India is one of the largest economies in the world and the biggest market for companies building products and/or offering services. Having said that, the opportunities in the country are exorbitant (very high). Companies and organizations are investing in the country to reach a larger market and deliver solutions to a huge number of people.

This rise in the number of innovative solutions has led to tremendous growth in the digitization sector. Recently from the last 10 years, India has grown digitally extremely strong and the country has been heavily investing in research and development (R&D) focused on technology.

Overview of Digitization and Artificial Intelligence

Digitization does not only mean bringing people online over a network to connect and communicate with one another, it means more than that. Digitization is all about providing effective customer service that saves time, money, and other resources and eases their overall work. This technology process of providing digital experience effectively is all about digitization.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one such sub-area in the world of digitization. AI is nothing but intelligent systems that mimick human-like behaviour with the help of a knowledge base that is built through different learning processes. AI is growing exponentially today and it is because of the rise in data in today's growing world. Post the pandemic, the world has gone virtual and that has led to more rise in the data. This growth has made an increment in the usage of AI and data-driven solutions.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in India

India is embracing digitization like no other country in the world today and is offering the citizens of the country all the information at their disposal easily. To make the country digitally and technologically strong, small-medium enterprises (SME), private & public companies, and government departments are working tirelessly. They are building innovative solutions that will not only help the consumer but will also help the overall country grow.

Few ways, the Government of India is making use of artificial intelligence technology in multiple departments are:

1. Cybercrime and Police Department: The cybercrime department makes use of intelligent tracking and data analysis to keep a track of information on crimes that take place and criminals who are the culprits. Besides this, they also make use of different image analysis methods to identify images and media data for investigation purposes.
2. Income Tax Department: The Government of India is making use of machine learning (a subset under artificial intelligence) to detect outliers (sudden and unwanted changes in data) in financial statements submitted by individuals and businesses. This will help in identifying financial frauds and tax evasions by the public.
3. Smart cities: Smart cities project is being implemented by many states in the country and the use of AI is quite evident in such cases. It provides a seamless experience to the user in terms of accessing information.
4. Biometrics: Indian government within their departments are making use of an automated biometric system that avoids authorization and access by any unwanted person. This ensures security and safety in the department.

Besides the one mentioned above, there are many other use cases such as facial recognition, automated traffic management, data analysis, and more.

Today, considering the growth of industries in rural and urban areas both, the use case of Artificial Intelligence can be diversified and implemented in areas where it is still not explored.

Unexplored sectors where Artificial Intelligence can be used?

The growing demand for AI has also made it possible to make use of such technology in areas that are yet to be explored more efficiently. These areas include both non-government and government use cases. Some of these areas are:

1. Manufacturing: Manufacturing in India is seeing a surge with the Make In India policy in place and many global companies are eyeing India as one of the most promising markets for growth. Using artificial intelligence in the manufacturing domain will lead to better outputs in product development and also data can be tracked efficiently. Human errors can be avoided and the process can be faster. This can be made possible using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) an area under AI.
2. Agriculture and farming: India ranks second (2nd) in the world in terms of farm outputs and the process can be improved by integrating artificial intelligence into it. Farmers find it difficult to predict crop quality and understand how the demand for a particular crop will be in the future. To overcome this barrier, AI can be used. Predictive analytics with sensors can keep track of how the crop is growing and is there any external source that is driving the growth of the crop. Besides this, the data can be structured and made to use in the future for better results and improvement in the quality of the crop.
3. Document management in Government departments: The Government of India contains huge information and records in form of files, folders, and documents. This entire process of storing documents can not only be automated but also the storage can be done intelligently. Optical character recognition (OCR) can be integrated for efficient searching and filtering of information based on the content present in the document. This process will save a lot of time, money, and resource for the government in the long term.
4. Rural area development: The developments in the countries have improved over time, but there are many rural areas where there is no proper infrastructure and facilities. To ensure it reaches as many remote areas as possible, smart and intelligent strategies can be implemented and developed that will help the department reach their resources to the people on a ground level and also the people in the area can make use of different policies and schemes designed by the government.
5. Government hospitals: Government hospitals lack efficient resources, machinery, and infrastructure. It has grown over time but still requires a lot more attention to ensure great health infrastructure for the people. Using AI in healthcare and especially in government hospitals will lead to better treatment of patients who cannot afford huge money. The diagnosis of patients can be done smartly and intelligently if proper infrastructure is set up and this can lead to better health facilities for the citizens.
6. Education: Education through the digital mode has grown, post the pandemic (COVID situation) and eLearning has dominated the market in the current scenario. This learning process for students and working professionals can be intelligently monitored. Effective AI-enabled solutions can provide smart recommendations and feedback to the person who is learning to upskill himself/herself and accordingly stay updated with the current trends in the market.
7. Construction: Construction and infrastructure development in the country needs smart solutions for saving time, money, and resources. Intelligent monitoring of resources and AI-based recommendations used for construction and development can save a lot of money and also fasten the overall process of construction.

Conclusion

India is growing at a tremendous level currently, shaping the economy to be stronger than ever. COVID has surely impacted the economy but the country is bouncing back with better digital solutions that will be helpful to the people and the country.

Also, the rate at which Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing can change the country and its people to a great extent. Being said that, AI solutions must be built ethically and used unbiasedly for all people irrespective of their demographics.