SUMMARY
App economy in India has created 1.67 Mn jobs, claims the US-based think-tank
PPI’s report shows that India has seen a 39% increase in app economy jobs since 2016
Unfortunately, the tally of app economy jobs does not include gig workers
The app economy in India has created 1.67 Mn jobs in the country, according to US-based policy think-tank Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), which has released a report entitled ‘The App Economy in India’.
Launched at a discussion organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the report forecasts that India will overtake the US as the world’s largest developer population centre by 2024. The report says that the app sector could be a potential source of jobs for India going forward, especially given current government goals for economic and employment growth across a wide range of industries and geographies.
The report shows that India has seen a 39% increase in app economy jobs from 1.2 Mn in 2016 to 1.67 Mn as of August 2019. In terms of global comparison, the United States had 2.24 Mn app economy jobs as of April 2019 followed by the European Union (plus Switzerland and Norway) which had 2.09 Mn app economy jobs as of July 2019.
The estimates in the report include information and communications technology (ICT) related job, non-ICT jobs and a job in the local economy that is supported by the income flowing to core and indirect app economy workers.
In line with the startup hubs, the report shows that Karnataka has highest contribution to app economy employment with 368K jobs, followed by Maharashtra and Delhi at 283K and 248K, respectively. Narrowing it down to cities, the report said that Bengaluru is the leader with 362K app economy jobs followed by Delhi with 248K app economy jobs and Mumbai with 137K app economy jobs. Hyderabad with 128K app economy jobs and Pune with 113K app economy jobs round off the top five cities.
During the discussion, Dr. Michael Mandal from Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) talked about key findings of the report and discussed jobs and creation of jobs by technology and digitisation. He said the research uses technologies such as big data analysis to arrive at its conclusions.
Col. Jitender Singh Minhas, CEO, IAMAI Startup Foundation said, “The apps which are in the economy are already generating a lot of employment and benefiting people with better opportunities because of the power of the new technology. India is the impetus to the emerging technologies and in the future, we will be able to generate more and better tech jobs in AI, Robotics etc.”
In conclusion, the report anticipates fast-growing demand for a new generation of apps that act as the primary interface for increasingly-digitised industries. “Companies will need internal apps for their workers, and external apps for their suppliers and customers,” the report noted.
Moreover, mobile apps can be shipped overseas easily, helping to boost India’s export earnings, it added.
IAMAI in a media statement said that the growth of the app economy is likely to continue, as people increasingly use mobile apps to access services related to home, mobility, education, and healthcare. “The rise of the Internet of Things will guarantee the need for more highly functional and sophisticated apps, serving an essential role in interacting with the digital environment,” Minhas added.
