The pace and quantity of job creation is anticipated to further increase post 2021-22 once 5G technology is implemented.
A study by Broadband India Forum (BIF) has estimated that Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based applications will create over 28 lakh jobs in rural India over a period of 8 to 10 years with an annual value of Rs 60,000 crore.
Of this, at least 21 lakh jobs will be created for the agriculture sector and the other 7 lakh jobs in the rural healthcare sector.
The pace and quantity of job creation is anticipated to further increase post 2021-22 once 5G technology is implemented.
BIF, a think tank for Digital Transformation, released the findings of their on-going study on Wednesday during a seminar held in New Delhi.
The study by BIF is being done in consultation with the Electronics Skill Council of India, Agriculture Skill Council of India and the Healthcare Sector Skill Council. A formal report on the study is expected to be released shortly.
Agriculture
The percentage of employment in Indian agriculture sector has consistently reduced from 52 percent in 2010 to 42 percent in 2018. IoT based applications has the potential to reverse this trend, the study noted.
The study highlighted that key applications such as satellite mapping, electronic market place, livestock traceability, climate sensing stations, product traceability and agriculture drones have the potential to transform the ailing agriculture sector.
“These applications will help create smart farms and will bring lot more predictability in agriculture output which in turn will help improve incomes and lives of farmers,” said Devendranath, COO, Feedback Consulting which is conducting this research jointly along with BIF.
Healthcare
The study also highlighted a positive impact of IoT on job creation in the rural healthcare sector.
At present as much as 60 percent of India’s healthcare professionals serve 30 percent of the population (residing in urban India). This trend is likely to change as leading healthcare service providers open new specialty hospitals in Tier 3 and Tier 4 towns.
The government’s Ayushman Bharat initiative is also expected to transform the primary healthcare sector in the country and will help introduce IoT based applications to a rural patient ecosystem.
Applications like remote medical assistance and surgery, smart diagnosis, cloud-based Eye Screening, pre-emptive oncology diagnosis, smart ambulance and emergency care, medical record digitisation and smart consulting can help bridge the gap between rural healthcare centres and urban hospitals, the report said.
