Four Ways India Can Thrive In The Fourth Industrial Revolution

A worker at a light-emitting diode fixture assembly unit. (Photo: Udit Kulshrestha/Bloomberg)

I travel a lot, so I read a lot. And as I made the journey to this year’s India Economic Summit, I’ve read a number of articles asking what good digital disruption and the internet of things are to the world’s majority — especially when they don’t have access to electricity, education, shelter and public healthcare services; or even to a toilet.

The question is particularly relevant for India, a country that has made huge advances in digital technology recently, while still grappling with basic infrastructure challenges.

How can India make the most of this new technological age, this fourth industrial revolution, while still dealing with pre-industrial problems? And where can companies contribute the most to finding and implementing the best solutions?

India is now the fastest-growing of the world’s large economies. Its challenge is to sustain that performance, provide jobs and ensure steadily rising incomes. It will be a tall order to become a $20 trillion economy — 10 times its current size. There is no global blueprint for success; each country must chart its own unique path to prosperity. And India needs to do this at a time when digital innovations are rapidly transforming global industry.

We all know the challenges. So what gets India to the next level?

• A Solid Foundation Of Strategic Infrastructure
• Boosting Traditional Manufacturing While Adopting New Digital Technologies
• Jobs
• Human Capital Development

(John Rice is the vice chairman of GE and president and CEO of GE Global Growth Organization. Read the full story on BloombergQuint)