

Will we witness another hyper competitive scenario in the e-commerce space, similar to the one we witnessed when Jio Mobile was launched about three-and-a-half years ago? The government, specifically the Competition Commission of India, will have to actively monitor and ensure predatory pricing is not practised by the new entrant.

The timing for bringing kirana stores onto the JioMart digital platform appears to be right. Several companies have tried to digitise kirana stores in the past. In fact, about 7-8 years ago, a large enterprise software company had tried a similar approach to onboard kirana stores on their digital platform. Lack of success can be attributed to the fact that technology was still evolving, cost of mobile devices, low speed internet, high mobile data tariff and low awareness amongst the kirana store owners.

Things have changed now. A case in point is the wide acceptance of online food delivery platforms like Swiggy with 1.5 lakh restaurants on the digital platform should give confidence to Jio. With the Reliance brand name, much better internet speed and high internet data adoption, coupled with attractive business models would certainly aid JioMart to onboard kirana stores rapidly.

Once a sizeable set of stores are added, JioMart will have access to significant amount of data and by using AI and analytics, the platform can provide insights for providing personalised offers to the consumers. This could also push the neighbourhood kirana stores to come up with innovative methods to woo consumers.

Government must be vigilant

While Jio tries to roll out service across the country, potential concerns on Net-neutrality as Jio and Facebook join hands could emerge. In 2018, India implemented rules for Net neutrality wherein service providers (like Jio in this case) are required to treat all traffic equally, and not charge differently based on content.

The service providers are forbidden from throttling data speeds for any online service, and mandates all content be treated the same. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will have its task cut out in monitoring and ensuring Net-neutrality is not being violated.

The other concern can be on protection of personal data considering that India’s Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 (PDP Bill 2019) is still in the works. In fact, a recent article (in The Mint) analyses the privacy policies of Reliance Jio and Facebook and concludes that other than good conscience, nothing can stop the two companies from sharing data as we don’t have a data protection regulator in the country.

In general, a strong regulatory oversight is urgently needed in the Indian context with digitalisation seeing a big uptick across the board. Hope the government will get the PDP law enacted soon.

More competition

Digital payment is another area that is picking up steam in the country. Especially during the current Covid times, digital payments are key to reduce social contact. It is heartening to see several neighbourhood kirana stores refusing to accept cash and preferring digital payments. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) must be enthused with this trend towards digital payments. In fact, a recent report suggests that 42 per cent Indians have increased use of digital payments since the lockdown.

A recent report suggests that the digital payments are poised to increase by five times to reach $1 trillion by 2023. No wonder, foreign companies are keen to play a role in India’s digital payment space. Sample this: Walmart owns Flipkart and digital payments company PhonePe. China’s Alibaba owns over 40 per cent of Paytm. Google Pay and Amazon Pay are also competing in digital payments in India.

The Jio-Facebook deal will provide a tough competition to the incumbent players. Although WhatsApp is trying to obtain approval for rolling out digital payment service, with the deal between the two companies, WhatsApp can lean on Jio’s payment service.

Revival of kirana stores

Back in 2012, when FDI was allowed in the retail segment, it was believed that the neighbourhood kirana stores would vanish soon. While most of them have struggled over the past few years due to demonetisaton and aggressive pricing by retailers and e-tailers alike, it is these kirana stores that have been the lifeline during the Covid lockdown.

A recent report states that 90 per cent of grocery trade in the country happens through kirana stores. This means there is ample scope for many more digital platforms like JioMart and, thereby, create a healthy ecosystem. Making these stores digital should be a win-win for both the consumers as well as the stores, but the government should be vigilant.

The writer is an ICT professional and columnist based in Bengaluru. Views are personal

COVID-19: Need for improved net infrastructure

While remote learning and remote working are a reality now, a big challenge is the speed of internet connectivity across cities and towns
Published: 02nd April 2020 04:00 AM  |   Last Updated: 02nd April 2020 07:19 AM

By G Krishna Kumar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 21-day lockdown notification to ensure social distancing and prevent the spread of the coronavirus has resulted in businesses and educational institutions shutting down. This means employees and students are dependent on the internet to be productive while staying home. With most people connected to the web for entertainment and social networking, the data bandwidth required is huge. Is our internet infrastructure good enough to handle the surge? Before we delve into this, let us understand how people are gearing up for remote working/learning.

While the concept of working from home or home office (a term more popular in Europe) has been around for decades, it has not gained popularity in India, maybe due to lack of trust between the employee and the employer or cultural issues where physical presence is given importance. There are also proven benefits when employees are co-located in an office and it fosters camaraderie amongst the workforce. In sectors like manufacturing, remote working is impossible. But in industries where the physical infrastructure required is a computer and internet connection, remote working can be enabled. It has other positives like reduced traffic and environmental benefits. Perhaps the government should mandate an annual “remote working week”.

Over the past 10 years, the tech landscape has significantly improved for employees to be productive irrespective of their location. There are many software applications for promoting collaborative working. Organisations’ ability to accept and promote remote working calls for a shift in mindset. The present lockdown would test the maturity of organisations and employees alike. In addition, we could witness a shift towards uberisation of the workforce—freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs. Essentially, experts are hired on a need basis for specific tasks, and they mostly work from remote locations. Workforce uberisation is gaining popularity across the world.

In general, firms try to be prepared for emergencies through a business continuity plan . All threats that could disrupt regular business are determined and mock drills conducted to check the plan’s effectiveness. The pandemic has put such plans to test. This is by far the biggest logistical exercise firms have undertaken for enabling employees to work from home. Industry bodies like NASSCOM are actively involved in bringing alignment between industry and government in enabling remote working.

While industries are trying to adapt to the changing situation, universities and educational institutions have started virtual classrooms. The concept of virtual classroom was spearheaded in May 2012 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University with the MOOC (massive open online courses) platform edX, which boasts 2 crore students globally taking over 2,200 courses online. Virtual classrooms are a boon for the educational system in the country, especially during such shutdowns. In fact, this lockdown should provide a trigger for educational institutions to wholeheartedly support virtual classrooms going forward. Maybe some subjects can be taught exclusively online.

While remote learning and remote working are a reality now, the biggest challenge is the speed of internet connectivity across cities and towns. Low/substandard speed internet means a poor experience in downloading/uploading content, and audio/video calls The poor speed can also be attributed to the fact that per household data consumption in cities and towns has increased significantly. Reports suggest video streaming contributes to about 75% of the data consumed on Indian mobile networks. In order to reduce the stress on mobile networks, OTT players like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar among others have agreed to scale down their video streaming from high definition (HD) to standard definition (SD) on mobile networks during the lockdown period. While SD consumes about 0.7GB data per hour, HD and 4K streaming would consume anywhere between 4 and 10 times more than SD. BSNL’s work@home, a one-month free landline broadband connection, is a good initiative to encourage people to shift from mobile to landline broadband.

Even if we ignore the current surge in data consumption as an aberration and compare India’s internet speed with the rest of the world, the picture is not pretty. A recent speed test report ranks India 128th worldwide for mobile broadband performance and 69th for fixed broadband speeds globally. On mobile broadband ranking, countries like South Korea, UAE and Canada have download speeds between 75-94 Mbps; India is the last amongst BRICS nations with 11Mbps. It is interesting that countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal are ranked higher. In fixed line broadband, downlink speeds in India are about 39 Mbps compared to 203 Mbps in Singapore and 103 Mbps in China.

The current situation should serve as a warning for the government and telecom sector. India could have been better prepared had a rapid fibre optic network been deployed as envisioned in the National Digital Communications Policy 2018. Lack of a strong optical fibre network also puts the superfast 5G network plans in jeopardy. The telecom sector’s financial stress due to mounting debts only adds to the woes of telcos and their inability to upgrade their infrastructure. Governments have not been able to reduce the tax and levies on telcos, among the highest in the world.

The internet has become a lifeline for people to be productive during the lockdown. It is certain that remote working and learning will gain more acceptance going forward. While there is no denial that India’s internet access speeds have improved significantly over the past decade, there is huge scope for improvement. The government and telcos should accelerate actions towards ensuring world-class internet speeds so that people can be highly productive working or learning remotely.

G Krishna Kumar
ICT professional and columnist based in Bengaluru. Views are personal
Email: krishnak1@outlook.com