Digitization: Integration of Technology and Enterprise
Digitization literally means representation of any object, image sound, documenting digital forms. Digital forms mean conversion into numbers. Digitization is often interchangeably used with Digitalization which in its primary sense means transformation of analog signals or any other form of input in the language which is understood by digital computers. Conversion of information provides easy storage, retrieval and faster distribution in a cost-effective manner with shortest possible time lag.

Looking through the Mirror of Digitization
Digitization in the concurrent world is the key to successful economies of the world. Booz & Company’s analysis estimates that digitization provided a $193 billion boost to world economic output and created six million jobs globally in 2011. The IT industry in India has emerged as the major contributor to the GDP growth. This powerful impact is the result of large IT/ITeS companies of India on global parameters. However, in India the internet penetration is less than 20 percent and needs to improve upon.

Indian government has taken initiatives by way of launching digitization programs in August 2014 in the name Digital India. This program aims at ending the lop-sided IT/ITeS situation existing between rural and urban India. The program focuses on creation of digital networks which will serve as a platform for the digital services. The program has four indicators viz, Rural Broadband, Universal Mobile Access, WiFi in all Universities, Hotspots.

Waves of Digitization in India
In India, digitization is a continuous process separable in three waves. The first wave of digitization started way back in 1980s, when computerization was first introduced. During first wave there was a general perception that computerization

The third wave of digitization has started from the year 2013- 14. In this phase, government is putting an effort through the program Digital India launched by Prime Minister.

will entail massive unemployment however contrary happened where by high growth rates were witnessed in Financial Markets(9.9 percent), Real Estate (9.9), and Transport &Telecommunication (7.6percent). The average GDP growth rate during 1980s was nearly 5.6 percent as per National Accounts Statistics of India, EPW Research Foundation. As a result, large number of computer literate professionals was required in all industries. The second wave of digitization by far has acted as game changer for India and as per National Accounts Statistics of India, the average growth was 5.5 percent between 1990 – 2000 and thereafter it was 7.3 percent . In the year 1980 - 81, the contribution of Services and Agriculture was nearly 38 percent each and with rapid digitization of all the services, the contribution of services in GDP in the year 2013, it is nearly 60percent. The second digitization wave has seen the emergence of India’s few of the largest Software Companies in global terms. The growth rate of ITeS in this period is phenomenal. In 1990s, the contribution of IT sector in Indian economy was only at 1-2 percent which has risen to 7 percent in the year 2015-16. This high growth rate has created job opportunities in IT as well as ITeS sector. At the current levels of growth, it is expected that IT industry will generate nearly two lakhs plus job opportunities in this fiscal year. The third wave of digitization has started from the year 2013- 14. In this phase, government is putting an effort through the program Digital India launched by Prime Minister. Through this program, government is making efforts to transform India into digitally empowered knowledge economy. The program includes Rs 1 lakh crore like Digital Locker, e-education, e-health, e-sign and national scholarship portal and more. It is expected that by the year 2019, it will create 1.7 crore direct jobs and nearly 8.5 crore indirect job opportunities.


Dr.Saritprava Das, Dean Academics,

Resilience of Digitization in India
It can be concluded that digitization in India is rapidly changing the sectoral contribution towards GDP. It is acting as a catalyst in the phenomenal growth of service sector. The NASSCOM report says that entertainment and IT will continue to enhance the revenue. Digital content development has the potential to create additional three lakh employment opportunities on yearly basis.