Make In India, PLI Have Been Crucial For Telecom Sector Growth: IMC CEO

The India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2024, themed ‘The Future is Now,’ underscores India's pivotal role in the global technological landscape. In an exclusive interview with Bizz Buzz, Ramakrishna P, CEO of IMC, discusses the event's significance and the nation's strides in the telecom and technology sectors.

With a record-breaking attendance of over 1.5 lakh visitors last year, IMC 2024 is poised to be even more impactful, attracting participation from leading companies, startups, and government officials worldwide. This year's edition will showcase over 400 exhibitors, nearly 900 startups, and representatives from 120+ countries, solidifying its position as Asia's largest technology expo

What has been the response to this edition of the IMC?

Over the years, the IMC has become one of the most awaited tech expos in the world. Founded in 2017, with a mere 152 speakers, 100 exhibitors, and 2,000 international delegates witnessing around 32,000 attendees, IMC has witnessed tremendous growth in the last eight years.

IMC 2023 attracted a footfall of over 1.5 lakh attendees, witnessing participation from leading companies and startups, displaying their latest solutions and innovations in the telecom and technology sectors. Aligning with the digital transformation that India has gone through in the past decade, IMC 2024 is expected to spotlight over 400 exhibitors, nearly 900 startups, and participation from 120 plus countries, solidifying its position as Asia’s largest technology expo and a key player in global digital transformation.

What is the theme? What is the rationale of the theme?

In the last decade, India has undergone massive technological changes with the country becoming digitally enabled. In its first iteration, i.e., 2017, IMC’s theme was ‘Connecting the Next Billion,’ highlighting India’s resolve at the time of spreading digital connectivity across the country, especially in the remote areas, with the target of 1 million wi-fi hotspots by 2019 and 700 million internet users in the country by 2022.

Since then, India has come a long way. This year’s theme, ‘The Future is Now,’ is a testament to that. The theme was recently unveiled by Communications Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia. The theme signifies how India stands at the heart of technological evolution and IMC 2024 bringing together global leaders—visionaries, pioneers, and innovators - to collaborate and actively shape the technologies transforming our world today, where the future isn’t just a concept; it’s happening. IMC is the platform where they can come together to converge, discuss, and shape the technologies that will define the future of telecommunications and technology.

Will IMC ever become global, like Barcelona?

Since its inception, IMC has been bringing together Indian and global stakeholders to collaborate on the latest trends in the technology, telecom, and media industries. In doing so, it has already been recognized as one of Asia’s most prominent technology expos. We have been constantly making efforts towards positioning IMC as a leading global platform and the growth in the last seven editions is a testament to that. We have also received tremendous support from the Indian government to make this happen.

IMC 2024 is going to be held concurrently with World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) 2024, which will be attracting delegates and industry leaders from various countries across the globe. This collaboration with a major global event highlights IMC’s growing presence among international leaders and industries.

Have the Make in India programme and the PLI scheme helped the telecom sector? If yes, how much investment has it attracted?

India has long been a net importer of telecom equipment, but Make in India and PLI schemes have turned the tide, enabling the nation to produce equipment worth over Rs 50,000 crore, as announced by the cabinet recently. This has significantly reduced the country’s reliance on imported telecom equipment, resulting in import substitution of 60 per cent, aiding in achieving India’s goal of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat.’ Apart from making the nation self-reliant, the PLI scheme has also created more than 17,800 direct jobs and many more indirect jobs.

The PLI scheme is also working towards enabling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for ‘Design in India, Design for the World’ as it was amended in 2022 to facilitate design-led manufacturing. Working simultaneously with the schemes like PLI, the IMC serves as a key forum for engaging with leaders around the globe, governmental officials, tech-telecom majors, startups and academia to design the next wave of technological revolution with India leading the charge towards a digitally-evolved society which is sustainable and self-reliant.

What are the issues bothering the sector? How can these issues be addressed?

“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” India is a true example of this famous quote by Mother Teresa. There is only so much an organization, institution, or even the government can achieve alone. Thus, understanding this need for collaboration for fostering innovation and growth, the country today has emerged as a global leader in technology, overcoming all the challenges in the way. Furthermore, collaborating at a global scale has allowed India to not only align itself with international standards but also play a role in setting these standards and combating the challenges faced by the global ecosystem as a whole.

Providing such a platform for collaboration, IMC has been bringing together industry, government, academia, and other ecosystem players from around the world to discuss, deliberate, demonstrate, and display the latest trends in the realms of telecom, media, and technology (TMT) and ICT. Last year, there were discussions on a range of topics from domains like Industry 4.0, 5G applications, enterprise digital transformation, sustainable development, monetizing connectivity, the role of India in the global semiconductor landscape, 6G standardization, meeting India’s telecommunications needs, network evolution beyond 5G, standardization for 6G, applications and digitization, the evolution of AI, and the future of networks.

This year’s IMC will feature discussions and showcases across sectors like AI, 6G, semiconductors, clean-tech, quantum, satcom, electronics manufacturing, broadcasting, and other emerging areas in the tech and telecom sector, with the aim of developing a robust ecosystem.

What are your expectations from the government in policy terms?

The Indian government has put a special focus on the telecom industry, especially in the last few years. It has come out with significant reforms, the latest being the Telecommunications Act, 2023, which has addressed many industry issues and provided a much-needed direction for the future. The industry is keen to receive support in future as well, cooperating with the government to build an ecosystem of scale.

In which ways new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can shape the telecom sector?

Technologies like AI and ML have, within the span of a few years, have had a revolutionary impact. They have industry-wide applications; the telecom sector is no exception. They are being utilized for network optimization, significantly improving performance by forecasting congestion, preventing failures, and efficiently distributing resources based on past data. They are also aiding in providing an enhanced customer experience by offering real-time, personalized assistance for a wide range of customer inquiries. And while it is said to be a threat by being a tool in the hands of hackers, it is also a powerful measure for analyzing vast data stores to predict and prevent security threats, through early detection of fraudulent patterns. It is also playing a huge role in industrial automation reducing the risk of human error and ensuring worker safety.

The integration of these technologies has made the networks faster and better, thus helping telcos to diversify their portfolio and emerge as techcos, providing new services. Additionally, AI can reduce energy consumption in telco networks by up to 30 per cent, cutting CO2 emissions and cooling costs by 70 per cent, contributing towards creating sustainable networks in line with the SDG goals provided by the UN.

Due to this growing importance of AI technology, IMC 2024 will have an impressive lineup of showcases, exhibitions, and discussions focused on AI and Gen AI at its eighth edition. IMC and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will also organize a special daylong session on ‘AI for Good,’ where experts and delegates from around the world will deliberate on the subject.

There will also be deliberation on other related topics like AI in networks, AI in chipsets with over 50 global and Indian speakers for discussion on multiple facets of AI and Gen AI spanning in over 11 diverse discussion panels. Additionally, Aspire, the flagship startup program introduced in the last edition, will witness over 140 startups focusing on specific AI-based applications in different industries. There will also be participation and booths from over 15 ministries which will also showcase how AI is being integrated in their departments.