| | August 20169& Information Technology of India estimated that the IoT industry in India would grow up to INR 940 billion by 2020. This coupled with the Digital India initiative has paved the way for the IT industry to become the true architects of a future ready India. Dell partnered with a data analysis and forecasting firm, IHS in an attempt to understand which global cities are best positioned to succeed in the future economic landscape. Delhi ranked at the 44th place in the list of the most "future-ready city" in the world- a city that scored high on high-speed wireless connectivity, business incubation, start-ups and job growth. Owing to the public and private collaboration, the city has partnered with private companies to improve and increase public transit including the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. When put to a larger perspective, it can be observed that a large part of the population in India now has access to digital channels and communication pathways enabled by IoT. With access to goods and services expanding beyond physical structures, the markets have expanded drastically, thus presenting huge opportunities. A thriving ecosystem has been built around IoT. A good example would be the various OEMs who create an array of devices and products which personify IoT, with integration of service providers of cloud infrastructure and databases which complete the circuit.Add on top of this the software which manages the automation of these devices. The IT industry brings indispensable support to this ecosystem by providing the expertise necessary for an IoT success. The same can transcend to the lower tiers of the country, thereby making previously inaccessible technology and service accessible to them. If IoT has facilitated a well-knit system of devices in personal spaces, development of Smart Cities has aimed towards facilitating high-tech living for citizens. A well connected nation is built on the premise of an equipped nation. The foremost requirement is building a digitally connected ecosystem in the country in order to provide all the basic utilities. The future of India is heavily ridden on transparent governance and services (education, health, legal, financial and safety). The core of this transformation will be the re-engineering and digitising of government processes along with using IT and cloud infrastructure. Looking at spreading out the connectivity and making access to internet a dream for all in the country, these initiatives are thoroughly backed up by the government as well. With all government departments wanting to push their services to online platforms, the country has seen democratization of technology and a vision of easy access of information and technology. Rapid advancements made in these domains have shown a considerable impact on the technology industry of the country. The aim of the government has been to make the internet accessible to every citizen of the country, thereby enriching their lives by smart living. This will aim to be a vital tool in the socio-economic advancements and will be the key to competitive growth of the country. Smart cities are not only built on strong physical infrastructure but also aim to lay down a powerful digital infrastructure. The digital foundation of a city will play a great role in building a long term reliable smart city. The latest announcement on the increase of the number of smart cities to 33 has re-iterated India's commitment as a nation to scale up to fully developed smart cities cluster. The advent of full-fledged smart cities will also lead to a great increase in the population, which in turn will also impact the information consumption quantity. This would mean scaling up the IT needs of a city and its people by building durable, flexible and scalable datacentres. A strong transportation system, robust mobile networks, broadband connections and open data platforms are key to a smart city's foundation. The currency of a future ready city lies in data and its effective use, which will translate into the competitive advantage in the new economy. Services like energy, water consumption and healthcare will be driven by the emergence and use of big data. A reliable smart city which will also be host to a wide pool of talented human capital, the logical next step will be that of innovation and collaboration which will help bringing in strong revenue for the city. It is a digitally inter-connected mechanism with a multi- pronged approach that will help building a developed and competitive nation. IoT, Smart Cities and a sound im-plementation of the Digital India plan can result in an amalgamation of a diverse nation, strongly bound by a digital thread. The coming years will be fundamental in shap-ing the country's future as a digitally equipped nation. Ravinder P Singh
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